In my Free Buildings post a few days ago we are discussing a large Cedar engine house that I was gifted. I kind of like the place that we plopped it down temporarily…
So, this evening after work I planned to start excavating for a foundation. Before I began digging I experimented with track to see where the building should be placed to allow future track to run through it. This area has long been planned to be part of a spur that would cross the main just before my tunnel. Here’s a few old shots of planning that track…
So I grabbed some large sectional curves and a few 5 foot straights and plopped them down to see where the straight section would fall, then marked the outline of the engine house with orange markers…
That doesn’t look too bad. But I know the natural slope here is nearly 8%, so I better see about flattening that out some. I started by setting the lowest possible track height where it crosses over. I used just the track, but left room for the 2" bridge girder…
Then tried to keep the grade on the bridge and curve to under 4%…
I expect that the track through the engine house should be close to level so the building would look right. Unfortunately that would put the track too far above the existing grade at the 5 foot mark…
No way this will work if I ever hope of getting back down to the main-line level at the Indian Hill Junction switch…
This area is one of the best places on my railroad for this large structure. Unfortunately using it as an engine house with a run through track in this area just isn’t going to work.
I see a couple of options…
Option 1 would be to build the track as I have it laid out, but dead end it inside or just past the down grade end. There would never be a connection the the switch shown above. Access would be by extending another spur to cross the main at the bridge.
Option 2 would be to allow the building to sit on a 4-5% grade and run the track through. I’m not sure how that would look. It would be no worse that the first picture which is at the natural 8% grade.
Option 3 would be to close up the ends and make the building some type of Industry. The track could then run behind it (relative to the main) and a few windows converted to freight doors.
One last option might be to relocate the engine house to the area very close to the switch in the last picture. I’ve not measured to see if it would fit there but I have a feeling it won’t.
As mentioned in the other thread, I really don’t plan to do any work on this until fall or winter. The only reason I need to make a decision is that I was going to pour a concrete foundation/floor for it since the material will be cheaper than four 24" pavers needed to do the same thing. I suppose I could always make the foundation intentionally thin and not reinforced so it can be broken up in the future.
Decisions, Decisions. This is too much like work. I thought this was a hobby :]
