Jonathan: You've received some good, accurate answers and photos from others, so I'll just add a bit more. It was generally not until the diesel era that steel sand towers were added beside coal chutes -- as in the photo of the tower at Council Bluffs that Tim Fleck posted. Until that time sand was delivered to locomotives either by stand-alone wooden sand towers or, quite often, via pipe from the coal chute itself. I've attached a similar view of the Council Bluffs chute taken in 1954, showing that the steel sand tower had not yet been installed. The sand delivery pipe is clearly visible coming from the coal chute. Prior to the use of diesel- type sand towers, a metal sand hopper was installed high in the inside of the coal chute and was fed dried sand by a pipe from the drying shed adjacent to the coal chute. From the hopper up in the chute, the sand was delivered via another pipe to the sand domes of locomotives. I'm attaching a few photos that show this arrangement at the Centralia, Ill., coal chute. One photo is an early one, dating to 1922, and clearly shows the sand drying shed with the pipe heading up to the hopper inside the coal chute. Another is from 1951, and little had changed. The other view was taken in 1961 after the chute was no longer in use, but it shows some of the piping details pretty well. Hope this helps. Hol
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 06:27:59 -0800 Subject: RE: [CBQ] Facilities
Hol, something you said here puzzles me.
"...I have looked for years without success for a drawing of the fairly standard wooden sand tower used by the Q in the steam era where sand was not dispensed at/by the coal chute. Separate sand towers were used when space or other constraints did not allow the sand drying and storage house to be located adjacent to the coal chute and the dried sand pumped through pipes to the coal chute for distribution."
So sand was poured into the domes through the coal chute? Given the width of the chute, how did they direct the sand into the dome and prevent it from spilling all over the top of the boiler?
Can you refer me to a photo showing this arrangement—i.e., showing what the sand drying and storage house looked like when sited right next to the coal chute?
Thanks very much, Jonathan Harris
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Posted by: Hol Wagner <holpennywagner@msn.com>
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CB&Q Centralia, Ill., Coal Chute, 6-1922 #1.jpg
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CB&Q Centralia, Ill., Coal Chute, 8-1951, Joe Collias photo.jpg
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CB&Q Centralia, Ill., Coal Chute, 1961, Al Hoffman collection-4.jpg
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CB&Q 5116, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Coal Chute, 1954.jpg
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