Hey guys, I am looking to put a engine house/shop on my layout for a small yard. Well my layout is in a small freelanced town (Bear Creek) and is in the 1960’s. It models the PRR, with a small shortline, well I am looking for a shop that the PRR would use in this small town. I have three ideas, Which one would be best? These are just ideas so if you guys have any better ideas please throw them out there. Thanks Mike
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2902
My vote goes to #2 or #3. #1 is just a backshop and not an engine house.
David B
Mike,
I like #2 or #3. It depends on how small you small town is, and how run down you want it to look.
Sue
Ditto. But, for a 1960s branch, how about this pikestuff enginehouse:
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/product_p/541-0008.htm
I recently built one, and though it might look tough (at leas to me), it’s really a snap to put together, took me an evening and a morning to build. You can also buy other doors and such, like these, the walls have areas where you can cut and add more things. Pikestuiff sells them seperate, but I think it comes with a garage door you can add, like in this pic of mine (this is before i added the roof vents):
How about none of the above? PRR had yards in small cities and towns that lack a engine house.The locomotive was parked by a small yard office or in some cases on the freight house lead…
Modelers seem to forget that a engine house is a added cost( stove fuel,labor*,insurance etc) and a fine way to cut cost especially if its not needed and that’s exactly what PRR did after steam was retired and tore many down so they wouldn’t have to pay local property taxes on a building no longer used…Many short lines closed their engine house after they dropped the fires on their steamers.
*Remember the smaller engine houses was used to make light running repairs and for “oiling and greasing 'round” steam locomotives…So,after the old steamer was gone they usually closed the engine house and either laid off or transferred any craft shop employees,laborer(s) and hostlers-there was usually 2…A 3-11 and 11-7…Their job was to keep the fire stroke and maintain steam pressure.A shop craft person would inspect and make light running repairs as needed…The shop laborer(s) job was to keep the shop clean and help out as needed but,within job description…
In 1960, a small 1 or 2 stall engine house would still be standing. It would not be really ‘used’ at this point, as steam engines were gone. In the days of steam, the local town engine needed a place to live, and there usually was a watchman around to watch the boiler, even if the fires had been ‘banked’. He would rake out the fire in the morning and start building a head of steam so that the engine was ready for work. With diesels, the engine could be left outside running to keep it warm.
Jim Bernier
I’ll agree with Brakie here - none. The PRR by this time was running jobs out of more centralizedyards so the diesel locomotives could be more efficiently utilized. A diesel or two just running between a small shortline interchange and a more centralized yard and then returning to the shortline would be a great waste of resources for any railroad.
Drew
I agree with everyone (option 2, 3, or none). But if I were you, I’d see what kinds of one-stall engine houses the PRR had and pick the one that was most similar in appearance. But then you might decide to scratchbuild one.
Mark
None of the above. #1 is a backshop. #2 and especially #3 are too shortline, they don’t look PRR at all. For a small branch the PRR probably wouldn’t have an engine house, especially if you were running diesels. They would just sit out in the rain and snow. Maintenance would be done at a larger facility.
None. if you really want a servicing facility, maybe just build a small open air service track.
Very fine points, everyone, now that it has been said and explained I am leaning toward none, I am looking for just a small repair area. How could I model that? Like a place to do small repairs to diesels, and what would be good models to use to model a 1960’s small yard fueling and sanding facility? Thanks Mike
Top 3 things to model a repair facility :
Walthers Diesel Fueling Facility (933-2908)
Walthers Sanding Towers+ Drying House (933-3182)
Peco Inspection Kit (version depends on size of rail)
All item #s are in the 09 Refrence Book or walthers.com
Not always.
1.A local fuel distributor can fuel the locomotive-this started in the late 50s on some short lines.
2.Not needed at a small yard…Bagged locomotive sand can be used instead or a old PS2 covered hopper on ties can work just as well.
3…A inspection pit isn’t needed in a small yard with minimal or no locomotive servicing track…
All of those would be needed on a steam era layout but,not after the road dieselized.You see after dieselisation those servicing items was no longer needed at small outlaying yards that had a assigned crew(s).
The B&O engine service area at the Wilsmere (DE) yard in the 1960s and 1970s was just a couple open-air tracks.
There was an old wood-sheathed bay-window caboose for an office and shop. It was replaced in the mid '60s by a 40-foot box car.
There was a tank car equipped with an electric pump for fuel. The tank car was stationary and fuel was brought in by tank truck. If an engine on the other side of the yard needed fuel and they were too busy to crossover, a local fuel dealer would send out a truck to fill it up.
Sand arrived in company service box cars. Some were fitted with bins and air lines to blow the sand on to the engines, others were plain boxes with the sand just heaped at the ends and sand from them was carried up onto the engines in buckets.
There was no inspection pit.
Year in and year out this “facility” serviced anywhere from 5 to 11 diesel engines in every kind of weather. Up to and including forming the engines every month. Once in a while an engine would be sent in from some other location for minor repairs. In addition to B&O diesels this “facility” also was responsible for inspecting the Wilmington & Western’s steam engine every day that it operated. All this was done by a working foreman and one other man. I guess the B&O got their money’s worth out of that deal.