Great work

I am looking forward to it!  Nice looking little dock.  Thanks for sharing

Sweet!

I really like the project! I am about to build a similar one and you certainly have given me the inspiration.

Gary

Teeswater

Hi David, very nice work. Are you modeling that CP Bruce branch?  If so I would interested to hear more about that. Also I have drawings for the Teeswater engine house if you are interested.

Regards

Jan

small coaling facility

I took a rough guess at the measurements based as much as anything on the spacing (3-1/2" centres) between the two tracks leading to my turntable, or where the turntable may be some day.  The height of the deck was based on the height of the tender on my D4g (small CPR 4-6-0) and the boom height on a crane kit I had stuck away.

For some reason I had inherited several wood tunnel portal kits, one of which gave me more than enough pre-stained lumber of appropriate dimensions.

Once I got the basic structure together it was time to dive into the shiny red box for the crane.

Remember those?  Maybe you have to have grey hair, but I have a bunch of smaller Scale Structures kit tucked away - with prices on them like $7.50, so you can see it's been a while.  SS made some nifty little models, and this crane was just perfect for the job.  The original upper pivot block was braced against a wall, but the CPR had supported theirs with three metal (I guess) girders.  I used some code 55 rail I had on hand.

I cheated a bit and left out the rigging for the carriage (I subsequently took the slack out of the chain) - the mechanism just below the pivot block moved the carriage along the boom.  Here's the hoist mechanism at the bottom of the mast.

The lumber was mostly pre-stained; anything than wasn't was touched up with washy black.  On the crane I used Floquil Graphite (110119) which gives a wonderful oily, creosoty tone.  The code 55 rail was, for now anyway, left in its original "weathered" colour.

CP had at least another of these stations, at Chipman, New Brunswick, although it was a somewhat different design.  Evidently they weren't all that uncommon, yet they're seldom modelled.  In the June 1955 MR Paul Larson describes construction of an enclosed version with an air-operated hoist.

I hope this is of interest and perhaps inspiration to anyone who doesn't have room for a conventional coal tower.

David

Looks Great!

Coal Station

Outstanding model, David. Very well done. Thanks for posting. 

Roy

Chipman NB

There's a good photo of coaling at Chipman at  http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2566230

Quite different arrangement from Teeswater, but the buckets are the same.  The Chipman hoist appears to be air-operated like the one in the MR article.

This photo is particularly interesting because it catches a bucket in the act of unloading into the tender.

DRT

The bucket

looks a bit like this after it's been dumped. 

Only six more to go...I think maybe the bands at the top and bottom are a bit larger than they should be.  Be nice to have the rivet detail on them, and some decent hinges, but my eyeballs and soldering fingers just aren't up to it.

Now if someone wants to do up a decent master and bring them out in resin, there might be a market!

David

Rivet decals

For the rivets, have you considered using the rivet decals available from either Archer or Micro-Mark?  I have used the Archer rivets, and they are beautiful.  A touch temperamental to put on, but beautiful.  I have not tried the Micro-Mark rivets yet, but I do have a sheet waiting for a project.

Rivets

"For the rivets, have you considered using the rivet decals available from either Archer or Micro-Mark?"

Actually, Ken, I have thought about them (I have a sheet of Micro-Mark) and may just wind up trying them.  Be interesting to see how it turns out.

David

Scale Structures Ltd crane

Still available, now cast in pewter:  SSL  kit SS9126  $31.99

In fact, it looks as if SS Ltd. still carries pretty well everything they ever produced.  Quite amazing longevity.

DRT

Coaling Facility

David,

Very nice modeling. Don't know how I missed the first post on this.

I've got a few of those SSL kits myself. Plus lots of gray hairs.

Bernd

This is great!

I've been looking for some reference material for this coaling station.  The work is top notch.  I love it.  I'd love it if you could share some more information on how you found reference materials etc for this project.  I'd very much like to build one myself.

Coaling references

Here's a rather distant photo of the Teeswater station:

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR_Bruce/BRANCHES_2.htm

Scroll about half way down the article.

The (better) Teeswater shot and one from Chipman are in a book (which I don't have, unfortunately) called "Magnetic North - Canadian Steam".  Here it is on Amazon, though:

http://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-North-Canadian-Steam-Twilight/dp/1550463063/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306786658&sr=1-1

And here's another photo of the Chipman NB station - this one would make a really interesting model:

http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2566230

Looking forward to seeing the results !

David

Additional CPR small coaling facilities

I just ran across your interesting post on your Teeswater coaling facility.  There were similar but not identical small hoist-type coaling facilities at Maniwaki and Waltham, both branch-line end points on lines out of Ottawa into Western Quebec.

Here is a link to the Waltham facility:

 http://www.images.technomuses.ca/?en/searchp/pp_irn/226300

There are 2 photos of the Maniwaki facility, which was air operated, in Duncan du Fresne' book When Steam and Steel get in your Blood, p. 120.  It looks similar to the Waltham one at a distance.

One of these photos is also about half-way down the set of photos at this link:

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/cpr_steam/G1.htm

The second photo in the book (not on trainweb) shows the bucket being dumped manually into the tender by tipping it on its hinged supports, rather than opening a trap in the bottom.

The buckets look pretty similar to those at Teeswater in size.

Thanks for your inspiring model.

Variations on a theme

No need for a platform - just dump coal from the car directly into a bucket.  The second photo (Maniwaki) doesn't show much detail of the coal loading, but clearly illustrates how it fits into a very small engine facility.

Thanks for finding the photos !

David

Kit for small coaling facility

I still had this article in mind recently when I ran across this JL Durango Press Coaling facility advertised on ebay.  it is quite similar to the CPR ones at Maniwaki and Waltham.  The bucket doesn't match, but the wooden supports are similar.  Would like to build one or two of these for an eventual CPR branchline layout. it isn't as elegant as the model here, but interesting nonetheless.

http://www.shop.jlinnovative.com/Coal-Loader-041.htm

JL kit

Neat, simple, and doesn't take up a lot of space.  There certainly seems to have been quite a variety in these small CP coaling facilities, so there's no reason they shouldn't fit.  The CP buckets are fairly easy to do, either soldered up in brass or made out of styrene.

David