Modelling a pumping station

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John Rampling - 26 Jul 2006 18:18 GMT

The building (now demolished) seen in the following links was an old pumping
station at Barry Docks in South Wales, site of the famous Woodham's
scrapyard :
http://philtpics.fotopic.net/p5478140.html
http://philtpics.fotopic.net/p29164884.html
I want to estimate the size of building, which I have done using the
time-honoured method of counting brick courses. Assuming a brick course to
be three inches, I come out with an unfeasibly small height for the building
(from ground level to ridge line) of about twenty feet. In view of the
twelve foot tall locomotive near the building this figure is obviously
wrong.

Possible explanations are:
- it really is a tiny building
- my arithmetic is no good
- they have bigger than normal bricks in Wales
- what look like brick courses are an illusion caused by the
resolution of the JPEG image

Can anyone suggest a realistic estimate of the size of the building?

John

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simon - 27 Jul 2006 00:22 GMT

> The building (now demolished) seen in the following links was an old
> pumping station at Barry Docks in South Wales, site of the famous
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> John

Very difficult to use the engine for estimates as its not really close
enough. Much better idea is to use that chimney in the 2nd linked photo to
get scale. Can easily see the number of bricks for the width.
Simon

Of course it may have been built during the days of the brick tax during
which time they did use bigger bricks.

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Malcolm - 27 Jul 2006 12:52 GMT

> The building (now demolished) seen in the following links was an old pumping
> station at Barry Docks in South Wales, site of the famous Woodham's
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> John

John,

You could try contacting the people at the
Ordinance Survey website
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/getamap/

If the building was still standing you could use
the on-line map service, but as it's now
demolished the only real way is to locate it on an
old map and then work out the size via the scale
of the map. If they can't help, and you are
really keen on this project, then you will need to
visit the local library in the area where the
buildings stood as most library's have local maps
dating back to the early 1800's or more

If you can't make the trip to South Wales then
maybe someone in that area could pop along to the
library for you

Malcolm

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John Rampling - 27 Jul 2006 15:42 GMT

Not demolished after all !
http://www.acanthus.co.uk/holden/project.aspx?mid=65&sectorID=29&type=&pid=162

Thanks Simon & Malcolm for your replies. I now know where to go for the
information.

John

> The building (now demolished) seen in the following links was an old
> pumping station at Barry Docks in South Wales, site of the famous
> Woodham's scrapyard :
> http://philtpics.fotopic.net/p5478140.html
> http://philtpics.fotopic.net/p29164884.html
> I want to estimate the size of building, which I have done using the

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Wolf Kirchmeir - 28 Jul 2006 13:42 GMT

> Not demolished after all !
> http://www.acanthus.co.uk/holden/project.aspx?mid=65&sectorID=29&type=&pid=162
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> John

[...]

Cool!

Will you post the actual dimensions, then? I'd like to know whose wild
guesses, er, sorry, carefully calculated estimates, were close to the
mark. :-)

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simon - 29 Jul 2006 22:59 GMT

>> Not demolished after all !
>> http://www.acanthus.co.uk/holden/project.aspx?mid=65&sectorID=29&type=&pid=162
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> guesses, er, sorry, carefully calculated estimates, were close to the
> mark. :-)

Ah, but I only suggested a method, am not responsible for how it used. In
fact I did do the calculations myself, you may be suprised as to how
accurate they are.
Simon

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Model Forum / General / Railroads / July 2006

Modelling a pumping station