Small Tank Facility

 Since I model spring 1955 I have a coal facility located in the town of Little Chicago on my Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company.  I always felt I should also have small tank facility as the one I modeled which I saw in many small towns during railfan trips.

Doug Harding Collection
(Click on this or any photo to enlarge)

This past winter I started to look for an area that might hold a small tank facility in Little Chicago on my railroad.  At first I thought land (a space) was not available; however, one day the “light bulb” went on.   I could see a location.  An area, 5 x 6 inches, between the stock pens and backdrop that would work.

Area for tank facility next to backdrop

First the few trees and bushes on the sight were moved to new locations on the railroad.  The ground was scraped, painted with a tan latex paint I like to use under ground cover and a fine sifted common sand from a local road was shifted with a a tea strainer over brushed on white glue.  The tanks were added next.

Prepared area for tank facility and basic tanks.

The tanks were cut from old Roundhouse tank car kits I have had in freight car inventory since 1982.  The tanks were in inventory as too modern for the railroad.  And, maybe the lettering?  The lettering on the tank cars was removed by light sanding with fine grit sandpaper.  After sanding the tanks were wiped down with isopropyl alcohol to remove all residue.

Roundhouse Tank Car Kit Used for tanks.

The details added to tanks came next.  I added Walthers ladders and Williams Brothers (I believe no longer available) pipes and valves.  Walthers piping (available) would work as well.

Piping and fittings used.

Piping and valves added to tanks.

Standpipes for unloading tank cars were needed at the facility.   Photos of appropriate standpipes for unloading tank cars a this type facility were received from friends.   In addition to photos, plans from a May 1997 RailModel Journal were provided to aid in the build.   Standpipes (prototype I measured 2 1/2 inches in diameter) were built with Williams Brothers piping and fittings.  A piece of scribed balsa wood was used for the base.  The scribing represents the boards used to form the cement base.

Standpipes installed.

Closer view of standpipes.

The final items needed to finish the facility were a pump house and truck loading platform.  I used measurements I took of these structures at small three tank facility in Buffalo, Minnesota in the early 1970s to build these structures.  The facility is no longer in existence.

I built the pump house (prototype 8 x 10 ft. x 8 ft. high with door 3 feet wide 7 feet tall) using parts from my box of left over kit parts.  The rounded corrugated roof had a prototype distance of 1 foot 5 inches at it high center point above the door.

The truck loading stand  (prototype 3 feet 10 inches wide by 8 feet long) was scratch built.  On a prototype I measured, the truck loading stand was located 2 feet 8 inches from the pump house. Components for the truck loading stand were as follows: the floor a scrap piece of styrene, Plastruct railings, Walthers stairs ( prototype 1 foot 6 inches by 2 feet 4 inches wide), Walthers stair railing and Williams Brothers pipes and fittings.

During railfan trips most of the small tank facilities I visited had the tanks painted white.   Therefore, I painted the tanks in my new tank facility an enamel white using a rattle can. 

Tanks painted white.

I felt a tank sign was needed to identify the tank facility.  A search of 1955 signs on the internet produced a Mobile sign I liked.   A print screen, and image crop with Photoshop Elements produced a sign ready for sizing.  I asked a friend to down size my image to a HO scale 5 feet wide sign which he did.   I printed the digital Mobile image on white letter computer paper, cut it out, and applied it to the entrance tank with Elmers white glue.

Sign glued to tank with white glue.

The final step was to enhance the backdrop behind the tanks.  I painted the masonite backdrop area behind the tank facility with a latex sky blue color used on all my backdrops.  I had the Sky Blue color mixed at the local paint store to match sky color from photos taken.  I used a photo I took of an open grass area with trees in the distance to provide depth behind the tanks on the backdrop.  I printed the photo on letter size computer and cut it to fit the backdrop.  I sprayed the back of the printed backdrop photo with 3M Scotch Super 77 Multi-Purpose spray adhesive and applied it over the sky blue painted backdrop.

Backdrop behind tanks added.

Now all I have left to do is create tank car movements in my card system to the new tank facility for operating sessions.

I want to say, “Thank You” to Doug Harding  and Ron Christensen for the photos they provided to help me with the build of my tank facility.  And, another “Thank You, Thank You and Thank You” to Doug Harding for providing the prototype photo, the standpipe plans and reducing the Mobile sign I sent him to scale for use on the tank.

Thank You for taking time to read my blog.  You can share a comment in the section below if you choose to do so.  Please sign your comment with your name if you choose to leave one.  Please share the blog link with other model railroaders.

