I found a drainage tunnel under an old railroad right-of-way which is lined with metal and heavily riveted. Its construction just seems too hefty to simply serve as a drainage tunnel, so I believe it might be an old steam locomotive boiler. I'm hoping to use measurements I can obtain from it to determine if it was part of a locomotive or if it was something else (such as a stationary boiler or some sort of pressure vessel). Does anyone know a good source of information that describes boiler lengths, diameters, number of sections, rivet patterns, exhaust port positions (such as the steam dome and whistle), etc., for various classes of steam locomotives?
I don't believe there is one single source for the information you are looking for, but knowing what railroad(s) it might have come from might help.
It definately would not be uncommon to use an old boiler for a drainage tunnel. The Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum recently removed one from their right of way that was made from the boiler of an old Maine Central locomotive. One thing would be to look for things like a steam dome or where a feedwater check valve would attach. While older boilers could well be straight sided more modern ones would be slightly tapered which would be another tell tale sign.
Roger