Starachowice · sidings and levels

Sidings of Starachowice

The same cargo, one vehicle after another. Choose what moves it on: the model stops it where that means of transport ends, and tells you why.The plan and section below show the cargo’s route in diagram form, and the list of sections describes where each means of transport ends and why.

Sections · Limits of the model · Sources

Cargo

Iron ore

State: solid, loose

Node 1 · Siding (level +1)

What moves it on?

Click a means of transport for the current section. The drawing and the result will show whether the cargo gets through.

Plan and section of a schematic layout for transporting charge and pig iron at a blast-furnace works Model diagram, not to scale. The plan view from above is at the top and the side section at the bottom, in the same columns. Levels +2, +1 and 0 are conventional, not heights in metres above sea level. From the left: the standard-gauge siding at level +1, the trestle above the bins, the works track to the foot of the vertical hoist, the upper platform at the throat of the blast furnace, and on the right the casting house and the removal track. The cargo marker stands at the current node, leaving a trail in the style of the means of transport used. PLAN · diagram SECTION · diagram +2 +1 0 1435 mm track SIDING beyond: not established BLAST FURNACE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

A model diagram, not a map and not a drawing to scale. The plan (at the top) and the section (at the bottom) are in the same columns, and the dotted line joins the same place on both drawings. Levels +2, +1 and 0 are conventional, not heights in metres above sea level. In the plan the bins are drawn beside the trestle for legibility (according to V2 they lie beneath it). The dashed grey line labelled ‘not established’ marks a gap in the source material, not zero length. On a narrow screen the labels in the drawing (including ‘beyond: not established’, ‘PLAN’ and ‘SECTION’) are hidden: the dashed grey line beyond the removal track still marks a gap (beyond: not established), the plan is the upper part of the drawing and the section the lower. Semi-transparent marks show places where the cargo has already been. The drawing is an original illustration of the model in this version of the page, with no geometric source.

Charge delivery

  1. 1 Siding +1
  2. 2 Trestle +1
  3. 3 Bins 0
  4. 4 Hoist foot 0
  5. 5 Throat platform +2
  6. 6 Furnace charging point +2

Pig iron circuit

  1. 7 Furnace hearth 0
  2. 8 Casting house 0
  3. 9 Removal track 0

Result of the last move

● StartMove 0 of 5

Siding: the charge waits in the wagon

The cargo (Iron ore) stands in a wagon on the siding, at level +1 (diagram). The track has the standard gauge of 1435 mm.

Now: Siding · level +1 · state: solid, loose. The next section requires: horizontal travel on standard-gauge track (1435 mm) at level +1.

Model diagram: the levels and layout are conventional. The basis for each section is given in the ‘Sections’ part.

Without JavaScript the choice of cargo and means of transport is hidden, so the drawing shows only the initial state (ore on the siding). A full description of all the sections, their limitations and sources is below, in the parts ‘Sections’, ‘Limits of the model’ and ‘Sources’.

Trail of the current cargo

  1. No moves yet – the cargo stands at the start: Siding.

Sections: what gets through and what stops

Each section has one matching means of transport. The others stop for a physical reason (level, direction, track, state of the material). This list is the same thing the ‘What moves it on?’ button checks; changing the view unlocks nothing here, because the plan and section show the same state at once. The label ‘according to V2’ marks content from the previous version of the page, not re-checked in this version.

Charge delivery: ore, coke, limestone

Pig iron circuit: separate from charge delivery

Limits of the model and changes since V2

What this model does not say

  • There are no times, capacities, timetables, points or score here. The source material does not give them.
  • Levels +2, +1 and 0 are a technological diagram, not heights in metres above sea level or dimensions.
  • The 1435 mm gauge applies only to the standard-gauge track of the siding and trestle. The source material does not give the gauges of the works and removal tracks; V2 called the removal rolling stock narrow-gauge, and we do not carry that over without a source.
  • The 750 mm line (Starachowicka Kolej Wąskotorowa, the Starachowice Narrow-Gauge Railway) is a separate regional network. We do not link it to the trestle without evidence in the documentation.
  • Gaps: the further course of the removal track and the inside of the furnace are not described, so both routes end at the last described node (furnace charging point, removal track). Missing data is not zero.
  • Pig iron is a separate circuit: the charge enters the furnace from the top, the metal leaves at the bottom. The page does not track which ore became which pig iron, and does not take pig iron back to the throat.
  • The drawing is an illustration of the model, not a verified map or an archival plan. There are no archival photographs, witnesses or quotations here.

What has changed since V2

  • Kept: the rules of passage (the wagon ends its run on the trestle, the chute works only downwards, carts at level 0, the vertical hoist, liquid pig iron does not go onto the platform), the four materials, levels +2/+1/0, the separate pig iron circuit and messages giving the reason for a stop.
  • Replaced: the log table and saving in the browser were replaced by a short trail of the current cargo; two separate drawings were replaced by a plan and a section in shared columns, visible at the same time; the section ‘Three roles of the railway in Starachowice’ was replaced by the list of sections and a point about the 750 mm line in this part, and the V2 sentence about the role of the 1885 line now remains only in the description of the sources.
  • Removed: the separate choice of destination node (the cargo has a single route, so the only question is: by what), ready-made ‘error test’ scenarios (every error can be made by oneself) and the photograph loaded from an external server (a link remains).
  • Corrected: V2 began the pig iron circuit at the charging apparatus at level +2. Here it begins at the base of the furnace (level 0 in the diagram). This is a model assumption to be checked.

Sources and what still needs checking

The links were taken over from V2. In this version they were not reopened or checked again, so treat them as pointers for verification, not as confirmation. The page works offline; external links are only references.

To be checked in the sources before being treated as fact:
  • the years 1885, 1899 and 1927 and the order of the nodes in the charge sequence,
  • manual pushing on the upper platform and the way the charge is fed into the throat,
  • the gauge of the works and removal tracks,
  • the position of the tap relative to the levels, and the further course of the removal track.