Re: Como Roundhouse Stall 3 Inspection Pit: what service took place there

craig Wrote:
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> what level of maintenance took place in those
> pits? Is there documented record of the activity
> at the Como roundhouse? I don't recall Poor's
> book having much on the daily doings inside the
> roundhouse and my copy of the book is in a safe
> place I forgot about. Obviously heavy repairs
> were done in Denver but what could engine
> servicemen do in those pits as small as they are?



Mainly between trip inspections, cellar repacking, adjusting driving box wedges, spring and equalizing repair, any work on Stephenson valve gear.

The pits at the EBT are also this shallow, and they suck the high hard one to work in. You have to duck walk or crawl through grease and water (or ice in Como!) puddles to get to where you need to work, and do your work on your knees, or sitting on a bucket. With inside frame narrow gauge engines, the brake rigging is often in the way for getting anything bigger than your arm above brake rigging level unless you remove the brake rigging pull rods first.

Why this seemed to be an industry standard is beyond me. In my experience, a pit deep enough that the top of your head is just brushing the bottom of the driving axles is the ideal depth, but regardless, too deep (within reason) is better than too shallow. You can always step up on a block or stool easier than you can squat too low to be comfortable for long periods of time.

Today, OSHA raises its ugly head when it comes to pit depth, anything deeper than 4' (IIRC) requiring railings etc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2019 08:02AM by Kelly Anderson.