TOS warp drive
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This is suggested in episodes of TOS and TAS although the exact episodes escape me at the moment. There's also the idea that Matt Jefferies had the thought that such potentially explosive stuff as matter/antimatter be kept as far away as possible from the habitable parts of the ship.
One of the TOS eps that strongly suggests the matter-antimatter power is in the nacelles would be "By Any Other Name" (Scotty's plan to thwart the Kelvans by blowing the ship up in the neg-energy barrier), and another would be when the Excalbians somehow took control of the Enterprise's reactors during "The Savage Curtain" (Kirk suggested to Scotty to jettison the nacelles).
Actually, the more I've thought of it over the years, the more I came to conclude that there must be multiple power reactors aboard the Enterprise, including main powerplants in the nacelles and in the secondary hull. And since the photon torpedoes are seen firing from the lower vortex of the saucer, then we must also conclude that there are at least some level of anti-matter handling facilities there as well. In "Day of the Dove", Spock uses ship's sensors to track the alien non-corporeal lifeform "near reactor number three", and the impression I received is that since the ship's lower decks were sealed off he must've been talking about the engineering section of the saucer. (Presumably impulse engine room.)
Of course, there are many examples of contradictions and discontinuity in TOS and throughout the whole TREK franchise. But I've had increasing difficulty buying into the notion that a Federation starship's main source of energy and propulsion is located in a single chamber. The Borg attacks in "The Best of Both Worlds" alone showed how foolish that design philosophy would be. A simple breakdown or overload or act of sabotage would cripple the ship and maroon the crew far too easily.
And the notion that Kirk wanted to salvage Decker's wrecked Constellation indicated to me that he felt that the Constellation could be salvaged, in other words, that she could somehow be restored just enough to make it back to a home port to be rebuilt. This suggested to me that Federation starships are very cleverly designed, tough as nails, with lots of built-in fail-safe redundancies in their power and propulsion systems. Maybe they are overbuilt in that regard, taking valuable interior volume away from systems that could give similarly-sized alien ships greater power and/or capabilities.
At least, that's the way I look at it anymore.
Actually, the more I've thought of it over the years, the more I came to conclude that there must be multiple power reactors aboard the Enterprise, including main powerplants in the nacelles and in the secondary hull. And since the photon torpedoes are seen firing from the lower vortex of the saucer, then we must also conclude that there are at least some level of anti-matter handling facilities there as well. In "Day of the Dove", Spock uses ship's sensors to track the alien non-corporeal lifeform "near reactor number three", and the impression I received is that since the ship's lower decks were sealed off he must've been talking about the engineering section of the saucer. (Presumably impulse engine room.)
Of course, there are many examples of contradictions and discontinuity in TOS and throughout the whole TREK franchise. But I've had increasing difficulty buying into the notion that a Federation starship's main source of energy and propulsion is located in a single chamber. The Borg attacks in "The Best of Both Worlds" alone showed how foolish that design philosophy would be. A simple breakdown or overload or act of sabotage would cripple the ship and maroon the crew far too easily.
And the notion that Kirk wanted to salvage Decker's wrecked Constellation indicated to me that he felt that the Constellation could be salvaged, in other words, that she could somehow be restored just enough to make it back to a home port to be rebuilt. This suggested to me that Federation starships are very cleverly designed, tough as nails, with lots of built-in fail-safe redundancies in their power and propulsion systems. Maybe they are overbuilt in that regard, taking valuable interior volume away from systems that could give similarly-sized alien ships greater power and/or capabilities.
At least, that's the way I look at it anymore.
IIRC, the episodes indicate that the TOS Enterprise had 3 reactors. One presumably was the M/AM Reactor that was overloading in That Which Survives and sabotaaged in Elaan of Troyius. In By Any Other Name Scotty mentions M/AM Reactors and there are a couple of different episodes that references M/AM pods or M/AM nacelles or power nacelles.
A composite look at the ship could be: 2 atomic reactors are in the primary hull, mirroring the two impulse engines and the 3rd reactor being the main M/AM reactor is in the engineering hull. The warp nacelles might also generate power as well that feeds into and/or relies on the 3rd reactor that uses a lithium/dilithium circuit for the rest of the ship. Or alternatively, the warp nacelles and m/am reactor is considered a single reactor that just happens to be really 3 individual points where m/am reaction can occur, again ultimately feeding into a dilithium circuit to power the rest of the ship...
Well, that's a guess anyway
A composite look at the ship could be: 2 atomic reactors are in the primary hull, mirroring the two impulse engines and the 3rd reactor being the main M/AM reactor is in the engineering hull. The warp nacelles might also generate power as well that feeds into and/or relies on the 3rd reactor that uses a lithium/dilithium circuit for the rest of the ship. Or alternatively, the warp nacelles and m/am reactor is considered a single reactor that just happens to be really 3 individual points where m/am reaction can occur, again ultimately feeding into a dilithium circuit to power the rest of the ship...
Well, that's a guess anyway
"Day of the Dove" seems to add another wrinkle to all of this, since the lower decks (secondary hull) were said to be cut off for most of the episode, which means Chekov accosted Marta (and Kirk and Spock confronted the alien) in the saucer section "near reactor number three". This would strongly suggest that the saucer has at least three reactors of some sort, in addition to whatever would be housed in the secondary hull and/or nacelles.
I believe Shane Johnson's Mr. Scott's Guide talked about 5 or 6 fusion generators for the impulse engines/auxilary power. There could be that many or more in an original Connie - especially since the refit design channeled the main power (the intermix shaft) into the impuse engines under normal conditions... (did the original Enterprise use its matter/anti-matter reactor to power the impuse engines?).
