Re: Markers

SP,
When I was with the UP steam crew we did it this way:
Water? We'd contact the towns along the line well in advance and inform them that we would need about 40,000 gallons, more or less. The main tender holds 23,000 and the water bottle holds about the same. Then we just pull up to the local fire hydrant, hook up the fire hoses, and turn them on. If you look at the tender of 844, you will find a fire hose connection at each of the rear corners. These connect to an inner tube which sprays the water from the top of the tank just like a spout would do. We had a water bottle that had a direct connection from the bottom, but injecting all that water against the increasing weight of the water itself as the tender fills is just too much for some small town (and big town) water systems.
Oil is the simple part. Since an oil tank will allow us to travel about 250 miles before needing a fill up, we pre-arranged refueling points and had a tank truck, with the proper fuel mixture (UP NO.5 Hot) waiting when we pulled up. The fuel is just pumped into the fuel bunker like it would be with any other fuel storage tank. No, the locomotive does not have to be shut down for this operation.
This takes quite a bit of planning and knowledge of the local fuel distributors along the UP. The trips, however, are planned months in advance and all of the arrangements are made before either the 844 or 3985 turns a wheel.
Rick Steele