Northern Pacific Railway

DrawingsDean O’Neill

September 2018

Topics – Part 1

• Part 1

• Overview & Drawing Standards

• Standard Drawings & Sketches – Mechanical Department

• Equipment Diagrams – Steam, Diesel, Freight, Passenger, Work Equipment, NPT

• Part 2

• Standard Plan Book

• Track Standards

• Signal Department Drawings

• Bridge Drawings (includes turntables, signal bridges)

• Specialized Drawing Books

• Tools

• Tin ware

• Lumber for Buildings & Misc. Structures

• Others?

• Northern Pacific Railway Drawing Repositories as of 2018

• Recent Flurry of Donations

• Drawing Restoration, Scanning, and Sharing with the World

• Call to Action – the power of shared drawings

Overview & Drawing Standards

Forming the NPRHA

• One reason for forming the NPRHA in 1981 was to preserve drawings

(which were being tossed, no org for BN to donate to)

• Large public collection at Minnesota Historical Society, and some at other

repositories such as MTM and PNRA

• Some success, but private collecting became the norm, for better or worse

• In recent years, some large collections donated… (more later)

Cornucopia of NP!

Mechanical Dept - Painting & Stenciling (10 foot long)

Standard Plans - Structure

Freight Equipment Drawing

Mechanical Dept -Sketch

Car Repairers Tools

Mechanical Dept - Z-8 Erecting Elevation

Mechanical Dept - Stencils

Mechanical Department Drawingsthe good stuff

Standard Drawing for… Drawings• Issued by Northern Pacific Railway Mechanical Department

• Indicates standard practices and different variances

Rick Leach Donation to NPRHA

Standard Drawing for… Sketches• Issued by Northern Pacific Railway Mechanical Department

• Sketches were the “little brothers” of Standard Drawings, used for less

common equipment or as a precursor to a full Standard Drawing

Rick Leach Donation to NPRHA

Drawing Details

• WHERE USED – 1 to X “series” for which the drawing applies

• Always in upper right

• Most common sizes: Q, R, S, T, W, X, Y, Z. (size of the paper used)

• Rare: P (sometimes drawings from manufacturers like Alco), V

Mechanical Department Drawings: Sizes Where Used: Common Examples

WHERE USED:

Some drawings have a HUGE number of series listed for drawing use

Drawing Details: Legend

• Title – Always the two lines above NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY CO.

• Date – Always the original date, and last revision

• Series – Always starts with the drawing size (Q, R, X, etc.)

• Drawing – Number, often followed by revision letter

• Revision Table – Succession of letters for each revision to drawing. This is sometimes a list above the legend, no table

Mechanical Department Drawing: Legend Legend: Common Examples

Other Railroads• Of course, other railroads had standard plans/drawings

Examples – Painting & Stenciling - Stencils

Examples – Painting & Stenciling - Body

Examples – General Plans

Drawing Titles – Common Types

First Title Second Title Features

General Plans Elevation and Framing Overall or “big picture” drawing

General Plans Arrangement Often shows arranging parts in relation to whole, but also somewhat of a catch-all title

Erecting Card1

Elevation Side view of equipment, usually locomotives

Erecting Card1

Sections 3-7 “slice” views of large locomotive parts (boilers, etc.)

Painting & Stenciling Body Drawing that shows all the stenciling for the piece of equipment

Stencil misc Specific letters, or artwork for item like Monad

Framing Details misc Shows specific details of equipment construction

1 - NOT a small “card”. Essentially means Drawing. Could be 10ft long

Equipment Diagramsaka Equipment Diagram Books

Equipment Diagrams: Steam

• Example here from 1900 (1902 revision), later incarnations no doubt

• Issued by “Motive Power Dept.”, later the Mechanical Department

• Data: Road Number, Locomotive Class, Number of Engines, Key

Dimensions, Boiler Pressure, Total Heating Surface, Fire Box

Dimensions, Tube Data, Loaded Weights, Tender Coal, Tender Water

NPRHA Copy

Equipment Diagrams: Diesel • Issued by Mechanical Department

• Data: Loco Numbers, Locomotive Class, Number of Locos, Key

Dimensions, and a WHOLE lot of operational/equipment data

NPRHA Copy

Equipment Diagrams: Freight • Issued by Mechanical Department

• Data: Series, Builder, Build Year, Key Dimensions, AAR Designation,

weights, and General Plan number

NPRHA Copy

Equipment Diagrams: Passenger • Issued by Mechanical Department

• Data: Built By, Built Date, Dimensions, Heating/AC, Wheels, Weight,

Seating Capacity

NPRHA Copy, available for purchase at Store

Equipment Diagrams: Work

Equipment

• Issued by Mechanical Department

• Full set of pages on NPRHA web site

• Data: Car Number, Builder, Weight, other

NPRHA Copy

Equipment Diagrams: Transport

Equipment

• Last updated on April 14 1955, roughly 8 months after the start of NP’s

TOFC operations

• Not updated after that, management decision

Richard Yaremko Copy

End of Part 1 of 2