Bridge platform and barrel Question?

[tatans]

Barrels for fires?? as kids we thought they were provided for our entertainment to see if we throw them off the trestle into the river below. Also the platform was to provide a safe haven when the way freight roared over the trestle.

[SilverSpike]

Out of curiosity, how did they keep the water from freezing? I've often wondered about that.

Karl 

Wood is a poor conductor of heat and cold, so the water in a wooden tank or barrel could be prevented from freezing more easily than that in a steel tank.

Not really. It's not thick enough to be very insulating and there is an open top. The water in my rain barrels freezes right around 32 degrees F. We have lots of winter nights below zero fahrenheit.

Old timers told me that blacksmiths used brine in their slack tubs to keep them from freezing. Maybe railroads used something similar?

Blacksmiths also placed large sticks or 4x4s in the tubs to keep the tubs from bursting if the water did freeze. Don't know how well that worked. 

The wooden barrels and water holding structures that I am refering to do have wooden covers.

[selector]

Sand is also effective at putting out fires, and stays put where it lands...unless on sloped or vertical timbers...but still better than water.  It also doesn't freeze, nor does it turn green or yucky.

[larak]

Out of curiosity, how did they keep the water from freezing? I've often wondered about that.

Karl 

Wood is a poor conductor of heat and cold, so the water in a wooden tank or barrel could be prevented from freezing more easily than that in a steel tank.

Not really. It's not thick enough to be very insulating and there is an open top. The water in my rain barrels freezes right around 32 degrees F. We have lots of winter nights below zero fahrenheit.

Old timers told me that blacksmiths used brine in their slack tubs to keep them from freezing. Maybe railroads used something similar?

Blacksmiths also placed large sticks or 4x4s in the tubs to keep the tubs from bursting if the water did freeze. Don't know how well that worked. 

 

 

[Dave-the-Train]

As much as how they prevented freezing (if they needed to) I would like to know how they kept the barrels topped up during long hot summer months and how they stopped the contents becoming green, smelly and yeuk.

 

Back at the question of freezing... I would guess that the cold months tended to see less risk of fire on the structure... temperatures being lower in general and the environment being wetter... so ??? maybe the issue would have been to keep the barrels from being damaged by water freezing (and expanding) in them.  ???Perhaps they emptied the barrels in the coldest months?

[SilverSpike]

Out of curiosity, how did they keep the water from freezing? I've often wondered about that.

Karl 

Wood is a poor conductor of heat and cold, so the water in a wooden tank or barrel could be prevented from freezing more easily than that in a steel tank.

[larak]

Out of curiosity, how did they keep the water from freezing? I've often wondered about that.

Karl 

 

[THE.RR]

The platform provided a safe haven for the track walker when a train passed by.

[tomikawaTT]

The barrels on little extended platforms (actually supported on switch ties which replaced three of five standard ties) were water barrels, and were usually found on wooden trestles.  They were supposed to be available in case of fire, so the local section hand would have something at hand to extinguish smoldering spots - preferably before the entire trestle was fully involved.

I don't know how useful they would be on a steel bridge - but, then again, their real value on a trestle depended on the presence of a trackwalker in the immediate vicinity who could respond to the first wisp of smoke.  I DO know that the New York rapid transit line I used every day in high school (and the others I rode in my spare time) had miles of wooden-decked steel girder elevated structures with nary a water barrel to be seen.  (Of course, the railroads couldn't call on the NYFD to put out a trestle fire in a remote and probably roadless location.)

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[oleirish]

   The barrells on the old wooden bridges were to put out sparks from locos,and keep the bridge from burning.I think they were filled with sand.The old HOG Heads an Fireman would use water from there locomotives to help put out fires allso.

 

  JIM

[GAPPLEG]

The barrels held water in case of fire on the wooden trestle.

[darrel480]

Just wondering if someone could tell what the platforms with barrels are for on many bridges. What is stored in the barrels?  Are the platforms and barrels appropriate for a truss bridge in use today or were they used for steam operations only?  Thanks