Soda locomotives saw very limited use, and though I’ve found some awesome photos and descriptions thanks to the research of enthusiasts online, I haven’t really found anything describing what exactly the process of draining the probably-boiling-hot caustic slop from the locomotive and refilling it with water and fresh caustic soda looked like. Soda locomotives saw very limited use, and though I’ve found some awesome photos and descriptions thanks to the research of enthusiasts online, I haven’t really found anything describing what exactly the process of draining the probably-boiling-hot caustic slop from the locomotive and refilling it with water and fresh caustic soda looked like.

So I thought I’d reach out to another community of enthusiasts and see if you might be able to extrapolate from the other ways they did things (or how it could be done now).

Sorry if this is obvious to or kind of a trivial question, I’m not super familiar with the logistics around normal trains.

The reason I’m asking is that I’d like to feature these in a story I’m working on, and maybe some art, but I want to make sure it’s reasonable, even if it’s not how things shook out in real life.

Mostly I’m wondering: if these locomotives had obtained mainstream use, what would the station where they swap wet soda for fresh look like? (A water stop and some kind of screw elevator or rig for blowing in the powder/granules?) I don’t necessarily need to write an engineer-level description so much as something a casual observer would see, but if you have that knowledge I’d be thrilled to read it and use as much as possible. I’d also love any suggestions about how you might modernize the design or the processes of filling it, especially for safety.

I really like the idea of a (sunny) place using big solar concentrators to dry the soda essentially for free. It seems like it could be very efficient in terms of using heat in the form we get it, and the simpler analog tech appeals to me since I’m often writing about rebuilding societies.

Thanks very much!!