I’m about to build an inspection pit from Scale Scenes for my yard & realized I had no idea as to where to put it.
Could I put it under my Walthers Overhead Travelling Crane? Or would it be more suited to being inside a structure, like a Maintenance Shed?
Thanks,
Paul
It could be at the crest of your hump if you had a hump yard.
More usually, it could be found inside a shop building or roundhouse. However, it could be open-air if there is a designated open-air work area. I have that situation at my engine change station - lots of service and `waiting for assignment’ trackage, but no covered repair facility.
Unless you’re modeling a short line in moderate-climate country, any crane with an inspection pit under it would probably have a roof over it.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
The pit in the link looks like the pits commonly found at locomotive servicing facilities. As noted above, it could be inside or outside. Some shops had both an outside pit where inbound engines were inspected and inside pits where the repairs were performed. Looks like a pretty nice pit, with steps and built-in lights. Just make sure it has good drainage and your shopmen will like it.
Unfortunately, at the time of this writing the company that makes the lighting strip only retails to the UK, so I’ll have to be a little creative…
Lets just say that I have never found an inspection pit on any hump yard I have ever seen. There is zero reason to have one,
The vast majority of pits are found on locomotive inspection tracks. So a pit would be at a roundhouse, or engine service tracks. I haven’t seen freight car facilities with a pit, in most cases they repair everything on a car on a ramp, a flat paved surface.
Chuck may be referring to the fact that some humps had a small one-man inspection pit where a car knocker could observe the underside of cars for defects as they were being shoved over the hump.
Don’t recall ever seeing a pit in a freight car shop, but have seen at least one in a passenger car shop although it should be noted that the shop repaired both regular passenger cars and MUs.
One bad thing about a pit is that sooner or later somebody’s going to fall into it…
Oh no, I hadn’t thought of someone falling in. Then you’d need all sorts of medical & emergency personnel, & vehicles; heck, maybe even a helicopter…and the press…a crowd at the gates…hmm…I wonder if Preiser makes a grieving widow…
I believe on the rail channel I recently watched a video that had an inspection pit on the approach to or just past the hump that a car inspector was located in and marked the rolling stock as it went by for repairs. I am sure that pits were used in a lot of different places depending on the era in question. The more modern the era the less common inspection pits would be as much less frequent maintenance is required. I am sure with a bit of internet searching a great many examples will be found.
If it is outdoors on your layout, put it on a RIP track.
Rich
I just realized the OP is talking about the (Free download) card-stock inspection pit. I downloaded one too, and will eventually use it inside a engine maintainence shed. I think the original model was designed for use in TMD (UK = Traction Maintainence Depot) which are pretty much just engine maintainence sheds. I’m not sure the UK had lots of outdoor pits, since it does get pretty rainy over there at least in the south (you need really, really good drainage), so a roof is almost mandatory.
Fun tip - in one of the RMWeb challenge entries, a modeler repurposed the inspection pit walls as concrete pillars for a Dockside warehouse - looked pretty good too.