Re: 4960 info for John Craft

John Craft Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tom Moungovan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > John, I don't post on T.O. any longer, but did
> > read your recent comment there about the town
> of
> > WMS not having any public water supply & the
> GCR
> > having to truck water in for use on the steam
> > locomotives.
> > I'm sorry, but this is in error. Williams for
> > years has had the use of the Santa Fe Dam on
> the
> > South side of town. While it is true that
> water
> > supply in Northern AZ is a problem, the GCR has
> > not had to truck water in for their steam
> > operation. I say this because I lived there
> for
> > awhile when I worked for them.
>
> Tom, thanks.
>
> When were you there? Right after GCRY ended
> steam, I was having dinner with someone who had
> worked for GCRY in the recent past, and he
> specifically said that there was no municipal
> water supply, and businesses like hotels have
> their water trucked in, etc. He also mentioned
> that GCRY had built a holding tank near the shop,
> and had been carrying tank cars to the North Rim
> to water the locomotives. (I have in fact seen
> the tank cars at the new station near Maswik
> Lodge.)
>
> Can you elaborate? Is there, in fact, a municipal
> water system? Any idea why someone would make
> something like that up?
>
> Does my BS detector need a tune-up?
>
> JAC


John, I worked there in '99, but have gone back & visited nearly every year since then, including this past June.
As to the water car(s) being taken to the Canyon every 3rd day or so, this is correct. However, this is treated water that the GCR softened at the shops in WMS. There is only emergency water available at the Canyon & none in between there & WMS. This is why we left the shop in the morning with the water just out of sight in the glass & the tender full up into the neck of the hatch. After arrival at the Canyon, water would be taken from one of the water cars there. The tender on 4960 was "shortfilled" with enough to get her back to WMS with its supply of softened water. That way, the tank car at the Canyon would last 2-3 days.
Nobody is telling you wrong then about the water being hauled to the Canyon. IIRC, the tank cars carried 16,000 gallons & weighed 97 tons when full.
When the rr first started up in '89 or so, there was a large steel water tank that was fabricated and set out by where the b.o. diesels are now. I won't go into details, but it didn't last very long.
There may well have been some changes in the source of city water in the last few years...I was speaking from experiences a few years ago.
Hope this clears it up some.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2008 05:59PM by Tom Moungovan.