Re: The one common point in the roundhouse...
| November 17, 2017 09:00AM |
employee2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree with 74ford, the turntable would be a
> common point of passage for nearly all the
> locomotives, whether they were going into the
> house or a storage track. Those toolboxes in the
> photo of Gunnison are not nearly as big as the
> wheeled toolboxes in the Durango shops (which were
> originally owned by individual shop men), yet they
> would become quite heavy when fully stocked. Note
> that the outriggers and shelving at Gunnison were
> built quite stoutly, apparently to hold quite a
> bit of weight. Also note that the shelves were at
> a height that would require the least lifting for
> the men handling them. They were needed on both
> sides of the turntable because the toolboxes were
> stored in different places on the various
> locomotives, and no one wanted to have to carry
> them around the length of a locomotive to reach
> the storage area.
>
> As someone else in this thread suggested, storing
> the toolboxes in plain sight, yet in an area that
> would not have much foot traffic, might make sense
> for security. But the area around the ash pit
> might well be less visible and therefor less
> secure. Also it can be clearly seen that those
> boxes had hasps on the lids so that they could be
> secured with a lock, if desired, to prevent
> individual tools from "walking away". Whole
> toolboxes would not be much of a temptation, as
> carrying them very far (and without being seen)
> would have been pretty difficult.
>
> Remember too that these toolboxes were intended
> for emergency "running repairs" out on the road,
> not shop crew use. So they did not need to be in a
> convenient location for repairs while the
> locomotive was in the shop. The shop crews had
> their own tools for that.
>
> My 2.5 cents.
You bring up a lot of good points and appreciate your comments. The outriggers were very sturdy and at times the platforms were nearly filled with boxes. There were also some variations of sizes of the boxes with some as seen here, but the majority seem fairly uniform in size and shape.
William
aka drgwk37
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree with 74ford, the turntable would be a
> common point of passage for nearly all the
> locomotives, whether they were going into the
> house or a storage track. Those toolboxes in the
> photo of Gunnison are not nearly as big as the
> wheeled toolboxes in the Durango shops (which were
> originally owned by individual shop men), yet they
> would become quite heavy when fully stocked. Note
> that the outriggers and shelving at Gunnison were
> built quite stoutly, apparently to hold quite a
> bit of weight. Also note that the shelves were at
> a height that would require the least lifting for
> the men handling them. They were needed on both
> sides of the turntable because the toolboxes were
> stored in different places on the various
> locomotives, and no one wanted to have to carry
> them around the length of a locomotive to reach
> the storage area.
>
> As someone else in this thread suggested, storing
> the toolboxes in plain sight, yet in an area that
> would not have much foot traffic, might make sense
> for security. But the area around the ash pit
> might well be less visible and therefor less
> secure. Also it can be clearly seen that those
> boxes had hasps on the lids so that they could be
> secured with a lock, if desired, to prevent
> individual tools from "walking away". Whole
> toolboxes would not be much of a temptation, as
> carrying them very far (and without being seen)
> would have been pretty difficult.
>
> Remember too that these toolboxes were intended
> for emergency "running repairs" out on the road,
> not shop crew use. So they did not need to be in a
> convenient location for repairs while the
> locomotive was in the shop. The shop crews had
> their own tools for that.
>
> My 2.5 cents.
You bring up a lot of good points and appreciate your comments. The outriggers were very sturdy and at times the platforms were nearly filled with boxes. There were also some variations of sizes of the boxes with some as seen here, but the majority seem fairly uniform in size and shape.
William
aka drgwk37
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.