# Logging: supplying coal and water?



## Cap'nBill (Dec 27, 2008)

I guess my Shay and Climax, both having long water hoses, got water from.......ponds, streams, etc.? Neither looks as though they had large coal capacity, so how'd they handle this? My one book on logging doesn't seem to address this. I've been wanting to build a water tower, but this doesn't seem very prototypical. Seems even if they were connected to a mainline, wouldn't be practical to 'run into town' for coal..., or water, couple times a day.


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## Bill Swindell (Jan 2, 2008)

I think those logging engines ala\so have a small cross-compound, steam driven water pump to draw the water from a pond or stream. As far as coal, I have no idea since the logging locomotives out here on the left coast were almost always oil fired.


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## rhyman (Apr 19, 2009)

Many year ago, FSM had an HO scale kit for a small coal and sand shed. The coal was loaded with buckets via a swing-arm crane. Here is a link to a photo of the original kit: 

http://fsmkits.homestead.com/files/coal_sandShed_115.jpg 

Bob Hyman


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

They often picked up ground water via a thing called an ejector. It worked via a venturi and steam jet, similar to an injector. In some of the Mower (Cass) vids you'll see them pick up water from a tank that's partially buried in a small stream as a collector. In it's most basic form an ejector visually looks sort of like a soup can (and is about the same size) on it's side with a steam line coming in one end, the suction pipe coming out the side, and the outlet coming out the other end

As for steam donkey pumps, I know they came in single and duplex types, I don't think I've ever seen a compound one. Kim and I are currently working on cleaning up and painting a rather large duplex fire pump that came from a factory.


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Just because an engine has the ability to draw water from a stream or pond doesn't mean there wasn't a water tank or standpipe somewhere. Small logging operations were short hauls and didn't require a large fuel capacity although steam engines used a prodigious amount of water. The preferred fuel would be wood in the ealier era and fuel oil or coal later on. Coal was used in the east of course because it was plentiful and cheap but not as safe from fire as oil. 

A small engine shed usually would have a water supply adjacent. This could be a backwoods water tank (see Dwight's article on building one), a typical round tank, a simple standpipe or even a pipe running from a stream to a spout mounted on a wooden frame without a tank as the West Side Lumber Co. had in Tuolumne, Calif. 

Drawing water from a stream was more likely to fight fires that were started along the right of way or on timber trestles than to actually water the engine although this was done too.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

The hose was a Siphon, the injector created suction. 
At the engine house they usually had a small tank, often square or rectangle because it didn't take as skilled nor expensive craftsmen to build them. 

Often buckets of coal or wood stands were located along the route for refueling....


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## Cap'nBill (Dec 27, 2008)

I guess the thing about logging operations is that about anything that would get the job done would have been used. The point being, I suppose you could have an old gondola with coal if needed. I think most of the pics in my book show wood, or oil burners. There too, you'd need an old tank to hold oil, maybe an old wreck of a tank car sitting on a siding. Maybe even a horse drawn sled with a tank.......


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## LogSkidder01 (Jul 30, 2009)

All Lima Shays and every Climax or Heisler I have seen were equipped with steam injector - siphon pumps. To see the pumps in action a trip to Cass Scenic Railroad State Park, West Virginia, or at least a virtual trip is in order: 

http://www.cassrailroad.com/. 

The trip up the mountain always includes at least one stop for water, where the water is siphoned from a stream or an old tender tank filled from a spring.. 

Additional pictures are available at The Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association site: 

http://www.msrlha.org/. 

Although the back country fuel and water facilities were “improvised”, engine fuel and maintenance facilities were not always crude. The original shops at Cass were large and well equipped. You can see some pictures of the coal facility and water tank at Cass: 

http://www.msrlha.org/p-operations-2/slides/19750600-0007s.html 

http://www.msrlha.org/p-operations-4/slides/CS20050519-0003s.html


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