Western Heritage Division, NMRA Inc.

B&CC Coaling Depot

Two Track Coaling Station

This coaling station is based off of Model Power’s Bors Coaling Station. This coaling station is set up for two track operation: Coal is loaded into the station via a 2 bucket lift from the fill track on one side and then uses a gravity feed to dispense coal through a loading chute on the load side. For this model, my intent was to make this model as operational as possible, remaining consistent with a 19th century mining road, where the loading and chute control would be hand operated.

At the bottom of the depot is the operator shed. This was a simple box made from 2x6 and 6x6 with the roofing being recycled from the portion of the Western Mining building that I decided to rebuild.

On top of this is the coal storage assembly, built up from individual side assemblies constructed from 2x6, 6x6 and 8x8 members

Once these are assembled, the coal storage is attached to the top of the shed and two additional supports are added underneath.

For the coal lifts for the loading side, I decided to go for a block and tackle approach with working coal buckets and chain (the **Details** page explains how to handle pulleys and the coal buckets and the chain).

Next was to add the loading chutes at the top of the bin and stairs (see Building Stairs for how to build them)

Now the top engine house was built up from boards and added along with the coal storage bin roof (made from slate shingles). I then added the coal chute details, including the stairs and platform under this loading chute. Polly scale grimy black and tarnished black colors were used for the inside and outside of the coal bucket, respectively. The following picture shows the finished station in its location in my main yard.

Cascade Refining

Construction

Walls are built from a 4"x6" wood frame covered with Plastruct rough brick (I went ahead and used O scale which is catalog PS-92, rather than HO scale - catalog PS-91, but that's because I was lazy). The framing is glued with white glue and the Plastruct sheets are glued by spraying them with 3M Super 77 adhesive and then bonding to the wood frame.

However, before assembling the panel, the panels need to be detailed. Mortar is added to the sheets by applying Floquil’s Mud paint to the panel and removing the excess with a paper towel. The result is various mortar shading, along with a slight patina on the brick itself. The cutout will be for a multi-pane window (see the section on windows below).

To detail the individual bricks, I used Sharpies in two different shades. Now, there are two ways of detailing the brick face: either before or after having added grout by the above method. The difference between these two approaches is in the resulting contrast between the base brick face and the detailed bricks. Detail after grouting leads to a higher contrast and is what I decided to use for Cascade Refining.

Windows

The picture above shows an example of one of the multi-pane windows used in Cascade Refining. These windows are constructed by cutting 5 mil clear plastic sheeting to match the opening in the brick face. (For stiffer windows, use 10 mil sheeting). The outside trim is 3”x3” stock cut to size and painted before gluing to the sheet with CA. The plastic sheeting is then positioned in the opening so that the outside trim sits “proud” to the brick face. Finally, unfinished 3”x3” stock is cut and used to back the plastic sheeting so that it won’t fall out.

Chimney

I used the Octagonal Chimney from Cibolo Crossing (I haven't been able to find a web page, this item is available from Walthers as catalog number 231-7. The same mortaring and detailing techniques used on the walls were used on this piece. A 3/8" hole was bored into the top of the chimney, with the top being painted Floquil’s Tarnished Black and the inside of the hole being painted with Floquil’s Grimy Black.

Assembly and Roofing

Once all brick walls are completed, CA was used for bonding the individual wall sections together. The two main building sections use slate paper shingles from Northeastern Scale Lumber. The smokestack attachment roof was constructed from Northeastern’s corrugated metal roofing. Since the smokestack is octagonal, I first did some rough measuring of the sides of the smokestack and then created multiple templates designed to be the size of the roof with an octagonal cutout that varied by half a millimeter between each template.

Once I determined which of these fit best, it was used as a template for cutting out the corrugated roofing (I used double-sided tape to temporarily attach the template to the roofing). After assembly, here's what the smelter looks like:

The next stage was to construct the attached coal shed. It is built from 6"x6" used as posts and beams, 2"x2" for diagonal braces, and 2"x4" for rails. These were painted with dark brown enamel. The shed roofing is more slate paper shingles, with a 1"x12" board cut to shape and edge glued as a fascia.

Finally, the coal pile is an angled box constructed of 1/64" plywood and covered with mine run scale coal from Woodland Scenics (catalog number #B92) attached with their scenery cement (catalog S191). The solid core door was created using the techniques on the Doors and Windows page.

Bridges on the B&CCRR

The B&CC layout has four bridges. Given the setting of 1870, I wanted the style used in the Rocky Mountains in the 19th century. Not finding any kits that looked good, I stumbled across the website for the Black Bear Construction Company which sells jigs for building various types of bridges. After some research, I decided to buy and use their "Truss Bridge Kit"

What comes from Black Bear

This kit comes in different forms: just the jig and instructions, just a materials pack, or the jig and materials pack combined. For ease in getting started, I bought the jig and materials pack. The instructions include a table for determining which size lumber matches up with the various scale sizes required for building bridges (so that you can buy lumber at your local hobby store) and supplied scale lumber is comparable in quality to that provided by Northeastern Scale Lumber

The jig (pictured below) is made out of acrylic, so assembly should be with white or carpenters glue (CA or super glue will eat away at the jig). The jig is set up for modular operation when building large bridges and includes jigs for pier braces in both narrow and standard gauge sizes (these double for stringer spacing on the bridge itself).

The plans include information on spacing of floor beams as well as different tension rod options. The instructions are relatively clear and include diagrams to help clarify any confusing text.

Assembly

Side Frames

The first step in assembly is to build the two side frames. To do this, cut a piece of 12”x12” stock long and insert into the bottom of the jig (this will be the bottom chord and will be cut to length later). Second, cut and trip a piece of 12”x12” stock for the top chord and insert nto the jig. Now cut two 12”x12” vertical posts and insert into the jig at the ends of the top chord. Use these posts to miter the corners of the top chord for the diagonal braces. After mitering, glue these pieces together with white glue.

