This has been answered before I’m sure, but how did the water towers used by the old steam engines and located every 7 to 10 miles along the tracks get filled before electricity came into use? And where did the water come from to fill them with?
Thanks
Russ
I think in some places a windmill would have been used to pump water out of a well. I am sure some had stationary steam engines for the pumps, later gas engines. I don’t know, but wells were probably pretty common.
James[C):-)]
In mountainous areas, the water service engineers tried to use gravity fill as much as possible by finding a spring or stream above the level required in the tank and piping water. Otherwise, stationary steam pumps were most common - either from a well or from other surface water.
Often these water towers were used for years after dieselization because they provided the only water for the small community that surrounded the station.
dd
In some places,like out in the desert,water had to be hauled in by tank car.This is why roads like the Santa Fe were so anxious to dieselize as soon as the FT was available.This is also why Santa Fe was allowed so many FTs by the War Production Board during WW2.
On the Canadian prairies, steamers often ran a hose down to a trackside pump and fed steam to the pump. The pump fed water up a standpipe and over to the tender. No tank needed.
Some mountain branch lines used a suction hose from an engine mounted steam pump. The engine would be spotted near a stream or pond. However, both methods were slow but cheap.
dd
Additionally, the prairie water was alkaline, and scaled the boilers heavily within a few days. So, engines would tow extra water in a tank car behind the tender to avoid the use of lakeside pumps.