Re: C&S #30, a C-16 conversion

Posted by John Greenly on Dec 05, 2020; 1:12am
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/C-S-30-a-C-16-conversion-tp15055p16110.html

Hi Lee, yes! You and your computers are correct.  I checked it with the computer I keep somewhere in my forebrain (I think it's there; sometimes it eludes me nowadays).

But I have two other questions about locomotive dimensions that might be of more interest.

First is about cab dimensions.  I've measured some cabs in photographs with nice straight side views, and I find that cabs are longer, by about 4 or 5 inches, than the dimensions given in folio sheets.  For example, #13 is listed as having a cab that is 5' 2" long, but in the well-known photo of #13  with the intertwined lettering, in central City , 1903 (p. 66 of Coleman, Vol. VI, NG pictorial)  , by comparing to the driver spacing I get a cab length of 5' 6".  Similarly, the photo of #9 (p.46)  also with intertwined lettering, ca.1910,  gives a cab length of 6' 4",  while the folio sheet shows 6' even.    The same thing appears to be true with cab width.  That's harder to get good measures of in photos, but in a couple of cases where I can get it accurately I find again that the actual width dimension is somewhere around 4-6" bigger than listed.  

NOTE ADDED:  These numbers are not accurate!  Complete photo analyses (see below in this thread) show that the outside dimensions of the turn-of-the-century 4-panel cabs and those with added sheet metal on the sides like #13 did agree with the folio dimensions.  These were really small cabs!!  However, later on (roughly 1910 or later)  larger cabs were indeed fitted to many engines.  --John

My second question is about locomotive boiler diameter.  I know well the admonition not to try to measure dimensions from the drawings, they are schematic only, not scale, or even of the same locomotive.   But it is true that the folio sheets all show the basic shape of the boiler without lagging,   so for instance the forward-most boiler section is shown as being smaller in diameter than the smokebox, and it is this smallest section that has the dimensional marking for the boiler diameter.   That would mean that a model, which of course has the fully lagged boiler, will be larger in diameter than the folio dimension.
Again, I'd be very grateful for thoughts on this question.  

Cheers,
John

By the way, I'm excited that Jim is going to do a C-16 conversion, too!  The more the merrier, and I'm sure I'll learn a lot from that project.