My brother's company is located in New Haven, CT across the street from Cedar Hill yard. He sent me a list of questions about the coaling tower there which I can't answer, but I'll bet several here can.
Tell me about it, please? What’s the technical name? How does it work? I assume it was used to fill the engine tender with coal, but how? What is that horizontal structure at the very top? Does (or did) it travel up and down to dump coal into the concrete hopper? How did they control the coal dust, which I am told was highly explosive? There are no visible windows, how did they know when it was full?
To this list I'll add: When was it built? Can anyone post photos of the coaling tower in happier days?
Many thanks.
A picture
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Different railroads had different procedures, even the coaling tower architecture would differ, but typically coal was carried to the top of the tower by buckets mounted on an "endless" belt. Coal could be dispensed into the engine's tender either by chute from the base of the tower or by driving the engine and tender directly under the tower itself. You can see what's left of the bucket unit on the right side of the tower in the picture Balt provided, since the photo looks like it was taken in the diesel era the bucket unit may have been partially dismantled, it seems incomplete to me.
The best way to keep down coal dust was to wet the coal with water, and they did do so, coal was wet down when originally loaded in the hopper cars, and possibly again when it was being loaded in the coaling tower. There might possibly have been a spray assembly at the top of the coaling tower but I can't tell from the photo. How did they know when it was full? There was probably someone up on top eyeballing it!
Cedar Hill Yard was built between 1910 and 1920, I'd assume the coaling tower dates from that time. I have to assume, I can't seem to find anything else.
Maybe we've got some New Haven fans that can supply the details?
I think this is the type that was loaded by a 'skip' that ran up and down, not an endless bucket chain (or belt). The extension at the top is part of the arrangement that automatically dumps the skip when it reaches the top.
You'd be able to 'read' the level with a pole or visual inspection, but in addition the railroad would be accounting for coal by weight, and it would be comparatively easy to keep track of what went out and know to put a comparable amount back.
Note that some railroads mixed different ranks to get the desired price/performance for locomotives.
This is likely a design from the great age of cast reinforced concrete 'everything' structures. I would date it not much earlier than around 1915 or so. I wouldn't be surprised to find one of the Simmons-Boardman 'cyclopedias' describing contemporary practice and equipment.
Dumping from a skip may not produce either the trituration nor the static for a critical-mixture coal dust explosion. Discharge from below will agitate the bunker coal very little.
I would guess Joe McMahon would be a good source of info on this.
charlie hebdo I would guess Joe McMahon would be a good source of info on this.
Sorry but I guess I took it for granted. I've been by it and under it hundreds of times and just considered it an artifact from the steam days. I'll see if any of my former co-workers have any info on it.
My sincere thanks to you gentlemen for the very fine information on the coaling tower. I'm glad to add that my brother is just astonished at how little time it took me to get him the answers he sought.
This forum really is a wonderful resource for finding the answers and information which would be impossible, or nearly impossible, to find elsewhere!
Hey, that's why the Forum's here man, so we can learn from each other and have fun doing it.
I'm glad I could be of some small assistance.
Having been in Ceder Hill yard for the New Haven's last steam pasenger train (1952 fan-trip?), the picture caught my attention and the desire to make it easier to read:
Note that the date of the photo is given on top.
daveklepperNote that the date of the photo is given on top.
Overmodit's sometime in the '70s
You are correct, the roundhouse is still standing and the eastbound hump is still operating. This photo is definitely not from 1982.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/imgsrv/image?id=mdp.39015084574659;seq=514;size=150;rotation=0
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/imgsrv/image?id=mdp.39015084574659;seq=515;size=150;rotation=0
There you go, a crash course in coaling towers courtesy of our "Miracle Man" Wanswheel!
Added a section I missed. Sorry, I'll get the hang of this sooner or later.
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The New Haven's Cedar Hill concrete coaling tower at New Haven, CT was built in 1927 by Roberts & Schaeffer Co, one of the major builders of coaling facilities. It had a capacity of 2400 tons of coal and delivered the coal to locomotives on five tracks. There were two coal receiving tracks with large receiving hoppers that supplied coal to two buckets that were pulled to the top of the tower by a cable hoist. Each of the two buckets ran on its own rail structure. Each bucket probably held about 2 - 2.5 tons. About 800 tons was said to be used daily to refuel a hundred or more steam locomotives (precise numbers not known). The tower also held a dry sand storage bin which fed the sand to the engines through pipes outside the tower.
I have never heard of a coal dust problem inside the tower but coal breakage could be a problem in large towers since the coal was dumped from a height and small bits of coal were not good fuel. I don't think coal was wetted down and, in fact, the tower had doors at the top opening which were automatically opened by the buckets. The tower had a coal crusher at the top in order to provide appropriate sized coal to the locomotives. The tower was fireproof but there had been fires in wood towers. Some large towers had equipment to weigh the amount of coal delivered to each locomotive but not the one at Cedar Hill. I imagine the amount of coal remaining was either determined by sight using the stairs up to the top or by estimates. The buckets were traveling a good part of the day during the steam era to replenish supply. I don't think an overflow or an empty tower was a danger. Temporary breakdowns could occur and good maintenace was necessary. A major potential problem was a supply shortage caused by strikes or insufficient mine output. Many large coaling facilities had large coal storage areas -- I believe there was a large emergency supply held at Cedar Hill elsewhere in the rail yard.
https://images.app.goo.gl/T8H9QdVLxGQyF1367
DeKalb coaling tower on the UP (CNW).
charlie hebdo https://images.app.goo.gl/T8H9QdVLxGQyF1367 DeKalb coaling tower on the UP (CNW).
And long may it stand! And any others like it, monuments to a bygone age.
Some more Cedar Hill Yard shots courtesy of "Magic Mike." We haven't hit Cedar Hill overload yet, have we? I didn't think so!
https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ct0338.photos/?sp=1&st=gallery
https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/habshaer/ct/ct0300/ct0338/photos/024112pv.jpg
https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/habshaer/ct/ct0300/ct0338/photos/024115pv.jpg
https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/habshaer/ct/ct0300/ct0338/photos/024113pv.jpg
This last one is a shot of that Cedar Hill "ziggurat" in it's faded glory.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4768245
Hmm, I'm getting better at this. Practice makes perfect, I guess. Or something.
Even more from Mike, taken from WAY up there!
https://archives.lib.uconn.edu/islandora/object/20002%3A860469882
https://archives.lib.uconn.edu/islandora/object/20002%3A860469454
I don't think that could be the date at the top of the photo - a catalog number maybe but not the date (which I would take as Nov 1982). I 'd guess that the photo was taken in the late 1940s due to the number of early diesels and what looks like maybe an R-Class mountain dead and likely headed for the bone yard at the right of the photo.
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