Now, add the rest of the vertical posts and cut the diagonal braces. Miter the edges and insert into the jig using white glue for assembly.

The jig is modular for assembling longer bridges. For bridges with an even number of panels, no additional work is needed. For bridges with an odd number of panels, two diagonal braces are cut for the middle section and joined with a lap joint to form the central X (see pictures below for examples).

Adding the deck

Once the two side frames are finished and the glue has dried, align the two side frames parallel to each other and cut 8”x12” stock for the floor beams. The first set of floor beams are placed next to each of the vertical posts as shown in the following picture:

Continue cutting floor beams and placing between the two side frames. Notch the floor beams to fit around the diagonal braces.

Add bracing

At this point the bridge could be painted and put in the layout. If desired, additional support can be added by drilling holes into the frames for adding tension rods. I’ve used the in-line approach for tension rods as it fit the road concept I’ve been following. Tension rods are 0.025” piano wire and Grandt Line nut-bolt-washer (NBWs) are used at the top and bottom of each rod.

The following four photos show the bridges I’ve build:

a 30’ Queen’s Post Truss Bridge (one panel section)

a 50’ Howe truss bridge (three panel sections)

a 70’ bridge (five panel sections)

an 80’ bridge (six panel sections)

Water Tower

The Water Tower for my layout is based on the Idaho Springs Water Tower documented in Harry W. Brunk’s "Up the Cripple Creek on the Narrow Gauge". While I did have a plastic water tower model that I could have used as a base, I wanted to work more from a set of prototype photos and drawings to see what my experience with them would be.

Water Tank

For a 30,000 gallon water tank the container dimensions were 16’x20’. Converting this to HO scale is nominally 49 mm x 70 mm. Fortunately, it turns out that my ½ pint cans of polyurethane stain are pretty much 70 mm in a diameter (even more amazing, for N scale modelers, a standard toilet paper tube is 35 mm in diameter, and so you could use it either as a form or just glue wood on it). The container is built from 2"x6" edge glued with white glue and held in place to the stain can with rubber bands:

The tank is built in three sections, with the final vertical boards by dry fitting around the form. After final fitting, the three curved sections were free glued together:

The container base was built from 4"x12" edge glued (with white glue) to a nominal size of 20' square. The container was then glued on to this base:

Container Supports

For container hoops, I used 0.014" diameter black craft wire attached with CA. Spacing of the support bands increases as bands progress up the container - giving more support at the bottom of the tank where the water pressure will be higher. For hoop bands, I used supports from Grandt (catalog #5038) and attached those to the bands with CA, progressively spacing the bands a few vertical boards apart on each hoop.

Base Supports

The Idaho Springs water tower is unique in that while it's central column support was wooden, the eight post supports are of iron. The central column was built of 6"x6" face glued into an L shape to hold pnales of 1"x4" edge glued into a sheet.

The container sits on 12"x12" footers that in turn are supported by the central column and iron posts. However, before applying the iron posts, I used a razor saw to cut down the base and then used a dremel tool to sand down the base to the circular shape of the tower and the any overhang of the 12"x12" footers.

Adding the Posts

The next step is to build the “iron” posts. These began life as doll house stair spindles, cut to length and then carved to match the profiles of the original. After the posts are glued to the footers, brass wire and Precision Scale turnbuckles (catalog #48234) were used to brace the posts.

The Roof and Ladder

The circular roof is built by cutting aircraft plywood into 72 6 degree wedges. These wedges were overlapped to form the circular roof with white glue and CA. The roof cap is cut from copper sheathing, formed to the roof and attached with CA. The roof walk brace is constructed from 3”x3” stock and assembled with CA.

The ladder braces are 6”x6” stock cut and glued to the tank base. The ladder (catalog #8492) is then glued to these braces with CA.

The Water Pipe Assembly

The last part for construction is to add the water part assembly. The first part is to build the water pipe itself. This pipe consists of 3/16” and 3/32” plastic tubing cut to length and assembled with plastic cement. The bend at the end consists of two angled cuts, rotating the pipe to form the bend and reassembling with plastic cement. The funnels are stiff paper truncated paper cones and pulled into shape and joined to the plastic with CA.

Next, build the pulleys. Starting with the large pulley wheels from Alexander Scale Models (catalog #424), drill out the axle hole and clean the pulley channel with a micro file. The pulley guide is formed by cutting copper sheeting and bending it into shape, drilling out holes for the axle to match the ones in the pulley. The last step is to cut brass wire for the axle and join to the copper sheating with CA. The pulley wheel is left loose so that it can rotate.

The pipe support rods are brass wire cut to length and brass rods cut to slugs and a hole for the brass wire drilled out with a rotary tool and a lot of time. The pipe support subassembly starts with various pieces of wood stock cut to size and assembled with white glue. The pipe support rods and pulleys are glued to the to the pipe support sub assembly with CA. The pipe hinge is formed from copper sheeting, axle holes drilled and attached to the water pipe with CA. Brass wire is again used for the water pipe axle and joined to the pipe support subassembly with more CA. Finally, cut chain from A-line (catalog #29219) to length, string through the pulleys and join to the weights and pipe with CA. Grandt line NBWs (catalog # 5098) are used to detail the pipe support subassembly joints. The whole subassembly is then joined to the tank with white glue.

Finishing

As can be seen from the next picture, there are several steps in finishing the water tank.

Exposed metal pieces are tarnished by paining with Floquil’s weathered black and exposed wood has been weathered. Floquil’s Dust has been used to model the mineral salts left behind by water seeping through the tank cracks and evaporating.