My newly purchased Union Pacific steam engines do not burn coal which I have modeled. I need to model fueling these steamers with oil. I have seen pictures of UP diesel fueling stations, but not steam. I need a pictures or names of kit makers which would make life even easier. Also, what does the oil delivery facility look like from oil tank cars to a storage tank facility?
Thank you,
Joel Dethlefs
On a Class 1 railroad, steam-age oil tenders were fueled from a vertical device that looked sort of like a water column, but with a different design of spout pivot and a gadget like a bottomless bucket just below the discharge. The storage tanks would be some distance away, Provision had to be made to heat the oil, which had the consistency of road tar.
This item, described as an oil column, has been available. I believe that it was a Tichy product.
Oil burners on my layout burn #2 diesel, not Bunker C.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with ‘critters’ fueled from glass-top portable tanks)
There aren’t a lot of oil cranes out there for fueling oil-burning steamers, but one I know of in HO is Tichy Train Group part # 8169.
[!(http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Tichy-Train-Group-Oil-Column-Kit-8169-HO-Scale-New-/00/s/MjUwWDE5NA==/$(KGrHqNHJCsE7BcvhhCgBO8jeMGumw~~60_35.GIF)](http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Tichy-Train-Group-Oil-Column-Kit-8169-HO-Scale-New-/00/s/MjUwWDE5NA==/$(KGrHqNHJCsE7BcvhhCgBO8jeMGumw~~60_35.GIF)
(http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Tichy-Train-Group-Oil-Column-Kit-8169-HO-Scale-New-/00/s/MjUwWDE5NA==/$(KGrHqNHJCsE7BcvhhCgBO8jeMGumw~~60_35.GIF)As far as unloading inbound fuel, there could be a rack type structure in a larger facility for unloading multiple cars at once, or it could be as simple as a long hose connected to hinged arm for unloading from above. Like the tallest structure in the photo below of the parts from the Walthers Diesel Fueling facility. The oil is pumped out of the tank car, so there would usually be a small pump house nearby.
Oil-burning steamers (and their supporting structures) are under-represented in US hobby offerings compared to their actual prevalence in real life, especially in the US West.
Thank you Tomikawatt, All your input will look good on the way to the coal shoots.
Wow. Cuyama, Ask and you shall receive. Now all I need to do is day-dream as to where to place it all. Thank you.
When the PRR leased some oil burner 2-10-4 from the Santa Fe they fueled them from a tanker truck near the freight yards on Whiskey Island, Sandusky, and Columbus. I did see a picture of a bare tender tank with steam heat running through it that fed the leased locos. The oil was heated and pumped into the leased units tender by hose and pump. I think you can see it in this video.
Here is the story of why they leased locos when so many were sitting on the dead line and the story of the SF locos.
http://www.columbusrailroads.com/prr%20santa%20fe.htm
Pete
Pete, I model the UP, but the shots were great. Thank you, Oh, should you need more of the “Nothing”, I have some you can have which could lead to something which isn’t quit everything, but it is a start.
Thank you Rich,
If anyone reading this blog has not read this first-hand account of starting a steam engine, they have missed out on a well written and informative article. fantastic!!!
Whoa Pete!
Steam engine oil facilities at Whiskey Island? Cleveland? That’s news to me. I was only 10 at the time & I’m not sure whether I actually saw any of this action or not, so I can’t refute what you say. I started getting really interested in the differences between the various engine types in 1957, and most of what I saw was B&O. This is the first time I’ve heard anyone say the Santa Fe 2-10-4’s got into Cleveland. Did they use NYC trackage rights from Sandusky? Did it happen often? Are there any photos?
My uncle Adam was a RR cop at Kinsman yard. He told me when I was young that coal would come up from the C&P to Kinsman and be forwarded on to Whiskey and ore would be sent back in the same hoppers. Mostly during the summer. The Lake steamers would back haul coal during the open season. I will ask my aunt if she still has pictures (shes in her nineties now). Weather the big 2-10-4s made it to the island I don’t know. But he did tell me about the oil trucks that fueled them that summer. They had to escorted because theft was a huge problem. In 1960 just after my birth he was moved to the Kingsbury branch that serviced the steel mills and other factories until his retirement in 64. By the time I was able to watch the Hullets work, steam was a distant memory for the railroad.
Pete
Pete,
That would be great if pictures were still available–I dream of buying a 2-10-4 someday as well. thank you for corresponding with everyone. Joel
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