C&S "Three Bent Tanks" -- Riverview??

Posted by Jim Courtney on Jul 08, 2018; 2:38am
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/C-S-Water-Tank-at-Blackhawk-and-the-Three-Bent-Water-Tanks-tp11993p12071.html

John,

Thanks for the additional info and approximations.

So tank capacities are estimated at 16,000 to 20,000 gallons. That reconciles with Mac Poor's stated capacity at Morrison of 17,900 gal.

I've been looking through Mac Poor's station list in his book. Most water tanks on the South Park and Clear Creek divisions are listed as either 30,000 gal or 50,000 gal (Poor refers to them as 47,500 gal). Some stations known to have water tanks by photos, have no listing, such as Blackhawk. Tunnel Gulch tank has a build date but no listed capacity.

There is one other tank with the potential to be a "Three Bent Tank", that being at Riverview, MP 38.8, just to the east of Buffalo. Poor lists this as a tank of only 11,700 gallons, though.

An early c1890 view has a beautiful passenger train obscuring the support structure -- it may have been enclosed at this point in time. The cab and tender of the Cooke 2-6-0 has the same dimensions as that of number 6 in the Blackhawk photo. Perhaps you could gestimate the tank dimension, as it is reminiscent of the Tunnel Gulch tank in terms of number of bands:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/71907



A later view, c1910 shows the tank to be flat topped with many more bands. Unfortunately the tank bents/posts are obscured, as the tank was sited in a carve out in the hillside. This may be a replacement 30,000 gal tank. What do you think?

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/78053/rec/6



A significant wreck with quite a pile up of boxcars occurred in front of the tank in 1902. Seems like I've seen a head on photo of the tank in one of those photos, but can't find it in my files.

Anyone have a photo of the Riverview Tank that shows the support structure??

Late Edit: Derrell Poole posted this photo of Riverview Tank back in February, 2015: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.41377.n7.nabble.com/Idaho-Springs-Tank-td1316i20.html#a1502




Not much help with the bents. For reference, John, that's a 30' St Charles 4-board coal car on the ground. I gestimate the tank diameter to be 15 foot and height of about 12 feet (like Tunnel Gulch and Morrison), but I don't have a ruler in the hospital call room.

Any other photos of the Riverview wreck that show tank details??