Railroaders' Nostalgia > Trains still run on water

Steam engines have been gone from regular use on the railroads over 50 years. Many people don't realize that the railroads still run on water.

Last night, I got to perform an age old task of adding water to a brand new GEVO locomotive. It's not something that I do often. Infact, there are only a few places left on CSX where engines are able to be be watered without being at a shop or having the fire department called in.

I was working a roustabout at Cincinnati, Ohio in Queensgate yard when the trainmaster called to let us know we were going to go relieve a K514-01 that came from Middletown, Oh to Cincinnati and was called on to Louisville. The second engine had lost it's water (most likely before it left North Excello) and they needed it for power to get down the shortline to Louisville.

We met the train at the north end of the yard where the entrance to the yard is. It's known as the guard shack. We talked to the LC dispatcher to get permission to move on the main and then the yardmaster to figure out the plan for the train. Clint Cox told us to proceed on signal indication and the Hump Yardmaster told us to come in through track R3N to R3S, cut off, and get our power in position to bring it back to the car shop lead track next to the hump tower. This is the only hose location left in the yard.

While entering the yard, we found a messed up blue flag light that may have been placed as a test. We stopped and notified everyone about it being in a weird spot. Come to find out, someone had accidentally cut a fiberoptic line in the yard and they were having weird things happening electrically all over. This was a false blue flag. They inspected the clear track ahead and then instructed us to proceed with our move.

After yarding the train and moving the engines to the water spot, I shut the engine down and went through the process of adding a few hundred gallons of water to the tank. It took about 30 minutes before it was topped off. As soon as it was topped off, I fired the engine up to get it back to the train. About a minute after she cranked, it shut down. Hot engine, won't crank. That was that. We called the trainmaster and the inspection fit foreman and tied the engines down.

I have other fun stories about getting water from local fire departments along the line. They seem to have as much fun as we do when we stop. I have some photos of stopping along Frankfort Avenue in Louisville a few years back. Louisville fire shut down the road to make sure it was safe to get water. It became a zoo within minutes. That's a story for another day once I figure out how to add photos.

Yes, trains still run on water, but mechanical issues and electrical problems are a whole other matter. They eventually were able to reset the engine and get the train out of town.

Joe

Thanks for the story.

Had a fun day once on a contractor weedsprayer truck getting water on a hot summer day on Amtrak. They sucked water clandestinely from a local stream and later went down to a boat launch on the Susquehanna River and pulled in many gallons right in front of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant. They had a fire hydrant hose attachment on the truck but didn't use it on that day.

joeygooganelli Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, trains still run on water, but mechanical
> issues and electrical problems are a whole other
> matter. They eventually were able to reset the
> engine and get the train out of town.
>
> Joe

i hope you added anti-freeze :-)

RRTom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Had a fun day once on a contractor weedsprayer
> truck getting water on a hot summer day on Amtrak.
> They sucked water clandestinely from a local
> stream and later went down to a boat launch on the
> Susquehanna River and pulled in many gallons right
> in front of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
> They had a fire hydrant hose attachment on the
> truck but didn't use it on that day.

if you worked in the Philly area i was probably one of your pilots throughout the years ...

Posted from Android

Your story reminded me of a video I stumbled onto a day or two ago. It was about the British railroad during WWII. There was a car full of wheat next to a car full of explosives. They were attacked and the wheat car caught fire. I'll skip a bunch of details but the brought an engine over to the car with the explosives and pulled it away from the wheat car but it had already caught fire. They pulled it to a watering station (they didn't have a water tower with a spout like we are used to seeing along a steam route) and used the hose they water the engines to put out the fire. I suppose they would have trouble doing that over there today also.

BTW Joe, been wondering how your daughter was doing after your "Parting the waters" article about a month ago. Hope she is doing well.

John (in Louisville, not too far from Frankfort Ave. Closer to HK)

She's doing well. We ended up spending 6 days at Childrens hospital where they placed a pic line and then kept an eye on her while doing antibiotics. They sent us home on Christmas eve to do them ourselves. It was stressful to say the least. I've been hiding out in the yard since then. I figure I'll hit the road again next week or so.

Thanks for asking.

Joe

Posted from iPhone

> While entering the yard, we found a messed up blue
> flag light that may have been placed as a test. We
> stopped and notified everyone about it being in a
> weird spot. Come to find out, someone had
> accidentally cut a fiberoptic line in the yard and
> they were having weird things happening
> electrically all over. This was a false blue flag.
> They inspected the clear track ahead and then
> instructed us to proceed with our move.
>
> After yarding the train and moving the engines to
> the water spot, I shut the engine down and went
> through the process of adding a few hundred
> gallons of water to the tank. It took about 30
> minutes before it was topped off. As soon as it
> was topped off,
Was it the cut fiber optic cable you were seeing? If so, that's a wild situation. And Second, was the hose a garden hose or a 3/4" or so, heavy duty hose?

Rick L

Why did you shut it down to water it????

Posted from Android

The system has pressure in it.

Joe