Speaking only to the KV, the railway took gravel from pits all over the
place. I tried to document them when I wrote the Mileboards book, but have
since found out that I didn't come close to documenting probably even half
the places which were used at one point or another. To the best of my
knowledge, clinkers were not specifically used as ballast. It wasn't strong
enough. However, I agree that there were lots of places where clinkers were
found in the ballast, sometimes to the point where clinkers essentially were
the ballast. In my observation, this was mostly at sites where engines
stopped and grates were shaken/ashpans dumped. Someplace in one of my
sources, it states that the gravel ballast was simply 'pit-run.'
Joe Smuin
1. - "Joey, the secret to telling a good railway story is to always try to
stick just as close to the facts as possible." --- (the late) Cliff
Inkster; CPR Engineman, raconteur and philosopher.
2. - The secret to contacting Joe by email is to be sure to insert "Joe" or
"Smuin" into the main text portion of any message you send to him, and thus
your message should percolate through his spam filters.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Burrows" <rgburrow@xxxxxxxx>
To: <cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2009 3:51 PM
Subject: Re: [cpsig] Re: Ballast for KVR
Joe writes:
| "No slag ballast on the KV that I'm aware of.
A little bit of
| Kimberley float was used in tiny spots here
and there during the 1960s, but
| on the KV the ballast of choice was gravel."
I agree, Joe. From what I have seen, and walked
upon, both before and after abandonment, ballast
was pit-run gravel, possibly partially-screened
to remove fines and oversize material.
In addition, based on what I have seen, the ends
of many sidings were comprised of cinders. This
would have occurred when fireboxes were cleaned
and maintained while waiting for meets. Also,
if I'm not mistaken, cinders were used in
Penticton and Brookmere yards (and probably in
other locations), no doubt from the ashpits in
those locations.
Do we know from what pits the gravel ballast
originated?
Roger Burrows
North Vancouver
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