The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-26
GREAT SAVING
IS PROMISED
Coal Chute at Ogden Largest
of Its Kind on the Harri-
man System.

Along with the many other railroad i'm
provements being made in the local yards,
the largest coal chute on the Hartman
system is rapidly being completed and will
be placed in commission about Sept Is.
The estimated cost of this chute is so 600
and when completed three men will do
the work for which more than score of
men are employed at the present time.
While the matter of reducing operating
expenses is always considered by those
who plan improvements for railroad cor
pOratiOn, in the present instance time was
also taken into consideration. When the
new. coal chute is in use it will be- in
deed, difficult 10 estimate the saving 10
the railroad company at this point in the
matter of time used to coal its locomO-
tiVes. With the engine in place at the
chute only fraction of a minute will
be necessary to place upon the tender the
required amount of fuel to operate the
big iron horse to it's destination at the
other end of one of the numerous divi-
sions running out of this city.
Convenient 20 the large roundhouse in
the Hartman yards, the big coal chute
rises fifty feet above the ground. There
IS sharp incline running from the tracks
below up to a height of thirty-five feet,
to the point where the cars of coal must
be placed for unloading into the huge
pockets. of which there are six. each
holding 100 tons. Ordinarily engines are
used for placing the cars in position as
required at the chute, but at this one a
SlXty-horSepOwer electric motor will pull
the loaded cars up the incline and lower
the empty cars. At the base of the in
cline there are two tracks, one to re-
ceive the empties and the other to store
the loaded cars.
The work Of unloading the cars is sim
plified. The drop bottoms are released,
allowing the coal to drop into the pock-
cts. making the shoveling of the coal un-
necessary. Before the coal reaches the
pockets from the cars, however, it passes
through what are called breakers. These
consist of steel rails laid about twelve
inches apart. All coal that is too large to
pass through the breakers must be
crushed. This gives the locomotive fire
man his fuel broken up into the proper
size and ready for the fiTe-box.
On each side of the chute are six aprons
Through these the coal passes from tn,
chute to the tender of the engine. They
are of the latest improved pattern, and
When in operation the quantity of coal
the exact pound, thereby allowing no
waste whatever. Four locomotives can he
cOaled at the same time if necessary. The
capacity of the chute can be stretched
so as to hold 800 tons of COAL The struc-
ture is so built that additional pockets
and aprons can be added at any time the
business of the system demands il. It Is
built upon concrete foundations and is
just twice the size of the one in opera
ton in the Hartman yards in Salt Lake
The work Of razing the old style chute
TO the ground commenced last week
when the roof was taken off. As soon
as the new one is completed the old struc-
ture will be entirely removed to make way
Tor additional trackage, and coal shovel
ers will have become a thing of the past
in Ogden.