The Southport Coaling Tower

The PRR Pro Modelers Yahoo Group has selected Pennsy Coaling Facilities as their next project.  After seeing the announcement, I thought that a coaling tower is a must have for the layout.  I thought that it would make an interesting next project for my S scale version of the Elmira Branch.  I know that I should probably be spending my time more productively by finishing the layout room, but I thought that building the coaling tower would provide a nice break from sanding drywall.

One of the most prominent features of the Southport Engine Facility is the massive concrete coaling tower used the fill the tenders of all those I-1's.  No one makes anything reasonably close to it in S scale, so scratch building is the only option for me.  That was the first hurdle to overcome.  The second was that I couldn't find plans for it anywhere.  As luck would have it, the Spring 2012 issue of The Keystone Modeler featured a scratch built version of the Northumberland coaling tower by Chuck Cover.  Northumberland was a smaller version of the Southport tower with six legs instead of eight, but it gave me a clue as to how to determine the dimensions of the Southport tower.  Southport is a cousin to the tower at Renovo, PA and the Renovo tower still exists.  Renovo is at best an 8-10 hour drive from where I live, so I knew that measuring it was out of the question.  Even if went to Renovo, there was no way that I could ever accurately measure such a massive structure.

Fortunately, photos of the Renovo tower exist all over the internet.  Just type Renovo Coaling Tower into Google and dozens of images will appear.  So using known dimensions in the photographs, such as the height of a handrail, track gauge, or the height of an average person, you could approximate the dimension of the structure.  With that I created a reasonable set of drawings of all four sides of the structure.  I'm sure that the dimensions are not exact but they look close enough to represent the Southport tower.  In S scale it's impressive measuring well over 15" tall.

The next obstacle to tackle was what material to use to represent the concrete structure.  At first I thought of casting it from plaster, but that would have been a nightmare to try make castings and then try and fit them all together.  In Chuck's article, he constructed the tower using styrene that he scribed to represent the individual boards that made up the formwork of the original structure.  The results were quite striking and when painted it resembled a concrete structure.  So I thought about using styrene, but forms lines would actually be the reverse of scribed material and I felt that in S scale the difference would be noticeable.  So I tried to think of another way of representing this huge multi-surface concrete structure.

Because I'm a part-time artist and I mat and frame much of my own art work, I have literally hundreds of sheets of scrap mat board in various sizes.  Mat board is roughly 1/16th of an inch thick and formed by compressing multiple layers of paper.  It is quire sturdy and could be joined using ordinary white glue.  It's texture is smooth and could easily represent concrete, but I still had two problems to solve - (1) how to I join the sections together without showing the edge of the mat board, and (2) how do I represent the wooden form lines?

The first problem was a relatively simple solution.  I used my mat cutter to cut the edges of the mat board to a 45-degree angle.  This gave the edges a nice clean seamless look.  I was pleased.  The second issue presented quite a challenge.  I experimented a bit and finally cam up with a reasonably good solution.  Instead of scribing the lines, why not do the reverse and scribe the boards?  So using a large triangle and a 1/8" wide flat bladed screwdriver I dragged the tip through the mat board with slight even downward pressure. Then I repeated the process by lining up the blade next to the newly scribed board.  If you leave a slight gap it almost appears that the boards are depressed and the gap is raised, just the effect that you're trying to achieve.  Occasionally you can skip a board to give some unevenness to the the forms.  Here's close up of the corner showing the board pattern:

I think it's pretty convincing.  We'll have to see how it looks after it's painted, but for now I'm happy with it.  Many more problems to deal with, but the basic structure problems are solved.  I reinforced the corners with 1/4" and 3/8' square basswood.  The resulting structure is quite strong and very lightweight.  I wish that I had it easy like the HO guys when it come to coal chutes and the hoist mechanism.  I guess that I'll be doing quite a bit of scratch building in that area.

You can access Chuck Cover's article by downloading the Keystone Modeler at the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society's website at: www.prrt&hs.com and clicking on the Keystone Modeler link.  It's a free quarterly magazine providing outstanding information for the PRR modeler.

I'm also happy to report that progress continues on the layout room as well.  This week painting of the walls has begun and now hopefully before the end of the summer layout construction and commence.

Fancy Pushers

The Elmira Branch always seemed to be the poor step-child of the PRR when it came to motive power.  Some of the last Pennsy steam ran there when other lines had already dieselized.  The same held true with diesel power.  When newer power arrived on the mainlines the older locomotives cascaded down to the branches.  The Elmira Branch was no exception.  At one time even a Baldwin centipede wondered on to the branch and after tearing up a bunch of track in Southport Yard, it was banished from the Branch.  One of the really unusual specimens was the pair of Alco PA passenger diesels that were used as pushers north out of Williamsport in the mid-1950's.  Still in the tuscan red and five gold stripe motif, PA's 5751 and 5757 worked as pair to boost loaded coal drags up the steep grades from Ralston to Snedekerville.  Usually teamed with an I-1, it made quite the sight as the former passenger train varnish provided much needed thrust to the westbound coal trains.

So, in the era that I model, no respectable Elmira Branch layout would be without the PA pushers.  The problem for me is that no one really make a respectable PA is S scale.  The American Flyer version came close, but the body shell suffered from having a flat roof, and the trucks had a wheelbase that was way too short.  About 15 or so years ago, American Models came out with a scale version of the PA and PB, but the shape of the cab and nose was off considerably.  Ironically, the rest of the body was spot on with very detailed side screen and the correct roof curvature.  I tried in vein to correct the cab and nose shape deficiencies, but no matter what I did it still didn't look right.  At one point, I though that it would be easier to reshape the roof of the Flyer PA than to modify the front end of the AM shell. But, then one day it dawned on me, why not use the Flyer nose and attach it to the rest of the AM shell.

Bingo!  It worked and here's the result:

It still has a ways to go.  The cab windows need to be reshaped a bit, but it looks a far cry better than the alternatives.  The trucks and power mechanism is from a Omnicon Flyer re-powering kit that was offered in the 1980's.  The brass, fully sprung powered trucks are well detailed.  The white plastic strip on the roof is where I removed the dynamic brake detail.  With the exception of a few dual service FP-7's and some RS units, Pennsy passenger diesels did not have dynamic brakes.  I've since replaced the side skirts on the AM portion of the shell.  They were too straight and didn't curve inward at the bottom like the prototype.  Now i'm working on the steps and then I'll start on the Pennsy specific details such as the antenna brackets and angled number boards but it won't be long before it's serviceable. 

More Progress

It's been quite a while since I posted anything but I am happy to report that there has been progress.  Not so much on the railroad but on the space that will eventually house the layout.  My previous photos only showed bare studs against the wall, but now the room has walls.  Finally!  The perimeter foundation walls are up along with a sufficient about of insulation to keep the chilly New England air out of the basement.  What a difference that makes.  I'm glad that the layout wasn't too far along before I decided to complete the room.  The portion that I had previously begun, had to be moved away from the walls during construction, so I devised a series of casters attached to horizontal cross braces at the legs of the layout and moved the entire 24-ft yard away from the work area.  Drywall taping has started, but before any sanding occurs the layout will be covered to protect it from dust.  New electrical outlets were added as part of the renovation.  Once the walls are complete it's on to the ceiling and lighting.