Model Railroading > Anyone into muni water treatment ?

I made my living building pump stations, mostly for fire suppression systems, but we did some for
municipal applications, so I needed something similar for my layout.  A few years ago I went to the
OK City train show and Scale Structures Ltd had a booth there and I purchased their pumping plant,
kit seen here in first pic.   I then scratched a raw water intake pumping station, shown here with two Peerless
24" 2 stage turbine pumps with 250 HP, WP1 motors.  Pumps were carved from balsa, motors made from
random roundy parts, intake structure from styrene.  

We have had plenty of rain here in East Texas, so the reservoir is full to supply surrounding homes and businesses.

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Some water utilities were/are regular freight customers.
Inbound shipments of Chlorine and water floculation chemicals occur regularly and there are occasional shipments of heavy machinery such as pipe, valves, etc.
In Southern CA the Santa Fe (now BNSF) delivers to the Metropolitain Water District near Pomona and the SP (now UP) to the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power at Sylmar and near Mojave.
 

Frisco used to service a Ft Worth water plant on the Trinity river on a mile long siding.  Frisco quit because 1 car every 2 months wasn't profitable and the ties needed replacing.

Their opertion is in  Mojave, not near it, at the north end of town.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

There was a long spur off of the Santa Fe Stockton Sub along Highway 4 in Concord, CA and I would see tank cars there on occasion but never a train. Wonder if it is still in use.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

Fort Wayne, Indiana has a water filtration plant. The few cars of chemical brought in, powered by a track-mobile, which included street running, wasn't worth the upkeep. The trackage became isolated from the outside world anyway. Truck loads soon proved to be more cost effective. The trackage was specifically built some years ago when a street car line could no longer provide service.

Victor

Dallas is still served by UP at a couple of their treatment plants.

Good use of left over parts.  Never toss the the "good" stuff away.

I like it.  It's a neat addition to the scene.  I don't know anything about pump stations but wouldn't one of those pumps drain your river in short order?  Maybe you should add more water in your channel.

Some of the bigger plants got their chlorine delivery by rail. (As do some sewage treatment plants, often more quantity delivered, because "used water" sewer plants typically treat larger volumes of water than "new water" water suppliers.)

And it's not always in tank cars, at least in the modern era.  Syracuse, NY was getting theirs at the sewage plant in solid form, delivered in MDT pressure discharge cars as of the early 1980s when I worked on the site. 

In Detroit, we had a high-pucker incident in which we were digging a major, deep excavation for a plant expansion, right next to their delivery siding for chlorine tankers.  A Conrail crew showed up one morning and did a delivery, despite the fact that we'd requested a few days' hiatus while we completed the backfill.  They didn't roll the car over, but it was enough to make you pee your pants. And yes, a sewage treatment plant is a good place to do that.

I recall Fort Wayne was getting something in a powdered form via a covered hopper.

Victor


march_hare Wrote:
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>
> And it's not always in tank cars, at least in the
> modern era.  Syracuse, NY was getting theirs at
> the sewage plant in solid form, delivered in MDT
> pressure discharge cars as of the early 1980s when
> I worked on the site.