Canadian Pacific Railway Water Tower - Cranbrook, BC
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 49° 30.728 W 115° 46.298
11U E 588920 N 5485114
This octagonal building is actually what its informational sign says it is - a water tower.
Waymark Code: WMFEQX
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 10/07/2012
Views: 4
This water tower has led a life of ups and downs, from hectic activity to idleness, and even moving from here to there. Built in 1946 to replace an earlier one from 1898, it saw daily service replenishing parched steam locomotives for the first several years of its life.
Then, starting in the 1950s, the diesel electric locomotive began to push aside the steam locomotive, gradually causing this tower to become redundant. The diesel electric viewed with horror the thought of taking on eight to ten thousand gallons of water at a time, as it preferred a much more flammable liquid, such as diesel fuel and used water only sparingly in an effort to keep itself cool in the hot summer months.
So, our water tower fell into disuse and later into disrepair, as well. For many years it stood unused, unappreciated and totally ignored.
Finally, after several years of abject neglect, the powers that be decided to build a railway museum nearby and our poor decrepit and neglected edifice was invited to move about 1500 feet to the new museum to partake of the goings on there.
I suppose the reason that railway water towers were built as an octagon is a matter of efficiency - it's a shape approaching the ideal for a container with the smallest possible surface/volume ratio, which in two dimensions is the circle and, in three dimensions, the sphere.
The story is told in more detail at the website given below.