Loco depot ash pits

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Sapper
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Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:22 pm

Loco depot ash pits

Postby Sapper » Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:45 am

I am planning to incorporate an ash pit in a small single road engine shed in a rural location in Derbyshire (LNWR). The shed would house only a small tank loco, LNWR Dock tank or similar. Despite searching magazines and the web I cannot find any details of sizes etc apart from a few indistinct pictures. I would like to know approximate dimensions - length, width and depth and sizes of steps, would 9" tread and 6" rise be reasonable? I assume there would be steps at both ends and the walls of the pit could be in either stone or engineering brick.

Any information would be very welcome so I can get the tracklaying finished!

Regards

Sapper

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barrowroad
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Re: Loco depot ash pits

Postby barrowroad » Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:15 am

I have attached a drawing of the cross section of the pits at Bristol Barrow Road that I obtained for my new layout of the shed. The new pits are made of concrete sections whilst the older Midland Railway pits are brick. The length of each pits varies but on average they are 60ft. I have built 38 for the shed roundhouse and yard:)
The step dimension I have used is 9in rise and 9in width formed from evergreen strip.


Pits IMG_1771.JPG


Regards,

Robin
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Ian Everett
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Re: Loco depot ash pits

Postby Ian Everett » Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:26 am

One thing that has puzzled me is whether inspection pits and ash pits were always completely separate entities. I presume that ash would not be dropped into inspection pits and that pits inside loco sheds were inspection pits, ash pits always being outside - usually adjacent to coaling facilities?

That's so obvious I feel a fool asking it but I'd just like confirmation!

Ian :geek:

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LesGros
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Re: Loco depot ash pits

Postby LesGros » Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:46 am

clecklewyke wrote:
...I presume that ash would not be dropped into inspection pits and that pits inside loco sheds were inspection pits, ash pits always being outside - usually adjacent to coaling facilities? ...

The strathspey railway inspection pits are in the shed; ash pits are outside the shed but the coaling arrangements are a bit further away. See photographs at link: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2279&p=19421&hilit=shed#p19421
It can be seen that the ash pits are swept clean, so no impediment to using them for carrying out visual inspection.
LesG

The man who never made a mistake
never made anything useful

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Jol Wilkinson
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Re: Loco depot ash pits

Postby Jol Wilkinson » Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:18 am

Nelson's LNWR Portrayed shows an ashpit pit in a coaling stages with sloping ends, presumably so that the ash can be removed by barrows.The rails are carried on CI girders, the pit walls are blue brick and the pit floor is stone The sloping ends appears to be about 30 deg with brick flooring .

Another drawing shows the bottom of a pit in a shed sloping transversly down to a brick lined trough/drain along one edge, covered with cast covers. In this case the rails are carried on stone blocks. The bottom of the pit is about 3' 6" below rail level.

It is well worth getting a copy of LNWR Portrayed if you are modelling LNWR or LMS Westen Division. The LNWR Society is looking at doing a digital reprint but the copyright is with Peco Publications who, AFAIK, can't locate the original material at the moment.

Jol

Sapper
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Re: Loco depot ash pits

Postby Sapper » Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:40 am

To all those who have replied, thank you for your quick responses; there is a lot of useful information which will allow me to make a start. The pictures of the Strathspey are particularly interesting and will I think provide a good basis.

Regards

Sapper

John Palmer
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Re: Loco depot ash pits

Postby John Palmer » Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:46 am

Here’s an extract from a drawing showing details of the construction of the LNWR new engine shed at Nuneaton. The drawing is undated but must be fairly elderly, judging by the use of bridge rails (or whatever they were called by the LNWR). The detail is of an inspection pit rather than an ash pit but the notes on materials may be of some assistance. Unfortunately the drawings I have don’t give any information about pit lengths or step arrangements.
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Sapper
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Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:22 pm

Re: Loco depot ash pits

Postby Sapper » Sun Feb 10, 2013 9:53 am

Thanks John for the drawing of Nuneaton shed pit. It confirms the size of the timber baulks used to support the rails. I was able to get some hardwood strips almost the correct size from my local model aircraft shop so can now start in earnest.


Regards

Sapper


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