a question about drawings in our archives

[NW Mailing List]

Phil

Indeed all the original drawings, prior to the introduction of CAD on the N&W, which I’d guess would be sometime in the early 1980s. The drawings were all done by hand, with ink, compass, square, triangles, and the other usually instruments. Calculations done by hand or with slide rule. 

Complete speculative design on the N&W was not common to my observation. There was a lengthy process done long before drawings were even considered from what I understand. The designers did not just go off onto a tangent with speculation, it had to be requested by someone or suggested by a higher up before someone would spend time on a project. I’m sure that if a designer had an idea, he would take it to the manager in general terms, and if the manager felt it was an idea with merit, he could tell the draftsman to proceed with some sketches. If it was an adaptation of a commercially available product, most likely they requested drawings or details from the company producing, and created drawings from that.

An example of a speculative process is:
http://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=98098 <http://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=98098>

This was for a underground tunnel at Christiansburg to allow passengers to reach a platform on the normal westbound track. This idea probably came from a division person is my guess. They saw how operation was done crossing westbound trains over to the normal eastbound for a station stop at Christiansburg. The logic was that might simplify operation by allowing eastbound coal and freight to continue downgrade without have to be in the clear for a westbound passenger train, and the subsequent movement to get the westbound passenger train back over to the normal westbound track. It might have also allowed elimination of a crossover and its subsequent maintenance and signaling. Obviously, there is no clue to any of this on the drawing. Someone thought it might be a good idea, had the drawing done, took it back and it was discussed among the operating department, maintenance of way, division engineers. Probably a cost estimate was drawn up based on the drawing and then determined that the cost of actual construction and inconvenience of it probably determined its fate. 

So what was done here? No idea if they decided that it was OK for passengers to cross the track to use the center platform, or if operation of westbound passenger trains making a station stop on the normal eastbound continued to be the standard of operation. This drawing, having not seen the original, appears to be a pencil sketch rather than a fully inked version, so it never went the full length of production.

Ken Miller

> On Aug 6, 2018, at 7:02 AM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Good morning from the other side of the pond.
>  
> This is an interesting observation. The drawings of locos, railcars and passenger vehicles in my treasured 1947 Locomotive Cyclopaedia (Simmons Boardman) are real works of art and I assume originally drawn out by hand. How these were ultimately reduced for inclusion in a book is a mystery. The patient man hours that went into the development of these drawings must have been staggering but they are all meticulous.  
>  
> In relation to speculative designs I suspect that quite a lot of this sort of activity went on to sketch out what might be feasible/possible/desirable. I have in my office a drawing of a Baldwin Duplex that became the basis of the T1s on the Pennsy and a souped up Mallard type A4. It would have been neat to see both in reality. 
>  
> Regards
>  
> Phil Mortimer
>  
> PS Was there ever any evidence of follow on designs for the A Class or the Y6b?
>  
> From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
> Sent: Friday, August 3, 2018 10:26 PM
> To: NWHS Mailing List
> Subject: a question about drawings in our archives
>  
> I have on occasion prowled about the on-line collection of drawings in our archives and it is amazingly extensive.  It is also interesting to me the amount of detail that went into these drawings and they seem to encompass even the most subtle nuances of changes over time.  I have also found a few drawings of interesting things for which I have never seen prototype photos, so this brings about my question.  Given the time and detail involved in creating these documents, how often would N&W engage in such exercises, if they never actually got translated to something that was used?  Could there really be that many drawings done that were only "what-if" speculations?  Like "what-if" we wanted to add a Viking roof to a specific class of boxcar, then it would look like this, and "what-if" we wanted to add a Climax roof to that same class of boxcar, then it would look like this, etc. etc.   Can it be reasonably assumed(absent obvious photographic proof) that if there is a set of drawings showing a particular appliance installed on a particular car type that it was actually at least done once in real life?  Or was it common practice for these drawings to be created based upon pure speculation or the various component offerings of the different manufacturers  (ends, roofs, doors, lock systems, etc.) ?
>  
> Brent
> Dr. J. Brent Greer
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