Picking up Water
Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 3:13 pm
[quote] Lovely, fascinating stuff to us ex-spotter types, Locoman. At the time you were up and down the line, I would have been in my usual position on the bridge at the north end of Langley troughs. Can you give us some blow-by-blow descriptions of the fireman's work in dropping the scoop, etc., and then lifting it up again against the force of water? We always got a thrill out of seeing the tank cap fly open with the resulting fountain. You blokes probably got a right rollicking for that, though, I suppose, if some folks got a bit damp in the first carriage with the windows open on a warm day.
Giner
Hi Giner
In answer to your query re picking up water. Yes I too was fascinated watching main line expresses picking up water, especially when the tank was full and it plummeted high up in the air and drenched the first two or three leading coaches. Many a time as a young man travelling to London on the Cleethorpes – Kings Cross express, the train would have to stop at Werrington Junction for access onto the main line where we would wait for both up and down ECML expresses, and watch absorbed as they picked up water on the Werrington troughs. However from a fireman’s point of view it was quite different.
Firstly, regular main line firemen would know the route on which they were running thoroughly, aware of every signal location, gradient and obviously the location of every water trough. They would plan their firing, filling the boiler with water, breaking coal lumps etc, aware of where the train actually was and prepared for the approach to the trough. The only warning sign was a large white board with
a /\/\/\/\ sign in black at the beginning of the trough. At night, remember, it was total darkness. Running at express speeds into a black void is quite something, even though you are running on a track.
I never have really known exactly what length the troughs actually were, but they were plenty long enough to pick up around two thousand gallons of water in a very short time. A trough around 600 yards long would take around 20seconds to cover at a speed around 70 mph. To give guidance as to how much water was in the tender, around 4000 gallons when full, most of the older engines had what we called a ‘walking stick gauge’ attached to the tender. This was a long upright thin pipe with small holes bored into it shaped like a walking stick. When turned to open, water would pour out of the appropriate hole identical to the height of the water in the tank. Unfortunately not all where well maintained, the holes being blocked with coal dust, so it was then pure guesswork. Other more modern locomotives had a proper calibrated gauge.
The procedure was the moment you hit the trough you wound down the scoop, checking the water gauge ready to remove the scoop when the tank was full. It was always essential that you picked up a near tank full so you left the scoop in the trough until it was full. Inevitably if you did overfill the tank it caused the gush of water out of the tank top lid if it was not secured. However another problem was that if you did fill the tank it was impossible to remove the scoop until you reached the end of the trough. The sheer speed of the train created such pressure when the water you were picking up had nowhere to go, so it was like hitting a brick wall. Another consequence was that the sudden rush of water erupting out of the tank lid also washed large quantities of coal onto the footplate. Another fine mess to clear up!!
Water troughs on the main lines were situated around every 35 to 40 miles apart, therefore on runs to and from Kings Cross to Peterborough, 76 miles, there was only one trough situated at Langley, near Stevenage. At New England we only worked expresses northward as far as York, 112 miles. Depending if you were starting from Peterborough with a full tank it wasn’t necessary to pick up at Werrington Junction, five mile north of Peterborough but you would at Muskham just north of Newark, Scrooby, south of Doncaster and also at, if I stand corrected, at Barlby just north of Selby on the old main line to York.
I hope this answers your query.
Giner
Hi Giner
In answer to your query re picking up water. Yes I too was fascinated watching main line expresses picking up water, especially when the tank was full and it plummeted high up in the air and drenched the first two or three leading coaches. Many a time as a young man travelling to London on the Cleethorpes – Kings Cross express, the train would have to stop at Werrington Junction for access onto the main line where we would wait for both up and down ECML expresses, and watch absorbed as they picked up water on the Werrington troughs. However from a fireman’s point of view it was quite different.
Firstly, regular main line firemen would know the route on which they were running thoroughly, aware of every signal location, gradient and obviously the location of every water trough. They would plan their firing, filling the boiler with water, breaking coal lumps etc, aware of where the train actually was and prepared for the approach to the trough. The only warning sign was a large white board with
a /\/\/\/\ sign in black at the beginning of the trough. At night, remember, it was total darkness. Running at express speeds into a black void is quite something, even though you are running on a track.
I never have really known exactly what length the troughs actually were, but they were plenty long enough to pick up around two thousand gallons of water in a very short time. A trough around 600 yards long would take around 20seconds to cover at a speed around 70 mph. To give guidance as to how much water was in the tender, around 4000 gallons when full, most of the older engines had what we called a ‘walking stick gauge’ attached to the tender. This was a long upright thin pipe with small holes bored into it shaped like a walking stick. When turned to open, water would pour out of the appropriate hole identical to the height of the water in the tank. Unfortunately not all where well maintained, the holes being blocked with coal dust, so it was then pure guesswork. Other more modern locomotives had a proper calibrated gauge.
The procedure was the moment you hit the trough you wound down the scoop, checking the water gauge ready to remove the scoop when the tank was full. It was always essential that you picked up a near tank full so you left the scoop in the trough until it was full. Inevitably if you did overfill the tank it caused the gush of water out of the tank top lid if it was not secured. However another problem was that if you did fill the tank it was impossible to remove the scoop until you reached the end of the trough. The sheer speed of the train created such pressure when the water you were picking up had nowhere to go, so it was like hitting a brick wall. Another consequence was that the sudden rush of water erupting out of the tank lid also washed large quantities of coal onto the footplate. Another fine mess to clear up!!
Water troughs on the main lines were situated around every 35 to 40 miles apart, therefore on runs to and from Kings Cross to Peterborough, 76 miles, there was only one trough situated at Langley, near Stevenage. At New England we only worked expresses northward as far as York, 112 miles. Depending if you were starting from Peterborough with a full tank it wasn’t necessary to pick up at Werrington Junction, five mile north of Peterborough but you would at Muskham just north of Newark, Scrooby, south of Doncaster and also at, if I stand corrected, at Barlby just north of Selby on the old main line to York.
I hope this answers your query.