Re: Chama Water Tank Tub

When we worked on the Needleton water tank in 2004, and the wooden one had been inactive since the early 1970s, there was still an active water line to the tank that ran continuously. There was a drainage system for it that ran parallel to the track for about 50 feet which then went under the roadbed and emptied into the Animas River. After looking inside the tank, and trying to figure out the valves and piping, I felt that it looked like the water was run into the tank and allowed to overflow back through the drain system to keep water moving in the tank to keep it from freezing in the winter. Well before 2004 the water was shut off to the tank itself and then later,I understand that the line was finally shut down. The steel replacement tank has a much smaller capacity and at least in 2004, the morning patrol man, in our case Johnny Martinez, would man a gas powered pump to supplement from the Animas River to the water supply in the tank for the morning trains.