History of modular water tank construction

[soonguy]

Hi, I hope I may be in the right place to ask a historical question. Sorry if not.

At the beginning of the railway age, there was an increasing need to store water for steam locomotives, in large rectangular tanks. The earliest survivor is an 1839 tank at York, which is about to be refurbished. About the only other survivors are at Settle and Keighley. The different railways all used variations on a modular cast-iron panel system, with flanges to bolt them together, and internal angled stays for structural strength. On the Midland Railway, for instance, panels were 4ft x 3ft, used for both the sides and the base. Not much different to the modular pressed-steel tank system manufactured by Braithwaites today. They provided a flexible method of custom building a large tank of varying sizes, and there could be several rows of panels above each other.

I am guessing that this design for modular tank construction may predate the railways, and would have been used for storage tanks for mills and other manufacturies. Please would anyone have more informaton on this? Thanks.

 

[JStephen]

An intriguing question. I had not heard of those before.
In the US, watering tanks were usually wooden or riveted steel. I have just always assumed that this usage dated to the very dawn of railways as well.
Googling up some of the Cornish mine engines inevitably shows the engine but not the boilers or the other equipment such as tanks.
I'd be curious how they built water tanks on the steam ships of the era as well.

Some other examples I found on Google- perhaps the ones you're referencing:

Water tower project - Heritage Railway and Steam Train Rides Midlands, UK, Derbyshire Peak District

It was mentioned at the Peak Railway Association AGM in May 2022 that they will fund a water tower and crane at Rowsley. Since then, it has turned into a collaboration of support for the railway. A generous donation from the family of Mike Shelton, a steam loco driver who served on the railway...

www.peakrail.co.uk

A Vintage Water Tower for Refilling Steam Trains

123RF - Millions of Creative Stock Photos, Vectors, Videos and Music Files For Your Inspiration and Projects.

www.123rf.com

Water Tank Tower for Refilling Steam Trains Stock Photo - Image of rail, drip: 14471180

Photo about Water tank tower for refilling steam trains on the narrow guage railway in the Snowdonia national park, Wales, UK. Image of rail, drip, hose - 14471180

www.dreamstime.com

A "world's oldest" which is not the same construction:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1447851846236737540

 

[LittleInch]

Try looking up canal cast iron aqueducts.

From about 1790 they started using cast iron in different forms, some square, but some like the magnificent Pontcysyllte Aqueduct were made of wedge shaped sections.

A cast-iron legacy

The Canal & River Trust care for over 300 aqueducts across the waterways of England and Wales. For the most part, they are constructed from traditional materials, such as brick or masonry. There are, however, a number of exceptions, impressive structures wrought from cast iron. Follow our...

canalrivertrust.org.uk

So adapting their designs for tanks would have been relatively simple. Plus the railway boom would have created a huge demand.