ENGINE HOUSE AND APPURTENANCES.
389. A terminal engine house, with a table in the centre, to contain
10 engines, must be 145 feet in diameter.
15 engines, must be 150 feet in diameter.
20 engines, must be 167 feet in diameter.
25 engines, must be 183 feet in diameter.
30 engines, must be 200 feet in diameter.
35 engines, must be 217 feet in diameter.
40 engines, must be 233 feet in diameter.
45 engines, must be 250 feet in diameter.
50 engines, must be 267 feet in diameter.
The diameter of the table being forty-five feet, and the engine occupying, when off from the table, fifty feet. Again, thirty-two engines would require a diameter of
32 × 10
3.1416 + (2 × 50) = 202 nearly.
The engines within the house may be supplied with water from small tanks between each alternate pair of pits, (each tank holding five thousand gallons,) or the entire building may be furnished from a cast-iron pipe running around the whole, and being in connection with a large tank. In such pipe there should be a gate over the centre of each pit, and near its upper end. It may be convenient to connect all to a series of small tanks, by a pipe, that the water level may be kept nearly constant.
Repair shops for engines and for cars, may be plain, rectangular buildings, so arranged as to accommodate the necessary machinery.
Turntables consist of simply a circular framework of wood or iron, placed at the centre upon a solid iron pintle which bears the whole weight, and guided at the circumference by a series of fifteen, eighteen, or twenty wheels fourteen or fifteen inches in diameter. The wheels are placed in an independent spider frame, and run upon a curved rail placed on the bottom masonry, and the table runs upon the top of the wheels, so that the motion of the circumference of the table is double that of the wheels.
The frame consists, first, of a pair of timbers ten or twelve inches wide and fifteen or sixteen inches deep, upon which the rails are placed, strongly trussed so as to throw the load upon the centre. At right angles to these are placed, at a distance of eight or ten feet, timbers 5 × 10, also trussed, which serve to connect the load more completely with the wheels. The whole is stiffened by diagonal bracing, and is strongly floored. The table is turned by a pinion upon itself, working into a rack fastened to the foundation or to the side masonry. The trusses, as also the centre bearing, should be capable of adjustment vertically.
The cost of the table, exclusive of masonry, is from $1,200 to $1,800.
Weigh scales are made similar to, but stronger than, the ordinary hay-scales, being rigid and strong enough to bear the weight of a locomotive. Every car (freight) placed upon the road should have the number and the exact weight painted upon it in some conspicuous place, so that the contained load may, at any time, be found by placing the car upon the scale.