Water Troughs

My grandfather, who joined the LNWR as a cleaner in 1917, told me the tale of once when he was travelling as a passenger towards the front of a steam hauled train he got up and closed the ventilation windows as the train was approaching some troughs, explaning why he was doing it to the other passenger in the compartment. This passenger then got up and opened them again and very shortly afterwards got covered in water duringthe pick up!

 

If you can get hold of a copy of BTF's 'The Elizabethen Express' there is a superb shot of the A4 60017 'Silver Fox' picking up at troughs. They did it by pacing the A4 from an adjacent track with the camera mounted on a flat wagon being propelled by an 0-6-0 freight loco IIRC.

 

http://www.videosurf.com/video/the-elizabethan-express-pt1-92983786 Part 1

http://www.videosurf.com/video/the-elizabethan-pt2-130138032 Part 2

 

Is there anywhere in the UK (preserved obviously!) that has operable water troughs? I guess you would need for them to be operating at about 50mph which of course reduces the places that could have them, but it would be fascinating to see it done for real, as opposed on film.

 

Cheers for that - just a little way in Part 2. For those who have never seen this film, the whole lot is worth a view!

 

nope and unlikey ever to be built.

how would anyone see them in operation and who would pay to see them in operation?

 

Well thats true, although I can imagine many preserved lines make much money out of freight operations either. I just wondered if it have ever occured to the Great central to put some in. They presumably are the only place in the country where you could run steam locomotives fast enough to make the system work.

As for seeing them in operation, thats a fair point. You couldnt plonk them down in the middle of a station for obvious reasons....

 

Alas, this is a common tale told by many a person although it undoubtedly has happened on occasion.

It is unlikely to happen anywhere unless a rich benefactor comes along and puts up the money as troughs would serve no useful purpose on a heritage railway. You need a sufficiently long length of level track and you also need locos equipped to pick up water. Most (but not all) have had the equipment removed and some have had the tenders sufficiently modified to take advantage of the removal and increase capacity. You don't need to be doing 50mph to pick up water, though. It works well enough at 25mph.

 

It is extremely unlikely to happen for the following reasons.

1. Many preserved lines, including the Great Central, do not have level track in a suitable place.

2. There is not only the cost of installing the troughs to consider. There is the cost of providing and maintaining a suitable water supply also the increased track maintenance cost.

3. I believe most railways these days use some form of water treatment to prolong boiler life. Do you fill the trough with raw water and undermine this good work or fill the trough with relatively expensive treated water and have some of it go to waste?

 

fen bog after a heavy downfall

 

As my grandfather was a driver, I am inclined to believe him

 

No problems with that. All I'm saying is that I've heard (and seen in print) this tale several times before and I doubt that it was your grandfather who told me!

 

No doubt, in steam days a multitude of people that were in the first coach of a train with the ventilator windows open received a soaking when a loco picked up at troughs.