<html><body><div style="font-family: times new roman, new york, times, serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000"><div>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. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhEgASAPQfAMKmMq6qpuPQHKOGBqGVjPXnLO/v7r+qTnJeSPPwWdK+H8OrGsjHxWpTEsS8nfbYEPryR+DYurebE/r6+v79cf32N4h1WtjV07qfLsq2at7SMnljE9XDMVI9Df77WgAAACH5BAUAAB8ALAAAAAASABIAQAXU4CeKU2mWo2hIVOUW8CMIT+1JxjhdzgEsC8DBcZmkJgcFBcLhuJoQiuJgnDgWHkHjwigxLg2FZ+EwkjISToJCSXAkGfMHqfG4Op17vuLRUFcJCwgWhIWECBgQOHMXAAoJFQsbAwsVCQoARSlzEQcSAwMSBxFyIwYYCwkeEKwQHoEYOZwsEBUNe7cVURKkgLUVGw0uwS4QCTgrFAUcNDXODwsCigYGBxq2BAwBFxcBDATCfgYT1WICGwTc4AIeU+MqFwcLGq6rGgsHF7JHBlwM//pKhQAAOw=="></div><div>Stephen Rineair</div><div><br></div><hr id="zwchr" data-marker="__DIVIDER__"><div data-marker="__HEADERS__"><b>From: </b>"NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org><br><b>To: </b>"NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org><br><b>Cc: </b>"NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org><br><b>Sent: </b>Monday, May 26, 2025 7:20:46 PM<br><b>Subject: </b>Re: Steel Water Tank Question<br></div><div><br></div><div data-marker="__QUOTED_TEXT__">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. <br><div>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:</div><div><a href="https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=13303" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=13303</a></div><br><div>The “why” question is still an open one. Possibly as simple as reducing costs, and maybe soot wasn’t an issue. </div><br><div>Matt Goodman</div><div>Columbus, Ohio, US</div><div><div><br><blockquote><div>On May 23, 2025, at 7:12 PM, Matt Goodman <mgoodman312@icloud.com> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><div>Hey everyone, <br><div>This past couple weeks I’ve been exploring the ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) Aerial Image Archive (here: <a href="https://gis3.dot.state.oh.us/ODOTAerialArchive/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://gis3.dot.state.oh.us/ODOTAerialArchive/</a>).</div><br><div>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. </div><br><div>The nearest location with a similar set up is Portsmouth, and it too shows open tops on the treated tanks. </div><br><div>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. </div><br><div>Does anyone have any comments on why this was done? Rain water harvesting? Maybe soot / cinder doesn’t really cause problems?</div><br><div>Attached are Dorney (top -1959) and Portsmouth (bottom - 1954)</div><br><div><span id="cid:9119AAC9-E626-4CB0-B24D-77FBF8E6B18E"><PastedGraphic-3.png></span></div><br><div><span id="cid:987A722B-29A4-4CE6-9486-67369219211F"><PastedGraphic-1.png></span></div></div></div></blockquote></div><br></div><br>________________________________________<br>NW-Mailing-List@nwhs.org<br>To change your subscription go to<br>https://pairlist6.pair.net/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list<br>Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at<br>https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/<br></div></div></body></html>