@Wingsley - Day of the Dove doesn't wrinkle it too much, since it only mentions a single reactor (number 3) which doesn't exceed the total number of 3 reactors ever mentioned (Catspaw says "all three reactors"). Number 2 and 3 reactors could be in the primary hull near the auxiliary engines (impulse engines) and be atomic powered while the Number 1 reactor is the M/AM one in the engineering hull.
@Gagarin - I don't recall ever a time when the M/AM reactor was online and the impulse reactors were taken out in TOS. The times they have traveled leisurely at sublight speeds not intending to go to warp the M/AM reactor was on standby (like in Elaan of Troyius - no warp power available prior to or after sabotage). But they seem to alternate during emergency and combat conditions between using the warp drive and impulse engines during sublight maneuvers. We do know that the TOS ships could maneuver with warp drive only when impulse is destroyed from The Ultimate Computer and TMP seems to suggest that the ship can be flown at subwarp speeds with just the M/AM reactor. TWOK I believe also has the critically damaged Enterprise flying on partial Main power, but it must not have been alot or impulse was out also since the Reliant still had an advantage on Impulse power only but no warp power...
@Gagarin - I don't recall ever a time when the M/AM reactor was online and the impulse reactors were taken out in TOS. The times they have traveled leisurely at sublight speeds not intending to go to warp the M/AM reactor was on standby (like in Elaan of Troyius - no warp power available prior to or after sabotage). But they seem to alternate during emergency and combat conditions between using the warp drive and impulse engines during sublight maneuvers. We do know that the TOS ships could maneuver with warp drive only when impulse is destroyed from The Ultimate Computer and TMP seems to suggest that the ship can be flown at subwarp speeds with just the M/AM reactor. TWOK I believe also has the critically damaged Enterprise flying on partial Main power, but it must not have been alot or impulse was out also since the Reliant still had an advantage on Impulse power only but no warp power...
IIRC, some of the earlier TOS background material had diagrams that put the matter/antimatter reactor facilities in the nacelles; it was implied by these diagrams that the "engine room" was actually in the saucer section, close to the impulse engines.
I think the engine room in the saucer (headquarters of engineering, engineer's office, etc) may come from the deck-by-deck in Making Of Star Trek, but the room's ceiling seems to imply that Jefferies meant for that area to be in the engineering hull - it's curved at the top in the shape of the engineering hull. I have to admit that I'm a convert to secondary hull engineering myself.
Omega_Glory
Commodore
In "Conscience of the King", Riley is sent "down" to engineering as punishment. He talks to some of his friends on the intercom lamenting his banishment "way down here" or something like that. It would seem that engineering is in the sec hull.
For one thing, when did we ever actually see the cieling of the engineering hull? I rather doubt we did, considering the set was on a studio soundstage and there shouldn't BE anything up there other than lights and rigging.
Secondly, I offer as a counterpoint the fact that the corridors outside engineering are of the curved variety found elsewhere in the saucer section, implying that the engine room, also, is somewhere in the saucer section. Thirdly is the reference to emergency bulkheads sealing off the "lower decks" in Day of the Dove, yet failing to seal off engineering.
Oh those resourceful production people
You can see the ceiling of the engineering room in The Enemy Within http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/1x05/theenemywithin160.jpg
However, there is plenty to play with since in The Omega Glory they show two identical engine rooms and there has been at least once where Scotty refers to "engine rooms". So you can have an engine room in both the primary and engineering hulls.
As the poster above me already replied, the ceiling - or partial ceiling - of the engineering room was seen. And I think it was seen pretty often, and shows up in many of the pictures people usually pick out to represent it.
Actually the corridor outside engineering is one of 2 straight corridor segments, which of course is connected to the curved segment. But there's a good long straight shot of corridor that leads from an A-frame compartment door, past the Jefferies tube, all the way to the engineering foyer and engineering room.There's a curved corridor segment it insersects with (it makes sense from a production POV), but that engineering (and the shuttle bay / hanger deck) is on a straight stretch of corridor is not an accident in my opinion. I think that's intentional by Jefferies. The straight corridor and the arched ceiling are clues to me about where and what he thought this space represented.
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I'll say it again.
If the resolution to what was about to make the ship blow up had nothing really to do with the ship but with something acting on the ship, like the crazy supercomputer that was about to plunge the ship down to the surface, then some vague technobabble was tossed out referring to the nacelles, since they're the most visible example of the ship's power, and very little thought was given to what was actually going on with the engines themselves. Stop the threat, and the systems will take care of themselves.
If the crisis involved Scotty actually fixing what was wrong, then things coalesced around the model of a central M/ARC in the secondary hull feeding power to the rest of the ship. "Elaan of Troyius" and "That Which Survives" are practically tech manuals all by themselves.
If the resolution to what was about to make the ship blow up had nothing really to do with the ship but with something acting on the ship, like the crazy supercomputer that was about to plunge the ship down to the surface, then some vague technobabble was tossed out referring to the nacelles, since they're the most visible example of the ship's power, and very little thought was given to what was actually going on with the engines themselves. Stop the threat, and the systems will take care of themselves.
If the crisis involved Scotty actually fixing what was wrong, then things coalesced around the model of a central M/ARC in the secondary hull feeding power to the rest of the ship. "Elaan of Troyius" and "That Which Survives" are practically tech manuals all by themselves.
I'm going to need a cap for this, because I vividly remember the corridor immediately outside of engineering being a curved section as depicted in "The Ultimate Computer." Specifically I'm thinking of scenes here and here in which Kirk and company follow a curved corridor and then pass through a door on their right that opens immediately into engineering.
No, I am literally thinking of "The Ultimate Computer." Specifically I'm thinking of a scene where Kirk walks out of engineering and tells McCoy "I'm getting a red alert right here. That thing is evil."
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