It's nutty, but I've finally reached the point of installing details in my 2-stall brick enginehouse, with attached shop (circa 1904), and I want to put in a row of old-fashioned wooden lockers. The Shop Foreman will have a hatrack in his office, but how many guys would he have working under him? Anybody have any idea how big a crew a small engine facility might employ? Thanks.
Deano
Deano,A two stall engine house would be for minor inspection and light running repairs.
The fun part.
How many locomotives is station at that small terminal?
My thoughts would be for three or four locomotives:
3 holstlers one per 12 hour shift and a fill in.
4 5 mechanics 2 per 12 hour shift and one fill in.
5. 1 shop foreman.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I would say is it a branch on a bigger railroad. Then what Brakie said is normal as the locos would be moved to the company main shop for heavier repair work. If it is a small operation then more likely the shop will do bigger work Orders. So a boiler maker and sheet metal worker or two and a machinist or three. would also be there. If it was steam days. Back then they had full back shops that could do complete rebuilds in most places. Not all though. Of course crew size depended on railroad size.
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
Shop Foreman
per shift:
2 Machinists
2 Boiler makers/pipefitters
2 Sheet metal workers
1 Blacksmith
2-4 laborers
Probably would only be staffed on first and 2nd shift, or first shift only if it was a small railroad. Could also add one more person per craft if there were apprentices. Could also have one General Foreman (management, first shift) and a Foreman (union, each shift the shop is manned). There also may be a "blending" of crafts on a smaller railroad or based on local aggreements. My Father-in-law did both sheet metal and pipe fitting work for the MP.
Hostlers that move engines would be in 2 man "crews" (hostler and "herder" or "helper", one to run the engine and a ground man). They would be on duty every shift a set of power had to be serviced. There would also be hostlers on duty round the clock if there are engines held under steam at a ready track. Some places they had "inside" and "outside" hostlers, inside hostlers work for the shop foreman and handle engines in the shop itself, outside hostlers handle engines outside the shop (between teh ready track and the yard). With a small two stall engine house they probably wouldn't need both types.
The following link to the HABS-HAER site, Wilmington &Northern Shops, might be of interest.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/de0189/
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Not to say that exact number of lockers should not be added up and considered, but perhaps the number lockers should not be the number that would have been nesseassary, but the number that looks right to the OP, after all it is your railroad!
By point it perhaps the “correct” number of lockers may appear to be to much or to little when viewed as a whole scene, so then you should change the number to make it look better.
Regards, Isaac
I model my railroad and you model yours! I model my way and you model yours!
Sometimes the "Welfare Facilities" were housed in a separate building, perhaps with a diner or lunchroom included. Maybe not in a very small yard or roundhouse but some of the others I've been in had washrooms, showers a bunk house and sometimes a place to eat away from the noise and activity of the shop and roundhouse.
Regards, Ed
gmpullman Sometimes the "Welfare Facilities" were housed in a separate building, perhaps with a diner or lunchroom included. Maybe not in a very small yard or roundhouse but some of the others I've been in had washrooms, showers a bunk house and sometimes a place to eat away from the noise and activity of the shop and roundhouse. Regards, Ed
Ed,Every large or small terminal had a crew shack where the yard crews,yard clerks,yard laborers and shop employees would eat lunch,take a break and wash up. Also shop crews,laborers and yard clerks would head for a local lunch counters that once bordered most yards.
Today those crew shacks still exist but,vending machines has replace those colorful lunch counters of old. I am told some shacks at larger terminals has showers. Hopefully one of our railroaders will speak up on these modern shacks.
OT Dean It's nutty, but I've finally reached the point of installing details in my 2-stall brick enginehouse, with attached shop (circa 1904), and I want to put in a row of old-fashioned wooden lockers. The Shop Foreman will have a hatrack in his office, but how many guys would he have working under him? Anybody have any idea how big a crew a small engine facility might employ? Thanks. Deano
The main facilities on my MP&N would've been at Janesville, with the original MP facilities pretty much as Larson modeled them--which was more extensive than the Real Thing: as far as I can tell, locos coaled up at Gatiot (for some reason pronounced Grashett), some miles away! Anyway, my road would be more prosperous than either Larson's or the original MPRR, with the 1904 enginehouse in the middle of a wye at Janesville. Since becoming an apartment-dweller and early retirement due to health, I build only for my pleasure--and maybe to make a few bucks selling photos, if I can manage it.
You've all been a big help on this one, so I think I'll see if there's room for six lockers by the shop entrance, across from the foreman's office. I'm finally starting to build the shop, having painted the end walls inside and out, ready to assemble them with the windows and entrance door. Then it's the shop's side wall and boiler room addition and its platform. I have the machines (lathe, milling machine, and drill press) and have to build the shop first so I can install the overhead line-belt drive machinery, as well as the boiler and its accessories in the boiler room. I've only been at it for two years, so maybe I can finish it in another year or so("Good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise!").
If I recall correctly, my prototype, the Silverton Northern RR's two stall engine house had a CMO (chief mechanical officer) and maybe a helper from time to time. All heavy repairs were outsourced to the RGS Ridgway Roundhouse or the DRGW Alamosa Shops. Somewhere there are photos of the inside of the shops after the railroad had shut down for the last time, prior to all the little engines being dragged off to Skagway, Alaska for the war effort on the WP&Y. I'll dig around and see if I can find any photos with lockers in them.