Passenger Train Toilets

[James Sofonia]

20 some years ago, after having a few Amtrak experinces, I drove my motorcycle up into Northern Ontario to "Cochrane" where the train people let me put my cycle in the baggage room for safe keeping and I rode 153 miles to Moosomee on the Artic Oceon. Quite an adventure. I took a canoe taxi out to Moose Factory Island where I camped overnight. The motorized canoe taxis were easy to hail just by standing on the shore and waving your hands. The reasonn I started to think of this trip is the toilets on the train. You sit on the toilet seat and dump. You have to stand up to work the foot pedal that dumps it right under the car on the tracks! You can see the tracks thru the toilet! There was a sign that said " please don't flush at the station. Um yea! One thing I can say about this is it will never go out of service like the Amtrak toilets do all the time.

[J T]

It's always seemed odd to me that they'd allow poop-stained toilet paper to be littered along the tracks. What's up with that?

[hoborich]

A lot of things happened back in the day.

[J T]

And now that I think about it, I'm sure a lot of that poop-stained toilet paper ended up stuck under the car. Those poor saps who had to do repair work...

[SD80MAC]

Imagine being on a track gang on a hot summer day in the middle of July and coming across a nice 100 foot streak of sh*t on the tracks after the Limited came through

[CSX_CO]

From what I heard, the waste would basically break up into nothing if dropped at 'speed'. The liquid would 'atomize' in the air. At least the human waste stuff would eventually decompose and wash away with the first rain. Same can't be said of grease, pastic, sand, and what ever other chemicals a car might be leaking in transit.

Practice Safe CSX

[J T]

Imagine being on a track gang on a hot summer day in the middle of July and coming across a nice 100 foot streak of sh*t on the tracks after the Limited came through

It's a good thing I've never been on a train like that and had to poop. I use a LOT of toilet paper.

And what happens in the winter? Does your butt freeze while you're trying to pinch off a loaf???

[James Sofonia]

And what happens in the winter? Does your butt freeze while you're trying to pinch off a loaf???

I can only say the time I was on that train was a very hot summer day. I was lucky to be in the only car with air conditioning and when you flushed, very hot air came up.

[Saturnalia]

So in JT's world, there are two kinds of crap in railroading:

1. Amtrak 90368 Last Remaining Phase III Cabbage in Service = "Steaming pile of Crap"

2. Freshly "pinched off loaves" of human feces hitting the ballast at 50+. And don't forget the 10-ply TP!

[EWRice]

From what I heard, the waste would basically break up into nothing if dropped at 'speed'. The liquid would 'atomize' in the air. At least the human waste stuff would eventually decompose and wash away with the first rain. Same can't be said of grease, pastic, sand, and what ever other chemicals a car might be leaking in transit.

Practice Safe CSX

The smell lingers. I had a customer that had a truck that always smelled like rotten piss. Even after driving in the rain. After a few months of working on it, I discovered that the driver had run a tube under the dash, through the floor so he could take a leak without stopping. Even six months after they made him take it out, you could still catch a faint whiff. At least with grease and oil you are expecting it.

[PatAzo]

And what happens in the winter? Does your butt freeze while you're trying to pinch off a loaf???

The door stayed closed until you "flushed" and then it opened. I rode from Kalamazoo to Jackson in the late 60's and you could see the ties going by when the door was open. Being a kid I thought it was cool and kept flushing so I could see the track going by until an irritated conductor kicked me out of the restroom.

[SousaKerry]

So if you were riding the NYC in the days of steam and you just happened to flush the toilet over a track pan... The next locomotive would scoop up the pile on the fly and then said pile would wind up in the boiler pipes and produce brown steam??

Well at least it was sterilized by the time it left the boiler.

[Standard Railfan]

So if you were riding the NYC in the days of steam and you just happened to flush the toilet over a track pan... The next locomotive would scoop up the pile on the fly and then said pile would wind up in the boiler pipes and produce brown steam??

Well at least it was sterilized by the time it left the boiler.

That is why the toilets dumped to the outside and the track pans were centered on the ties....