Hi guys,

I have some structural blue prints for a CPR Engine House that call for "Cinders 4" thick" on the floor. Am I correct in assuming that this means a gravel or crushed stone floor?

Thanks,

Shane.

Clinker, or the "cinders" left when coal burns ( I used to shovel the clinker out of a neighbor's furnace, and dump it behind their garage ), when compacted, and watered, becomes much like concrete...........and around an engine house, where the fires are dumped, IS FREE !!!! so why not "cinders 4" deep on the floor.

Sumpter250 Wrote:Clinker, or the "cinders" left when coal burns ( I used to shovel the clinker out of a neighbor's furnace, and dump it behind their garage ), when compacted, and watered, becomes much like concrete...........and around an engine house, where the fires are dumped, IS FREE !!!! so why not "cinders 4" deep on the floor.

Ha! That's pretty cool now that you mention it. So I could model it like concrete and colour it a dark gray or black? The more I thought about it, the more I considered that the floor was some form of hardened compacted surface but still wasn't too sure. I wondered how much sense it would make to have a loose ballast floor when in all likely hood an Engine House would have some heavy equipment inside to work on the locomotives, like metal lathes, grinders, compressors, and other assorted machinery.

Actually, as I remember, we had cinders in our driveway......probably from the same furnace, and they were a light gray/tan color. Heavy equipment would most likely have concrete slabs to sit on, if they needed that kind of stability ( especially the more precise things like wheel lathes, and driver quartering machines, that had to maintain very fine tolerances). Cinders aren't quite as hard as concrete......close, but not quite, general flooring yes, heavy machine bases?....probably not.

More info that is good to know. Thanks Sump. I think I may just "pour" the floor and call it concrete.

Perhaps, you or someone could give me an idea as to an approximate size for the windows? Circa built around the 20's & 30's. I'm afraid I don't have the dimensions for them, however I know that there are six along the south wall and four along the back "walls". I can tell by the dimensions that they are at least 6 feet across...so my guess is that they might be 8 to 10 feet in height as the photos I've seen show them to be typically taller then they are wider. The exterior wall height is 18'

Richard Wakefield did a drawing of the CPR 5-stall roundhouse in Orangeville, built in 1926. I can't find it with a quick google search (maybe you'll have better luck), but I know I have it on a memory stick somewhere... I'll se what I can dig up.

Andrew

MasonJar Wrote:Richard Wakefield did a drawing of the CPR 5-stall roundhouse in Orangeville, built in 1926. I can't find it with a quick google search (maybe you'll have better luck), but I know I have it on a memory stick somewhere... I'll se what I can dig up.

Andrew

I'll take a look. That would be great if you could find the file.

If you get really desperate, you could take a tape measure down to John Street ...

BR60103 Wrote:If you get really desperate, you could take a tape measure own to John Street ...

Cinders were also used as ballast and for paving high school tracks!

I'll never forget the two years I spent visiting the Lima Locomotive Works every week. The floors were paved with wood bricks. Since the roofs had leaks, there were places were the wood had swelled and formed inverse potholes. The reason for wood was very simple: if something takes a trip to the floor, it was frequently cheaper/easier to replace a piece of wood than an air compressor, expensive tool, or such.

IIRC, the EBT Enginehouse and machine shop have dirt/cinder floors. The 765 shop has a gravel floor.

tetters Wrote:Perhaps, you or someone could give me an idea as to an approximate size for the windows? Circa built around the 20's & 30's. I'm afraid I don't have the dimensions for them, however I know that there are six along the south wall and four along the back "walls". I can tell by the dimensions that they are at least 6 feet across...so my guess is that they might be 8 to 10 feet in height as the photos I've seen show them to be typically taller then they are wider. The exterior wall height is 18'

If you have the photo........measure the height of the wall (say it's 1-31/32", or 1.96875")
using the same "ruler", measure the window width ( say it's 21/32", or .65625" )
Wall Height is 1.96875" (= 18') window width is .65625".
1.96875/.65625 =3 ......the window width is 1/3rd the height of the wall, or 6'.

Yeah I know, "I'll never use this once I'm out of school!!!"
With one known measurement in a photo, you can use ratio and proportion to closely determine all the rest of the measurements.
Then again, a drawing, with all the measurements on it would be quicker and easier.............but you do have a photo.............


P. S. a proportional divider is really useful for "bypassing" the above arithmetic.

I've used the same technique described by Sumpter for both the dimensions of the DSP&P's only 4-4-0, as well as for one of the Oahu Railway's big (50t) 2-8-0s. It is how many of the published drawings are developed.