Steam & Excursion > Gotta use the restroom

What would the crew do in the steam era do if one had to go really bad and the the next yard where they would stop is 50+ miles away? As far as I know, steam locomotives never had toilets. Say for intance, the fireman turns to his engineer saying "Hey Earl, man I gotta go bad!" What would they do? Its silly question I know, but Im curious

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/26 10:23 by DM1980.

It's been discussed here before. The usual answer was he went No. 2 in the scoop shovel and shoveled it in the firebox. I did hear a story of a MOW employee that was a wise guy and did it out the side of the MOW boxcar door opening (car was not in motion). Reportedly, the supervisor, disgusted with him, kicked him out the door.

There is a video on the tube that includes one scene where the train is stopped and the conductor alights from the caboose and runs for the woods with a roll of toilet paper in hand. The narrator said he had the  "Hershey Squirts". 

Victor Baird

DM1980 Wrote:
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> What would the crew do in the steam era do if one
> had to go really bad and the the next yard where
> they would stop is 50+ miles away? As far as I
> know, steam locomotives never had toilets. Say
> for intance, the fireman turns to his engineer
> saying "Hey Earl, man I gotta go bad!" What would
> they do? Its silly question I know, but Im curious
>
>
> Posted from iPhone



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/26 10:41 by wabash2800.

Yep, poop in the scoop.

I recall riding the City of New Oreans southbound from Homewood to Champaign IL in the early 1970s and staring at the roadbed going under the car when the toilet was flushed!

mwarfel Wrote:
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> I recall riding the City of New Oreans southbound
> from Homewood to Champaign IL in the early 1970s
> and staring at the roadbed going under the car
> when the toilet was flushed!

OK but, what does this have to do with no toilets on steam locomotives?

Most of the residue ended up on the tracks . . .

mwarfel Wrote:
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> Most of the residue ended up on the tracks . . .

Except,,,,,,,,,,,,,,on a coal burner the No.2 goes onto the coal scoop and then into the firebox. On an oil burner the No.2 is done in the sand box, then the sanding scoop is used to dispose of it into the firebox. Nothing "ended up on the tracks".

Read a story some time back of an incident of Sierra’s Angel Camp branch, train this day had one of the early standard gauge Heislers with the cab extending most of the way through the cab which made visual communication between the engineer and fireman difficult. Engineer felt the urgent call of nature, lowered his overalls, and stuck his rear out the door of the cab, only to lose his grip on the handrails mid movement and fall completely out of the cab. This was at night, the train was working up a stiff grade, and the fireman didn’t notice the engineer’s absence until he failed to blow the whistle for a grade crossing. Fireman got the train stopped then either slowly backed down the hill or otherwise waited until the red faced engineer caught up with the stopped train, I don’t remember which.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Posted from iPhone

As a youngster, living with my parents on a farm adjacent to the Rock Island Line 19 miles west of Pratt, KS, I sometimes would walk the tracks nearby when no trains were nearby.  I recall seeing the toilet paper from passenger trains somedays that was disintegrated and scattered between the rails.  I am sure much other waste accompanied it that I never thought of, nor even reconized at the time.  Most interesting was occasionally finding lumps of heavy Bunker C oil mixed with chat rock from this leaking, heavy fuel oil that had dripped from the steam loco tender's fuel connections at train speeds.  On a hot Summer day this mixture had a somewhat pleasing aroma for a grade school kid that had no idea such locos would only soon become a memory as the GM-EMD diesels would soon replace them!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/26 13:55 by rrman6.