An additional question on the subject as well:
Were track pans used in winter? If so, how was the water kept from freezing?
PRR used track pans.
B&O had track pans on the Royal Blue line but not elsewhere. Aside from PRR and NYC, I don’t think that any other North American railroads used track pans.
You needed a good long, straight stretch of track to be able to drop the scoop, pick up a goodly amount of water, then pick up the pan all without damaging anything. So, the railroad had to select locations carefully. NYC and PRR were the main users as noted, as well as B&O. Rock Island is in the back of my mind for some reason and perhaps Sante Fe. A lot of water was thrown out and away from the track and train, too, most of which was recovered and put back into the ponding tank but you didn’t want to be a passing or meeting train especially with open windows!
You needed a good long, straight stretch of track to be able to drop the scoop, pick up a goodly amount of water, then pick up the pan all without damaging anything.
Don’t forget it had to be level too. No grades.
I understand the pans were steam traced in the winter to keep them from freezing. I don’t know what happened with all the ice that would have formed from the splash.
The PRR pans in Wilmore Pennsylvania had a boiler house and piping to provide steam keeping the pans from freezing. The pans were installed along with a stone lining where usually track ballast would be. When the water splashed away from the pans and onto the stone it drained and eventually flowed into the ballast under the stones or a trackside ditch.
I remember reading that in the first experiment to see if it would work, the inrush of water blew the top off the tender! Baffles had to be installed to get the water to disperse with less impact on the sides and top of the tender to minimize the chance of the tender exploding.
Here is an interesting link that explores Track Pan rewatering of Steam locomotives. It also add to the list of railroads that used track pans within their systems:
“Scooping Water in the Age of Steam”
by James Alexander,jr.
http://jimquest.com/writ/trains/pans/scoop.htm
and another site that explores the PRR Track Pan installation at Wilmore,Pa on the Western slope of the Alleghenies, another site by Mr. Alexander,as well: http://jimquest.com/writ/trains/pans/wilmore1.htm
http://aamrc.org/hvrrhs/trackpans This link is to track pans in Michigan named after Wilson S.Kinnear, and station adjacent to the first installation near Ann Arbor and later moved to a place between Dexter and Chelsea,Mi.
Michigan Central had track pans, according to this article:
http://ypsiciti.com/section/Opinions/Ypsilanti's+'jerkwater'+history-article-1519.html
A very interesting and informative article.
Like they said, more RRs than you’d think tried track pans once upon a time. The track has to be level of course, but no reason it has to be straight. Don’t recall if the PRR Mapleton pans were curved, but Trains has a pic of the Rahway pans on a slight curve (a Clodfelter pic from a GG1).
It’s been noted that the NYC, PRR, and B&O Royal Blue route used track pans. But I note that the B&O in Ohio, Indiana, etc did not, nor did the Erie or Nickel Plate. They all had the same flat right-of-ways in Ohio and west, so my guess is that track pans only paid off if a railroad had a significant number of passenger trains. If the goal was to keep trains moving, that would seem not to matter so much for mostly-freight railroads. Would this be a correct assumption?
Keeping huge fleets of passenger trains moving was sure a consideration. But so was the lack of huge piles of money in company coffers and the percieved need.
NKP guy - I think your assumption is correct. The track pans saved a few minutes time from having to stop and take on more water, which would matter only if the train wasn’t going to be stopping frequently anyway - which pretty much excludes freights and low-speed or frequent stop passenger runs.
One result was that railroads with track pans had tenders on their steam power that maximized the coal (oil) bunker space and capacity, and had a small water compartment - because that could be replenished easily and often with the track pans.
I seem to recall that the PRR’s 4-8-2 “Mountain” types (at least) with the “coast-to-coast” tenders had water scoops, and they were often used in fast freight service, so perhaps that was done with some freights also.
- Paul North.
Paul
Track pans were used on the CASO Division (MCRR, NYC, PC) between Windsor and Niagara Falls Ontario. This was double track, with long tangent stretches and was a largely level ‘speedway’ with St Thomas, Ontario at its centre.
The pans were used with both fast freight and passenger trains up into the late 1950’s IIRC. I remember reading employee instructions about their use, especially the raising and lowering of scoops. Among other things, speed was of essence. I believe a minimum of 50 mph was required to make them work effectively. They were steam heated in the winter. I recall seeing tenders for their removal after the days of steam which included the removal of associated stationary boilers and auxiliaries.
I had relatives on the CASO running crews. Wish I’d asked them about the practice. Was just a kid then so never thought to do so.
Charlie Lenz
Both NYCand PRR freights used track pans.
[:-^] I wonder how many scoops were damaged because they weren’t pulled up in time. That could be an embarresment to the scoop operator. Or for dropping the scoop too soon.
Cannonball
Cannonball,
Can you imagine the sparks and sound a big steel scoop makes when it’s hitting the end of a track pan at speed and tearing up not only the track pan but the scoop itself? And can you imagine the feeling an engineer must have had following such a moment? I think that’s when a man’s whole career passes before his eyes, so to speak. A few minutes “on the carpet” must inevitably follow.
I think I remember reading someplace ( in Trains?) about men who would ride on the back of a locomotive tender (not sure exactly where) in freezing weather. When the locomotive would go through the track pans some water would wind up being thrown all over the hapless man, resulting in his death.
Is this urban legend? Did this in fact happen?
Also, if steam was used to heat track pans, why didn’t the water in conventional tanks freeze? What about in places like northern New England? How did tanks there keep from freezing up in bitterly low temperatures?
Water tanks in cold climates were heated - anything from a stove in the rectangular enclosure around the central fill pipe to a complete structure that contained the water tank. It wasn’t necessary to keep the tank toasty, just a degree or two above freezing was adequate.
It would be the fireman, not the engineer, who would have that sinking feeling. The scoop was the fireman’s responsibility.
Ticketless train riders liked to ride in “the blind,” the space between the (usually doorless) lead car and the tender. A locomotive taking water from a track pan would throw a lot of it around, and water from an over-filled cistern could lift the water hatch and then pour off the tender deck. The story is that a PRR crew found a freerider (not the word used in the story) on the tender rear platform, completely encased in ice.
People alongside the right of way could also get a free shower. Don’t ask how I know this!
Chuck