Editing Water trough (section)

==Operational considerations==
The LNWR quickly installed water troughs at other locations, but other companies were slow to adopt the new apparatus. The [[Great Western Railway]] (GWR) did so from 1895, and subsequently all the major railways in England, with the exception of the lines south of the [[River Thames]], installed the equipment.

Taking water at speed results in considerable spray behind the scoop; this risks drenching passengers in the leading vehicles, and in Great Britain it was customary for the guard or other traincrew to warn passengers in the first coach to keep the windows closed. In one incident on the LMS railway in Britain, two streamlined trains with ''[[LMS Coronation Class|Coronation]]'' class locomotives happened to pass each other at a water trough when one of the trains was taking on water. The other train suffered broken windows due to lumps of tender coal scattered by the spray and the complaints from drenched passengers caused the management to retimetable the trains to ensure this could not happen again. Vaughan says that the Royal Train when conveying royalty was not permitted to be passed by another train in a section where there was a water trough.<ref name = vaughan/>

Vaughan states that the GWR investigated the effectiveness of varying train speed, and found that {{cvt|45|mph}} was the optimum speed; but water could be picked up successfully as low as {{cvt|15|mph}}. At that speed {{convert|944|impgal|l|abbr=on}} could be picked up in {{convert|440|yd|m}}, but Vaughan suggests that this is a low theoretical figure, and that it overlooks the bow wave effect which enables a greater take-up rate. There was a significant resistance to the forward motion of the engine during the process, enough to require special care by the driver to avoid problems on unfitted freight trains.<ref name = vaughan/>

The considerable water spray made track maintenance difficult, and the physical trough equipment limited access for packing [[Railroad tie|sleepers]], exacerbating the problem. In very cold weather the water would freeze, preventing water pick-up, unless a heating apparatus was installed.

Track pans normally took a while to fill up after being used, so they could not be used immediately by a close-following train. They were also expensive to maintain, generally requiring a [[pumping station]], a lot of plumbing, and an employee or two to maintain. They were thus only justified on a railroad with a high traffic volume. In the United States, several big eastern railroads used them, primarily the [[New York Central Railroad]] and [[Pennsylvania Railroad]].

They could be found on all main lines in Britain, except on the [[Southern Railway (UK)|Southern Railway]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Foster, Richard|title=L&NWR water troughs|journal=British Railway Journal|issue=London & Birmingham Railway edition|year=1989|pages=84–91}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Twells, H. N.|title=LMS Miscellany: a pictorial record|year=1982|publisher=Oxford Publishing Co|location=Oxford|isbn=0-86093-172-2}}{{page needed|date=March 2016}}</ref><ref name = vaughan>{{cite magazine|author=Vaughan, Adrian|title=Water troughs on the GWR|magazine=[[Railway World]]|volume=51|year=1990|pages=278–80, 370–4}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Water pick-up troughs|magazine=The Railway Magazine|volume=74|date=January 1934|pages=4–7 |issue=439 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Webb, David|title=Water troughs|journal=Cumbrian Railways Circular|volume=3|date=August 1984|pages=223, 263–4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=2009 |editor-last=Robertson |editor-first=Kevin |title=Water troughs on the Southern |journal=The Southern Way |issue=6 |pages=61–69 |isbn=9781906419134}}</ref> They were removed as use of steam trains decreased. When the [[Aber (LNWR) railway station|Aber]] troughs were removed in 1967, the only remaining troughs were in north-west England and Scotland.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Modern Railways]] |date=July 1967 |page=397 }}</ref>