My grandfather worked for the Q at Ferry from 1941 until the time of the merger when they moved to the GN yard in Sioux City. He was there during the steam to diesel transition, unfortunately there are not many photos of any of the structures or equipment. Before he passed I asked him to draw me maps and show me the names of the tracks and the location of the servicing facilities.
On his map there is a track labeled inbound track to the roundhouse. There is a short spur on that inbound track labeled "cinder pit". Can someone explain or show me drawings of what a typical small yard cinder pit looks like? and how were the cinders removed from the pit in that type of yard? There is a photo in Burlington Bulletin #27 on page 23 of Ferry during the steam era. It shows a steam engine on the inbound track with some sort of concrete structure next to it. Would this be a portion of the pit?
I hope these questions about Ferry aren't getting old. Just trying to put all the history together so I can build a scale model of the yard.
Thanks,
Scott