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  • What is this structure called?

  • General discussion about locomotives, rolling stock, and equipment
General discussion about locomotives, rolling stock, and equipment

Moderator: John_Perkowski

 #1594124  by Davidthecurator
 
This is a photo of the railyard in Hutchinson KS about 1910. I'm interested in the roofed structure on the elevated track. My assumption is that it was used to quickly load tender cars with wood. I have another photo of this structure up close with an engine parked in front of it as well.

Does this structure have a specific industry name?
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 #1594207  by edbear
 
It is a coal trestle. Coal cars were shoved up to the top and unloaded. Engines requiring coal were spotted beneath chutes and coal was dropped into hoppers and fed by gravity into the engines' tenders underneath. The enclosure at the top was probably to keep personnel working there out of the weather. There were probably scales to measure how much coal was fed into each tender. (Note about wood: virtually no regular railroad was using wood as a fuel by this date although on some logging lines wood was still being used and for many years later.)