First of all, 392 crewmen were sealed in the "lower decks". Obviously, this has to comprise a large portion of the ship, for all those people to be there. Since the crew still had control of engineering at this time, the "lower decks" are below engineering.

Later, Spock says that the Klingons control deck six and a starboard portion of deck seven, and the SF crew controls everything above that. Since he doesn't mention anything below that, it would seem that the "lower decks" that have been sealed off are the port side of deck seven, and everything below.

The Klingons then take over engineering. Presumably, this is on deck five. It explains how the Klingons took it so easily from deck six, and why the SF crew were easily able to still access deck six later.

Next, the Klingons want to cut off life support, and they (Mara and a guard) have to go to "number six deck". Spock gets readings of the alien "in engineering near reactor three", and he and Kirk go there to investigate. They meet the Klingons and the alien all in one spot, so this must be "number six deck" and "engineering near reactor three", placing the reactor three part of engineering on deck six.

So, part of engineering is on deck six. However, main engineering (presumably the rector there is number one) has to be above that, since it was under SF control even after the Klingons took deck six. I wouldn't think these two parts of engineering would be far from each other, so this further supports my guess that it was on deck five.

Therefore, the regular main engineering room is on deck five, and the entire engineering section also extends onto deck six. That would seem to place it near the impulse engines, or at least on the same decks.

[ October 18, 2001: Message edited by: The Mighty Monkey of Mim ]

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it is assumed it was showing only a status report and not individual decks..

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Originally posted by TSN:
That "MSD" wasn't a deck plan. It was a display of sections of hull plating. On the DVD, you can read what it says. :-)

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Are you referring to display in Day of the Dove? I thought that was the one that appears on page 113 of the Star Trek Sketchbook -- The Original Series, which is labeled HULL PRESSURE COMP'TS (I assume this means "compartments").

Factors to be considered:

*The set design changed as the series progressed - can we still say this was supposed to be the same room all the time?
*There might be references to deck arrangement that defy the traditional view that numbering ran from top to bottom. Among the more famous is the eternally long turbolift ride from the bridge to the brig on deck two in "Enterprise Incident", along with the illogic of having the brig right next to the bridge.
*Some camera runs should establish undeniably that one can access the engineering room directly from a curved (and thus apparently saucerside) corridor, just like in the actual sets. Then again, some other camera runs might establish other facts about which room connects to which.