TRACK PANS.

Take careful notice of many Breakneck photos by Ed Nowak that shows the South Portals from a distance and you will see an elevated wooden water tank for "Storm King" water plug. In the famous "Pacemaker" black and white photo on pg. 100 of "Ed Nowak's New York Central" the roof of the tank is visible above cars # 5 and 6. The concrete foundation for this tank and the plug itself was still visible in the early '60's.

Regarding pans at Montrose. When I worked at Standard Coated Products (very near the ex-pan location) an "old timer" told me NYC had water rights to a pond in Furnace Woods which supplied fresh water for pans. There's several ponds up in there and I don't remember which he named.

Ori - Yes, Storm King is West Hudson, flanking The West Shore Line.

There's a skanky pond level with the railroad in Montrose which I thought would have been the source, if not a well, for pan water. Furnace Woods I think would be a bit far to run water from, rather than a well.
The school district border for Furnace Woods is East of Washington Street, but Furnace Woods proper is actually about a mile east of Washington.

Does anybody know if the water used was treated or if it was filtered to keep contaminants and to reduce build-up in the steamers that used it?

Dieter/

There is a pond east of the old Montrose station on Montrose Sta Rd that is now part of Blue Mt Reservation owned by Westchester County. It called Petersons' pond. It has been there for a long time. It is possible that the NYC use this for the pans.

That makes sense, and I think that lake has a dam on it as well by Montrose Station Road. There might still be something left of a pumping station there, but it's a bit of a distance over uneven terrain. It may have been simply gravity fed since the lake was at a higher elevation than the Railway.

Dieter/

Wow, the things you learn with all the knowledge here. I grew up in Montrose in the 70's/80's and the pond did have a dam on the side closest to Montrose station. We just knew it as a fishing/swimming hole. Never realized it was to feed the track pans. While Montrose station road is very cuvy/hilly, the dam spillway was out of sight form the road and ran downward toward the bottom of a valley, where the tracks are and station was. Come top think of it, the station area was always a bit swampy, the the ballast muddy. Must of been a real pain to maintain the roadbed there.

I don't think the water tracked along the roadway, but beneath and somewhere else through the terrain. I can't help but wonder if the bog around Montrose Station is due to someone leaving the valve open, OR something gave way with age and there's a constant feed of water.

It would be interesting to find out the history of the dam, it might have even been built by the railroad.

Dieter/

Here's a link to a topographical map you can manipulate the magnifications of;

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n= ... ayer=DRG25

The pond mentioned with the dam on Montrose Station Road can be seen in the upper right quadrant of the image. At a distance of appx. 1/2 mile, it would seem unlikely this would be the source for water, unless there was a major demand for water to keep up with a high volume of traffic. This "Pond" is more like a small lake in size.

One would think the water sources for Track Pans might come from the smaller ponds closer to trackside, as seen in the upper left quad of the image. Then again, if the Central had rights to a water source in Furnace Woods, the pond on the right would have to be it, as Furnace Woods is towards the left, and Montrose is to the right.

Anybody?

Dieter/

Was looking for location info, and I found it on this thread (nicely enough). But answer me these questions if any of you can. When were the pans torn out, and are there any signs whatsoever of their existance in their former locations?