Ah, the water scoops. I remember my Grandfather, who was a conductor on the New York Central out of Buffalo, talking about them.The water scoops were generally curved in a 90-degree arc, so that water entering in a horizontal direction was diverted to flow upwards. The scoop connected to a duct that went vertically upwards into the water space. Ended about a foot below the top plating, with a second 90-degree bend to send the water horizontal again rather than upwards.
The scoop was raised and lowered by an air cylinder, controlled by a lever-actuated air valve on the front of the tender. Most also had an auxilary latch, worked by a chain, to retain it in the 'up' position. In use, the fireman would release the latch, stand by the valve, and wait for either a hand-sign or whistle signal by the engineer that the engine had passed a signpost placed beside the track at the beginning of the pan. The fireman opens the valve, and hangs on for dear life while the tender bucks, water sprays everywhere, and deafening noise. The engineer signals again when the engine is approaching the signpost at the end of the pan to raise the scoop. The fireman raises the scoop, sets the latch, then climbs on top of the tank to raise the hatch and look how much water was collected. And then, probably find out that you had only half-filled the tank and had to stop at the next water tank anyway. And when the train stops, the fireman gets down to look at the scoop. Had to check, often, to make sure that it had retracted all the way up, the rim was not too badly bent out of shape, and that it had not snagged on a grade crossing or ingested some ballast.There was a good reason for slowing to 40 mph. As the water rushed into the tender, the displaced air had to escape, and if the flow was too great it blew the top hatch open. Then, as your post suggested, water sprayed back towards the passengers. The New York Central fitted some of the Niagaras and Mohawks tenders (those are '4-8-4' and '4-8-2' engines) with special air vents, supposed to open if the pressure was too high and allow taking on water at speeds up to 80 mph. The fireman and enginner had to work in very close co-ordination. At 80 mph, the engine moves through the usable length of the track pan in perhaps 15 seconds, while taking on maybe 15,000 gallons of water at a thousand gallons per second. Or, for you metric users, that is taking on about two tonnes/sec at 130 kph.
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MJL
Charter Member
Jun-08-02, 00:58 AM (EDT)
3. "RE: Water Scoop, Mechanics of Rail Equipment Question"
In response to message #2
black5, ge44tonner
thanks for the info, good, clear description, much better than what I read on Model RRer, or Trains, now if someone just had some pics. I'd like to see the actual mechanisims...instead of constantly having to use my 'imagination hat'
Matt
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