Credits and Corrections

The cover shot was taken by my good friend Stuart Thayer. He is an accomplished HO scale modeler, an expert on the L&N railroad, a widely published model railroad author, and one heck of an operator.

The first paragraph includes a reference to Haysi Tunnel- it's actually Russell Tunnel. The caption for Photo 1 also incorrectly labels the tunnel as Haysi Tunnel. Bob Helm was kind enough to clear up my confusion about this, but I didn't get the changes to MRH in time for correction. Also, Steven M. Timko's book featuring the color photography of Everett N. Young is now available from Morning Sun books.

Tom Patterson

Well Done Article!

Makes me wish I was modeling coal country! I like everything about this feature. The process and background and research are very well illustrated and explained, the photography well done, the small amount of space it takes up on the layout, and the interesting lines and details. Plus some informative construction techniques that almost any styrene scratch building project can incorporate. Very nice Tom. Looking forward to the second installment.

I Like It

This piece features great information on scratchbuilding techniques and some nice craftsmanship.  It's a good read even though I don't have a use for a coal loader.

If you don't wanna see a fat man dance....

Stop putting articles like this in MRH! 

(OK, please keep putting articles like this in MRH, my fat butt needs the exercise.)

Great work Tom. Very inspiring. It's Appy, I'm happy! 

TAG

Come, Caboose14, come to the

Come, Caboose14, come to the dark side. 

Just take a little bite of the apple....

Gotta have one now

Very nice article Tom. May just have to have one of these on my layout and your thorough article will make it easy to replicate. Thanks.

Re: Comments

Thanks for the kind comments, guys. My hope is that some folks find some tips and techniques that they can use in their scratch-building or kit-bashing projects.  I first used jigs many years ago, but it wasn't until the last handful of years that I started using them extensively. I wish I had picked up on this much earlier as they really help speed the construction process.

Tom Patterson

WM interchange?

I was checking your blog and looking at the system map to see where you INT with the WM? You pass Elkins to the east, so chances are that you catch WM through the B&O?

Great Article...One?

Question, on the drawing of the receiving bin (pg 44, Fig. 4) the dimension are 9 feet and 7/16 of an inch. An error? A little hard to measure 7/16 in. in HO.

Might fit an odd space I have....bill of materials?

Thanks for the article Tom. Looks very nicely done and something like this might fit an odd space that "AppyGuy" and I were just discussing here the other day. I might of missed it but is there an overall "bill of materials" for the project. No hobby shops within 100 miles out here in the boonies where I live so I would have to order all materials online.

Michael

Re: Questions and Comments

ThatAppyGuy: The line theoretically crosses the WM just north of William, West Virginia. The WM had a branch that left William and went northwest to Pierce, WV, and North Pierce on the layout is intended to represent a location just to the north of that town. I played around with having a WM interchange somewhere around Logan on the layout, but I just couldn't make it fit into the space I had. The railroad interchanges with the B&O at Petersburg, WV via the Purgettsville Branch.

CarterM999: The drawing was done in Google SketchUp and the 9' 7/16" is correct. However, using a measurement of 9' would produce a slope to the bin sides that wouldn't be noticeably different. If I recall correctly, I couldn't get the lines to match up at exactly 9' when I did the drawing.

Michael: There is a complete bill of materials at the end of the article.

Tom Patterson  

Coal Loader or Rock Loader?

I am sure the coal loader as designed could also be used as a rock loader.  So, there might be uses for it after all on any layout.

Den

Den, wouldn't the hopper be

Den, wouldn't the hopper be too small for rock? Coal (at least in the part of WV Tom models) is pretty soft and more easily crushed too. But the construction techniques would be similar for a rock crusher.

Tom: WM never went to Logan in real life. Logan is N&W territory. Good thing you never put in that WM interchange there, LOL. I can see the N&W guys now: "What's that WM Geep  (RS-3) doing down here!?" Of course, anything COULD have happened, resulting in WM heading onto Southern WV.

Re: Logan

ThatAppyGuy,

All of the locations on the layout are fictitious. The names Logan and Nelsonville came from the names of small towns in southeastern Ohio. I picked them because they sounded plausible for a small town in West Virginia and I liked them. The Logan, West Virginia that I'm familiar with is on the old C&O and the railroad's large Peach Creek yard is just north of town. The name Big Chimney is a small town just north of Charleston, West Virginia and I found it while looking for place names in an Atlas back in the mid- 1980's. I liked the name enough that I used it on the layout. All of the other names on the layout came about in a similar fashion.

Tom Patterson

Modeling a coal loader

I was anxious to read this article since I have seen pictures of Tom's modeling work in another forum (Appalachian Railroad Modeling). This is a great model which is well suited to a narrow scene.

Tom built a really nice truck dump loader (Consolidated Coal) that'd I'd like to see either plans or dimensions of. I have a spot reserved on my railroad for just such a  model.

How do I get in direct contact with the author?

John

Lima, Springfield, and Morgantown RR

Re: Contact

John,

Just click on my user name next to the date and time of this post above and you will be taken to my profile page. There you can click on the "Contact" tab to send an e-mail through MRH or get my e-mail address and send something directly to me.

Tom Patterson

Tom, when I saw Logan, I just

Tom, when I saw Logan, I just figured you meant the Logan in Southern WV. 

I have a Tuckersville on the M&WV and not only that, but 2 on the system. Tucker was a Dalmatian I owned and named the first town after, but there is also a Tucker County WV. Since famous persons were often rewarded with having a town named after them, the idea of more than one town with the same name isn't possible.

The US Post Office Frowned on Names Close to Each Other

For what it is worth.  The US Post Office often forced towns to change their name because of the confusion between two similarly named towns in the same state.  Basalt CO was forced by the Post Office to change it's name from Aspen Junction in 1895 because postal clerks were confusing the town with both the town of Aspen and Grand Junction.  If the town refused, the Postmaster General threaten to remove postal service to the towns.

Name Change

BIG BROTHER watching over us....

I liked the Coal Loader so much...

I printed the article and I must say Joe to print an article could not be easier...many thanks for a great publication and many many great articles.

Another great article!

Tom always does great work, this is what the hobby needs more of!

Well done Tom!

Ready for more, Ill need lots of loaders for my VS!

Great article but.....

I thought the article excellent, except for one thing.  I had never seen one of these tipples, and I really wanted to see the small end of the model, the part that would dump the coal into a railcar.  Other than that I'd say this was an excellent article.

Ray

Comments

Randy- thanks for the kind comments. I've been following your progress on the VS on Facebook and I'm anxious to see your article on building trees.

Ray- you'll see the end of the conveyor (actually a small conveyor) that dumps the coal into the hopper cars in Part 2 of the article which will appear in the January edition of MRH.

Tom Patterson

Thank You!

Thank you for this article!  I am in need of just the exact technique you are using on this model to make some conveyors I am planning on my layout. They will be used in a completely different way, between buildings on a mining operation, and to a truck loader, but I'm not sure what kind of ore I will be mining just yet. At any rate, I can adjust measurements to fit my needs, but the overall look of those conveyors is exactly what I've been looking for. And store bought kits in brass were very expensive! Now I know exactly how I will be modeling mine! Thanks again!