Advice Wanted: Placing manhole covers

Where do they put them in your town?

Good question, but I don't have any photos that tell me that.

George

In my town sanitary runs down the center and storm is off set to the side

 I would ask Ed Norton !

get on Google maps and go to street view and take a ride along WV 2 (Main Street). I started near the yard area 15oo Main Street and went to above 1900 before I saw one. It's in the center. (pic attached) I didn't cruise through town, Didn't know where you were modeling.

Excellent suggestion.  I'd forgotten about using Google.

Thanks!  I will do that.

George

oops! I forgot- if you are modeling an earlier era you may have to visit weirton water & sewer department for the surveys. All of this appears redone.

Popi,

I think it's creepy when you see one of their vehicles loaded with equipment and cameras riding around. There's probably a shot of your house from the street.

However, I do find it useful using satellite views of railyards and interchanges, following fallen rr lines and such. It's also helpful when visiting somewhere for the first time, as you can virtually go there.

livin' in the 21st century!

you should probably place manhole covers on top of manholes.

do you know why manhole covers are round and not square???

Good idea! 

Yeah, because round ones can't fall through the hole.

George

There is no set placement for manholes.  Sewers usually run in a straight line. When they change direction, combine with another sewer or major change in elevation, they place a manhole.  They're found anywhere everywhere.

Rationale for manhole covers was also for utility access such as telephone, EL, and steam pipes. Frequently had name of utility cast in the cover such as AT&T or in the case of Weirton, C&P Telephone.

Went back at looked at the photographs I did have available to me.  I can only spot 1 man hole along the east side of Main Street (aligned with parking lines).  So that one and the one on County Road are the only ones going on to the layout.

I'll save the remaining 4 man hole covers for Steubenville, OH.

George

where it or they would have a good visual effect.

Manways are used for Sewer mains , Storm water mains and also underground electrical.

From the standpoint of the telephone company, manholes are used on cables that radiate from the central office, whether it's in an urban center or in a suburban area.  Then, a ways from the CO, the cables come up and are carried on poles.

However, there are many places across the country where there are manhole runs that contain former AT&T Long Lines cables. These connect adjacent central offices, and can run along major highways, down farm lanes, or even go cross-country across farms, streams, forests, etc.

Generally, in an urban setting, they are 300 feet apart (~ 6 feet in O-scale), or one per city block, at a minimum.

http://www.city-data.com/forum...n-wv-photo-tour.html

google earth

Drew, thanks for posting the link.  The photos were pretty cool.  The Greek Orthodox Church is mine - All Saints.  I was an altar boy there as well as being in the Cub Scout and Boy Scout troops there.  Earned my Alpha-Omega award and Eagle Scout award there.  My father and mother were the first people married in that church when it opened in 1950.

As for the somewhat snarky commentary from the writer, he's missed the forest- badly.  Weirton was a tremendous success story in its 100+ year history.  The town was home to the first billion dollar corporation in WV, had the highest standard of living in the state, and employed the most people.  At one point in time, Weirton Steel produced 20% of the world's tin cans.  Let me repeat that - steel for 20% of the world's tin cans came out of that mill.  Because the union was a company union, anything negotiated by the USW was equaled plus a little more.  Weirton worked when other mills struck and its employees were very well off.  I knew lots of minimally educated workers who were able to afford great homes, new cars every 2-3 years, and to send their kids to college just by working in the mill.  Their like may never be seen again.

And Weirton was multi-cultural.  There were 42 different ethnic groups living in Weirton and environs at one point in time - harmoniously.  Weirton used to have a Festival of Nations that was held in the 1930s.  Recently it's been revived.

I must concede that it's not much to look at now, but in its day it was the American Dream writ large.

George

Manholes can also be found in sidewalks. Sometimes, they would be marked SANITARY for sewer, ELECTRIC, etc. Some cities had steam heat, and the steam lines warranted additional manholes to access the lines. In Wilkes-Barre Pa, there was hardly ever any snow on the sidewalks or roadway on main street, as the steam would keep the snow at bay, unless it was a heavy snow.

Don

Manholes were not always in pavement, often they are on the side of the roadway in the grass. The local electric company had hand holes these were small vaults to access wiring for street lights. gas and water utilities have small 8 inch covers to access shut-off valves

Here are some manhole cover patterns.