Windows or No Windows ?

[C&O Fan]

I built this coal mine and can't decide on windows or no windows and which way the office building should face ?

 

[pcarrell]

Personally, I think the first pic is perfect.

[ARTHILL]

Pick one looks best to me. Where there are people, I like windows. It also looks like you need a door at the top of the stairs.

[C&O Fan]

Pick one looks best to me. Where there are people, I like windows. It also looks like you need a door at the top of the stairs.

I have not been able to find any miners Do you know anyone that makes them ?

The stairs are there to access the hand cranks< Barely visible in the photo> to lower the coal shutes

but still a door wouldn't be a bad idea

[mononguy63]

A 1:1 builder would orient the office per the lower picture to minimize potential snow build-up on the far side of the roof ridge.

[pcarrell]

I hadn't thought about that....assuming there is snow.  I went with the other way as I didn't think a door would open directly onto the tracks.

[G Paine]

You did not mention your scale, so I will assume HO. Miner figures are rare, Alexander makes Miner Mike http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/120-9809

Scan through the figures in the Walthers catalog. There are a lot of road repair and track worker figures that could be modified. Look for guys with picks and shovels.

[simon1966]

There would very likely have been windows in this structure. This is where the somewhat difficult tasks of sorting and grading the coal were done. Inside these buildings, workers removed the slate and slag from the good coal. During the 30's this would have had a significant manual labor element to the process. While most coal mines in that era would have its own power station they would not want to use unnecessary lighting so natural daylight provided by the windows would have given the workers something to work by.

[rrinker]

A 1:1 builder would orient the office per the lower picture to minimize potential snow build-up on the far side of the roof ridge.

 Agreed but the door would be on the side like the top picture, otherwise you step out the door onto the tracks.

                                                --Randy