The P&WV Hi-Line

[Rich_S]

Since old man winter has finally hit the Pittsburgh area, 4 degrees brrr,
that brings up a question:

During the steam era, how did the railroad keep the water from freezing
in the wayside water tanks? and locomotive tenders of locomotives not
in use, i.e. on the ready tracks.
_________________
Regards,
Rich S.

[jayrod]

Don't know about the P&WV but a lot of water tanks had compressed air bubblers to keep the water agitated a bit. It doesn't take much air. Moving water is not likely to freeze. If I recall, some tenders had steam lines to keep the water from freezing when standing. Steam from either the loco or plant boiler.
_________________
Eric Schlentner
Aka, jayrod

[Rich_S]

Eric, Thanks for the info. That is very interesting, I guess you would have
an air compressor that kept a supply tank full of compressed air, so you
would not have a air compressor running twenty four hours a day.
I wonder who's responsibility it was to check on the water tanks, to
insure everything was working properly?
_________________
Regards,
Rich S.

[rchgck]

Rich,

Great question. I have often wondered about this myself.

A related threads on the same question.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,38817

Rich G.

[jayrod]

I forgot about coal or kerosene heaters and recirculation for tanks. You can use the fill pump to recirculate

Still water will usually freeze from the top down due to air exposure. If the water froze in place at the top and you lower the water level, at the next thaw the ice could drop like a piston and blow the bottom of the tank side wall out. This is still a problem for municipal water supply if the system used to agitate the water fails. I've seen the aftermath.
_________________
Eric Schlentner
Aka, jayrod