Gravity toilets

[Gemuser]

In Russia they are now getting away from the direct drop and it will show you when you book if your car has direct drop or retention tanks because they close the bathroom for an hour in either direction of a major stop in a major city.

That's good to hear, but with that many carriages its going to take awhile.
Seaboard92: In 2010 when I did the Trans Siberian it was more complicated than that. Locked toilets were nominally, an hour before a large city, 45 minutes before a medium city, 30 minutes before a town & 15 minutes before a small town. Where it got really confusing & difficult was first thing in the morning when everyone needed it and you woke up 30 min from a medium city [at least in a large city the stop was long enough to use the station toilets]. In fact one time my mad mate travelling companion on most rail excursion threatened the carriage attendent that he would piss on her compartent floor if she didn't let him & started to pull his shorts down, she very quickly relented!
At least coming into Vladvstock, [before 5:00 am] she was better orginised and got everybody up BEFORE she locked the toilets.

 

[jruff001]

Host railroads care about their employees? Surely you jest!?

Maybe more like the host railroad's unions pressuring management. It would probably have been easy to bring in OSHA (or whatever equivalent agency or FRA branch would deal with railroad worker safety) if they needed to, and maybe they did. I don't know the details, only that it seemed to me at the time that it was the host railroads who put a stop to it for whatever reason.

 

[jruff001]

Didn't seem to bother the railroads when they purchased those very same cars and there were many, many more passenger trains.

I am not sure there were many other practical options back then. Plus workplace safety and sanitary standards have evolved in the ensuing 50-100 years.

Seems to make a difference when they were dumping their own sh!t versus someone else's sh!t.

Definitely this too!

 

[Ziv]

Dumping your "stuff" on the tracks is not always a bad thing. I was chatting with a woman on the Trans-Siberian railroad as we were traveling through the Gobi desert. She was a big fan of birds and she was eager to point out the birds flying away (or in some cases running) from the front of the train. She was pointing out buzzards, hawks, a couple of eagles, bustards, etc. We were kind of dumbstruck about how often we would see a bird in a rather arid country and she laughed and said that some of them were coming to the tracks to eat rodents that were attracted by "our leavings". And others were there for the leavings itself.
So one mans cr** is another animals breakfast, and the benefit went quite a ways up the food chain.

 

[Maglev]

Yes...I remember them doing that on the CZ as well, in certain areas, one of which was passing thru the Moffat Tunnel, IIRC...they also turned off the HVAC during the ten minute period.

Makes me feel bad for taking a shower in the Moffat Tunnel (I didn't want to miss any scenery)! The showers drain onto the tracks...

 

[tomfuller]

I remember riding the ViaRail Canadian a couple times. The Conductor or assistant locked the bathroom doors just before we entered the station. One did allow me to shave once if I promised to not flush. It is nicer to shave while the train is not in motion.

 

[zephyr17]

I remember riding the ViaRail Canadian a couple times. The Conductor or assistant locked the bathroom doors just before we entered the station. One did allow me to shave once if I promised to not flush. It is nicer to shave while the train is not in motion.

That must have been some time ago. VIA added retention tanks when they did the big HEP rebuild of the Budd fleet in the 1990s

 

[RPC]

Superliner I: I remember listening to my scanner and the maintainers asking to have the "bomb bay doors" closed when the train went through the work zone.

 

[tomfuller]

That must have been some time ago. VIA added retention tanks when they did the big HEP rebuild of the Budd fleet in the 1990s

My first Amtrak and first ViaRail trip was in October 2001 on a North America Rail Pass. I remember watching ties fly by when I looked in the toilet when I flushed.

 

[CTANut]

They operated on the Three Rivers until October 1, 2001.

 

[AM_ROAD]

They operated on the Three Rivers until October 1, 2001.

That's because the Three Rivers was the last train to have Heritage sleepers right?

 

[OBS]

That's because the Three Rivers was the last train to have Heritage sleepers right?

Yes

 

[MrMattyMatt]

I had a single slumbercoach on a trip from Chicago - NYC. my girlfriend and her son was in a double slumbercoach. Rather than use the toilet in the room, she used either the separate toilet at the end of the car or in the next car down which I think was a heritage sleeper. She told me that when she flushed she saw the tracks. I used the toilet in the single Slumbercoach but didn't see tracks when flushing but I would not be surprised if it dumped onto the tracks. Considering the high occupancy in those cars, that must have been a literal travelling sh*t-bomb. I can recall taking many trains in England when I was there on a family trip as a child and definitely remember seeing the tracks and the signs to not flush whilst at the station.

 

[PaTrainFan]

I had a single slumbercoach on a trip from Chicago - NYC. my girlfriend and her son was in a double slumbercoach. Rather than use the toilet in the room, she used either the separate toilet at the end of the car or in the next car down which I think was a heritage sleeper. She told me that when she flushed she saw the tracks. I used the toilet in the single Slumbercoach but didn't see tracks when flushing but I would not be surprised if it dumped onto the tracks. Considering the high occupancy in those cars, that must have been a literal travelling sh*t-bomb. I can recall taking many trains in England when I was there on a family trip as a child and definitely remember seeing the tracks and the signs to not flush whilst at the station.

Yes, prior to the 1980s, that is how all train toilets were emptied. It was quite a rush to see and hear the track passing quickly below...

 

[DonNewcomb]

The last time I recall using one was on the train from Oslo to Skoppum in 1997. I recall being rather suppressed that Norway still used the antiquated system.

 

[Rasputin]

I have used gravity toilets many times on trains. I remember in the 1970s being surprised at the Budd equipment used on the Canadian because they had flush toilets (which I think flushed onto the tracks). This was quite different from the straight-drop gravity toilets.

I think for the most part gravity toilets got a bad rap. In my experience they were more of a problem in theory than in practice. My impression is that at speed the waste pretty well dissipated. Many times I would walk along railroad tracks shortly after a long passenger train had passed. There would be little evidence of toilet use. There might have been more of a problem in areas where there were multiple passenger trains a day but I don't think it was much of a problem on lines that hosted one or two trains a day. Others may have a different experience.

 

[TrackWalker]

Others may have a different experience.

As one of those who worked on the tracks the answer is yes.

 

[RovinMoses]

As one of those who worked on the tracks the answer is yes.

Yep, here's a news article from 1989 when workers filed a suit against Amtrak for dumping waste on them while they worked underneath bridge. State of Oregon fined Amtrak. I believe that may have been the issue that motivated Amtrak to end the practice of "flushing on the fly." I definitely remember childhood fascination with looking down at the track "whizzing" below while riding the Texas Chief from Wichita to OKC! Rail Workers Say Amtrak Trains Dump Waste on Them While They Repair Bridge

 

[zephyr17]

I have used gravity toilets many times on trains. I remember in the 1970s being surprised at the Budd equipment used on the Canadian because they had flush toilets (which I think flushed onto the tracks). This was quite different from the straight-drop gravity toilets.

I think for the most part gravity toilets got a bad rap. In my experience they were more of a problem in theory than in practice. My impression is that at speed the waste pretty well dissipated. Many times I would walk along railroad tracks shortly after a long passenger train had passed. There would be little evidence of toilet use. There might have been more of a problem in areas where there were multiple passenger trains a day but I don't think it was much of a problem on lines that hosted one or two trains a day. Others may have a different experience.

The gravel ballast actually makes a decent septic field, from what I've heard.

However, I do recall "vestibuling" on an SP special train (PRS "Mountain Outin'" in 1970) as a teenager. I wondered why it felt like it was raining on a clear day in the Mojave Desert outside Palmdale.