Steel Water Tank Question

[NW Mailing List]

Carl, here are some color wooden tank pics, to give some idea of the color.
Be aware these are probably not perfect renditions.
Mike Rector
[image: image.png]
[image: image.png]

[image: image.png]

this one is pretty dark with soot and/or weathered wood and lack of stain.
[image: image.png]


On Tue, May 27, 2025 at 7:11 PM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

> Steel tanks were black. Wooden tanks were a reddish-brown, like structure
> trim of the era.
>
> Best
> Ken Miller
>
> > On May 27, 2025, at 11:46 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> wrote:
> >
> > What color did the NW paint their wooden and steel water tanks?
> >
> > Carl Barna
> > Emmaus, PAFrom: NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org> on
> behalf of NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> > Sent: Monday, May 26, 2025 10:10 PM
> > To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> > Subject: Re: Steel Water Tank Question
> >  The water tower in Clare Yards in Cincinnati was an open top. I have
> photo rom above, so don't forget to model the dead birds floating on top.
> > Stephen Rineair
> >
> > From: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> > To: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> > Cc: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> > Sent: Monday, May 26, 2025 7:20:46 PM
> > Subject: Re: Steel Water Tank Question
> >
> > As a follow up, an answer to my question was hinted at in the
> instructions to a water tank kit produced by Tichy. A short paragraph
> stated that some railroads “in temperate climates” didn’t install tops to
> their tanks. So that at least confirmed that petticoat junction-style open
> top steel tanks were a real thing.
> > Today I also found the standard plans for the tanks in question in my
> original email, which confirmed the open top for the specific tanks I asked
> about:
> > https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=13303
> >
> > The “why” question is still an open one. Possibly as simple as reducing
> costs, and maybe soot wasn’t an issue.
> >
> > Matt Goodman
> > Columbus, Ohio, US
> >
> > On May 23, 2025, at 7:12 PM, Matt Goodman <mgoodman312 at icloud.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hey everyone,
> > This past couple weeks I’ve been exploring the ODOT (Ohio Department of
> Transportation) Aerial Image Archive (here:
> https://gis3.dot.state.oh.us/ODOTAerialArchive/).
> >
> > The first place I looked was the Dorney coaling station south of
> Columbus. The high water tank (the “raw” or untreated water) was open on
> top (as expected) but I was surprised to see that the two low 200K treated
> / storage tanks also appeared to be open. That surprised me, so I started
> down to check other locations.
> >
> > The nearest location with a similar set up is Portsmouth, and it too
> shows open tops on the treated tanks.
> >
> > To me this is unintuitive since the treated water would be exposed to
> soot - especially in the Portsmouth yard - which would then make its way
> through the locomotive appliances, etc.
> >
> > Does anyone have any comments on why this was done? Rain water
> harvesting? Maybe soot / cinder doesn’t really cause problems?
> >
> > Attached are Dorney (top -1959) and Portsmouth (bottom - 1954)
> >
> > <PastedGraphic-3.png>
> >
> > <PastedGraphic-1.png>
> >
> >
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>
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