Heard back this evening from a retired AT&SF shop man I know. As with everyone else I have contacted, he said too small, probably for liquids. Boxcab E50
I suggested that to a couple of the shop guys. They said "maybe." But it again seemed a bit too small. They had used larger buckets for icing water coolers, etc. So, maybe. The mystery endures.... Boxcab E50
If so, any stove it served would have been pretty small. Such an item doesn't really need a spout area. A regular old metal bucket would have been sufficient. Boxcab E50
I have a Rock Island pail that doesn't have the pour spout. I'm looking to sell it on eBay and came across this thread during my research. I specifically found it under "sanding pail" because that's what my pail has in it, silica! My pail isn't full of silica, but I wanted to rinse it out before taking pictures as the stamp is on the bottom of the pail. I was dumping the water out when I noticed the silica stuck to the side I poured from. Looking closer, silica has filled in all the creases around the bottom edge of the pail. I suppose someone could have put silica in the "liquids pail" at one point, but I'm more inclined to think this is what it was used for, adding sand/silica to locomotives where a tower wasn't present. It is maybe a 1 gallon pail tops and it is galvanized?
As noted earlier, size is rather small. And those I quizzed from RR ranks did not recognize the container for that size reason. Sanding an engine with such a limited capacity container would have proved a lengthy, tedious task. Facilities without towers that I knew simply used numerous old five gallon lube oil/grease buckets. If old enough, it could have been in a steam locomotive cab. They would toss a small amount into the firebox when the loco was pulling. That would be drawn through through and out the stack. Known as "sanding the flues" this was a super simple way of cleaning out soot buildup. But with so much time now gone by, there is no way to even prove this idea.
Thats pretty cool! Being to young I have no idea what its for. However, a lady i did some work for showed me an old lantern that had C.M.St.P.&P stamped on it. Her father found it in his field, that was next to the line that ran from Clive Ia. to Concil Bluffs. She keeps it pretty close to heart. I could not even think to try to buy it from her. Wish I could find that pic!
