Steam servicing facilities - Skykomish

[ozinoz]

Just a general question regarding steam servicing facilities at Skykomish. Even looking back at historic photos of the yards, I cant seem to be able to locate any steam coaling and sanding facilities at Skykomish. The large water tower is there, to the right of the turntable facing west, but I cant find any coaling. Steam worked east to Skykomish before transitioning to electric traction for the grades; just thought there would have been coaling facilities there somewhere

Beautiful route, something to be truly proud of

[GreatNortherner]

Thanks for the kind words!

According to a 1945 GN map of Sky that we used as reference, there were indeed no coaling facilities there. Some probably existed before the electrification of the pass but once the electrics took over it might just have been redundant. It's not that far to Delta Yard (or Wenatchee, in case the steamer got pulled along behind the electrics).

EDIT: On closer inspection, that map might be incomplete and missing the coaling facilities. The map of Delta Yard from the same document doesn't show any coaling facilities either which seems quite impossible to me if it really is from the 1940s.

Cheers
Michael

[RudiJaeger]

This may shed some light: https://vimeo.com/68413602
At the 40-second mark, there appears to be a coaling tower visible in the right-side of the frame. Btw, it's an interesting video to watch all the way through. The beginning discusses a significant negative impact the GN had on the town, but the ending shows how it's GN heritage was turned into a positive.

Hope that helps. Cheers!

Edit: After searching through the Skykomish Historical Society's photo archives, this circa 1900 photo is the only one I could find that features a coaling tower: https://skykomish.pastperfectonline.com ... 5264014720

There were a few photos with the water towers, but no coaling tower in sight. So perhaps the coaling tower was not in place for very long.

[gtrtroger]

Appears to look like the sanding station at Albion on the BLE but with a cover like the “Coal & Gravel” delivery location at Butler or the “UP Coal” delivery location at Riverside on the RWA.....

Something like this....

[ozinoz]

Thanks guys for the info - very interesting. Certainly looks like a coal stage at the 40 sec mark, and you are right, an interesting video and indicative of just about every industrial town. As the narration points out, Skykomish was a refueling point, so a coal stage (and sand) has to be about somewhere, depending obviously when it was removed after the conversion to all dismal operation.

(Rick, Michael - your thoughts?)

Just loving it

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Appears to look like the sanding station at Albion on the BLE but with a cover like the “Coal & Gravel” delivery location at Butler or the “UP Coal” delivery location at Riverside on the RWA.....

Something like this....

How did they get the loaded hopper cars up the dock's steep ramp? By a cable hoist or being pushed by a locomotive? Given the dock is all wood and looks quite flimsy, only 40 ton cars or so allowed on the dock?

[ricksan]

Hadn't seen those old Skykomish photos before, but It sure looks like some kind of coaling equipment. Apparently the photos were taken ca. 1900, which is earlier than the era we had in mind. Although steam trains were still around, Cascadian wasn't really conceived as a steam route. Nevertheless, we included steam service facilities at Appleyard, as well as the large water tank at Merritt because they existed into our era. Water tanks also show up in some of the plot plans of Cascade and Wellington, and not in others. Anyway, you're welcome to run "simulated" steam if you like, including through the tunnels!

The "refuelling station" discussion in the video goes on to talk about the leakage of petroleum products, which is what the environmental cleanup was about. That sort of contamination would of course have happened in the diesel era.

[gtrtroger]

Not that unusual Rick.... the two water towers at Keddie stood until 1979....long after the steam era.

[ozinoz]

Thanks for the info...

Now, here is a question. If I go ahead and make some mods in Skykomish to add some new facilities, what is likely to happen to that work with the release of the add-on extension? I dont want to be making mods only to have them all removed

[gtrtroger]

I return to this thread as an update....

In the photo below, as it is in the route, the building in question is a covered Engine or RIP track.
Sorry for the confusion....

[GreatNortherner]

That wonderful old photo shows how much the yard in Skykomish changed when the pass got electrified. The obvious change is that the depot moved from between the tracks over to alongside main street, just opposite the Cascadia hotel where it still stands today. The yard's track layout also got substantially altered though between the date on the photo and our version, which we mainly based on a 1945 GN track plan drawing and 1950s topo maps.

1915 was a few years after the (1st) Cascade Tunnel got electrified, but that first electrification project only involved the tunnel itself and steam engines still had to pull the trains up the long 2.2% grade to Tye, where the electrics took the lead for the few miles to Cascade station.

Cheers!
Michael

[GreatNortherner]

...Now, here is a question. If I go ahead and make some mods in Skykomish to add some new facilities, what is likely to happen to that work with the release of the add-on extension?

It all depends on what changes you make. Generally speaking, installing the upcoming Cascadian-West update will
1) undo all tracks-related changes you may have done anywhere on the route (tracks, track properties, track-linked interactive objects like signs or fueling facilities)
2) undo any scenery changes you may have made west of Skykomish, potentially including the Skykomish tiles themselves (not sure about that yet)
3) most likely not affect any scenery changes you may have made on tiles east of Skykomish

Hope this helps!

Michael

[ozinoz]

Michael,

Cheers mate thanks...

I will bide my time



Grant

[ErikGorbiHamilton]

The obvious change is that the depot moved from between the tracks over to alongside main street, just opposite the Cascadia hotel where it still stands today.
Michael

Actually the depot moved a THIRD time. sometime after 2013 the Depot was moved across the yard, and using the picture as reference, to the right of the depot in the photo