6
6: Close-up of Stewart’s Gap beehives showing open and
closed ovens. The yellow color represents firebrick used
to seal the ovens.
Chalks were used over the oven doors to indicate sootiness
from the coal.
Extruded foam board was cut to proper height, and using a
NMRA gauge, track was into place and a line drawn locat-
ing the yard wall. The yard wall was attached to this piece of
foam board. For my battery, I’m using the dimensions from the
Sewell, WV coke battery. These are referenced on pages 76-81
of “West Virginia Narrow Gauge, Mann’s Creek Railway,” writ-
ten by Ron Lane and Ted Schnepf. It states that the “coke dock”
or “coke wharf” was 15’ wide. This is a big saving in space for
a model railroad over the 32’ from the Connellsville measure-
ments. I marked a line 15’ from the front edge and glued the
oven fronts into place.
