C16's, C18's, C19's

[Anonymous]

Hi guys,
A question on something that intigues me. I have been looking at some excellent shots on www.ghostdepot.com (go to locomotives then D&RGW 1939 roster) and found on the loco's of the title an interesting box on the cab roof, yes the roof! Is it storage, tool? Why on earth is it on the roof, it's not even flat. The box is quite big so it will hold some gear but I don't know what. Please guys, educate this old limey on this one then I can stick a box on the roof of my C16 and be able to explain why when someone asks. It looks good on the picture of 271 in 1920 near the top of the page.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[vsmith]

Its a toolbox, where the crews could store tool and items not needed when the train was running but might be needed to make a repair along route. These were often stored in boxes on the tender, thats what those boxes near the front of a Bachmann Annie tender are for, but if there was no such provisions on the tender they had to find another place, logging geared engine locos carried there toolboxes on the roofs to keep them out of the tight cabs and out of the way. Some smaller locos also would do this, especially the ones with boilers that went all the way thru to the back of the cab. On locos where the backhead stopped near the front of the cab and you had a much roomier cab the toolboxes were often under the engineer and firemans seats.

[Anonymous]

Nice one Vic, one shall be appearing on the roof of mine, I have a whitemetal one in the junk box. I must admit I thought that if they weren't on the tender then they were under the seats as you said.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[kstrong]

It's certainly an uncommon location for a toolbox, and not terribly user friendly. (Notice the grab iron on the front of the cab over the door.) I'd hate to have to grab a tool out of there when the loco's moving. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see the photo, that's for certain.

Tool boxes on locomotives typically had angled sides like that. Not sure why beyond aesthetics. Two possibilities here - they wanted increased coal capacity in the tender, and needed to move the toolbox somewhere else on the loco, or they took the box off of another loco.

Other more common locations for toolboxes (other than the front of the tender) include the front pilot deck, running boards, and on the rear of the tender, either directly behind the tender tank (as on the Bachmann 4-4-0 and 2-6-0) or in the space behind the coal bin next to the water hatch.





Later,

K

[Anonymous]

It certainly would have been a risky operation Kevin, and not one to be done lightly considering the state of the track in some areas. It wasn't an extra that found its way onto all of the loco's in the group, C18's 315 and 319, both at Durango c 1950 & 1940 respectively show the box, 319 being an excellent shot. I wonder if the tools they contained where for a particular job and of a size that kept them out of the cab and would be accessed when the loco was stationary, but saying that if the tools were large then they would be heavy and you wouldn't want them on the roof. I wonder if the tools were clipped could there be access from the inside of the cab through a hatch? Realms of fantasy.......................?
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[vsmith]

They were VERY common on logging and mining locomotives, particularly geared engines, yeah, kindofa b#tch to reach if the train was moving, I suspect it was more common on the slower engines only.

If I remember my C-s correctly they had full lenth boilers thru the cabs with fold down seats for the engineer and fireman, so there was absolutly no space for a tool box inside the cab, thats probably why they were installed on the cab roof, but I suspect given that its only on a couple photos form a short time span, it didnt last long, or was only done to a few engines. Crews must have crowed up a storm of protest , maybe thats why it didnt spread.