The basic ethos of Trek shipbuilding seems to be separation of modules with spindly pylons, fins and necks. Access might not be high priority - ability to jettison might be paramount there.
And it's not that difficult to have a barely man-sized corridor running along the machinery, or better still, have a turboshaft run there for rapid access. The latter can be even smaller than the former, as a man would have to run upright, necessitating a corridor about 1x2 meters across, while a lift could move head-on, requiring only 1x1 m or so. (With artificial gravity providing an arbitrary direction of down, one could also have "vertical" slides or chutes dropping in both directions, requiring 1x2 meters in combination but allowing for a more rapid movement than "horizontal" corridors.)
As for the original Steamrunner, she seems to be all shuttlebay in the primary hull, with gigantic stern doors. A shuttlecarrier of some sort? Or a planetary assault "floating dock" vessel? In contrast, we see no torpedo tubes anywhere. Might be that the more "special" a vessel, the less need there is to have the engineers in interaction with the rest of the ship. Let the secondary hull folks keep the ship going, while the primary hull folks get things done!
Timo Saloniemi