Lester Breuer

Stock Pen Improvements

 Learning something new each day makes it a great day for me.  This years Modelers Retreat presentations were no exceptions.  The Modelers Retreat is a Railroad Prototype Modelers (RPM) event, this year virtual, put on by the Twin Cities Division of the Thousand Lakes Region of the National Model Railroad Association.  Doug Harding’s presentation “Railroad Facilities for Handling Live Stock” included photos of stock pens showing various features.  One feature that stood out for me in prototype photos was foot boards.  Foot boards allowed the various people involved with the loading or unloading of cattle at the stock pens to stand on them rather than in the pens or hanging on the pens fencing.

Douglas Harding Collection
(Click or tap on this or any image to enlarge)
Note foot boards on top of fences and
side of chute.

Douglas Harding Collection
Foot boards on side of chutes being used.

Douglas Harding Collection
Foot boards on top of fences being used.

In the presentation charts showed that most towns on railroads in the Midwest contained one of two pen stock pens.  On my railroad, the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company (M&N) located in central Minnesota in the town of Little Chicago,  I have stock pens called “Bumsteer Stockyards.”

Bumsteer Stock Pens before foot boards were added.

While watching the presentation stock pen prototype photos I realized my stock pens, a Campbell kit built in the mid seventies, were missing this neat feature of foot boards.  It was time to make the improvement.  I contacted Doug Harding asking if he could help with board sizes to accomplish the task.  He provided plans that showed 2” x 6” and 2” x 8” boards used to construct the foot boards along the chute.  I did not find the exact size for the foot board on top of the pen sides so I chose  2” x 12” boards which looked right to me from viewing prototype photos.

Douglas Harding Collection

Douglas Harding Collection

I began the project by removing the stock pens from the railroad (they are removable) and moving them to my workbench to make the foot boards improvements.  Next the scale lumber needed was taken out of the supplies cabinet.  Scale lumber used for the project was as follows:

 - Northeastern Scale Models 2” x 8” scale lumber

 - Midwest Products Micro-cut Scale Lumber #8003, basswood 2” x 6” scale lumber

 - Midwest Products Micro-cut Scale Lumber #8006, basswood 2” x 12” scale lumber

After measuring board lengths needed, I cut the scale lumber to length of boards needed and glued them with Elmers White glue to the locations on the Bumsteer Stock pens.  I used a 2” x 12” board for the foot board on top of the fences and a 2” x 6” next to a 2” x 8” for the foot boards along the chute.  These boards sat on top of foot board supports, 2” x 6” size boards,  attached along the chute.  The foot board supports were cut on a Northwest Shortline Chopper since several of the same size were needed.  The angle on board ends for support boards ends mounted to the posts was 45 degrees.

Foot boards are added to fences and
sides of loading chute.

Once the foot boards were added, the stock pens were moved back to their location in Little Chicago on the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company.  The new boards could be left as is using improvements as a reason; however, I preferred to have a finished look.

Therefore, the final step to finish the project was to stain the added boards to match the existing stock pen boards.  Again stock pens were moved back to the workbench.   I first applied a coat of iodine purchased at the local drug store.   No need to wait until iodine was dry so I immediately followed with dirty Dio-sol and bottom residue in the bottle.  Dio-sol (no longer available) is a paint thinner for solvent base paints I mix using Xylene 50% and Toluene 50%.  Once the staining was finished, Bumsteer Stockyard pens were placed back in Little Chicago for cattle movement to Northfield or South St. Paul stockyards.

New foot boards stained.

Three quarter view Bunsteer stock pens to see
 the foot boards on side of chute.

The knowledge gained in Doug Harding’s presentation proved once again the old saying, “our railroads are never done”. 

A  big “Thank You” to Doug Harding for the photos and plans to help make this stock pen foot board improvement and for permission to use  photos and plans in this blog post. 

Thank You for taking time to read my blog.  You can share a comment in the section below if you choose to do so.  Please sign your comment with your name if you choose to leave one.  Please share the blog link with other model railroaders.

Lester Breuer

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Expansion - Randolph Industries Part II

With three of the industries in Randolph finished except for a few minor details, I began to build General Tire And Rubber, the final industry.  I decided to use a Timberline II  kit, a two story brick warehouse, kit 1004-2495, that arrived as a surprise package from my good friend George Toman.   When I asked George about the surprise package he explained the kit was left to him by a friend that had recently passed.  He now had two warehouse kits since he already had the kit.  When he read my blog post on changes to Tunnel City in which I said I was going to add the Randolph expansion, he sent the Timberline II warehouse kit guessing I might be able to use it in Randolph.  He guessed right.

When I saw the the photo of the built warehouse on the box cover with the unique exterior trusses and dock hoist, I knew I wanted to build the warehouse kit to house a customer in Randolph.  My excitement to build the warehouse kit took a hit when I opened  the kit to exam the contents.  The Timberline II warehouse kit contents are building sides and ends printed on ten ply card,  thin cardboard ( named RR board in the kit) for roof and floors, scale lumber, embossed brick paper, white metal castings of windows, doors and other detail parts, drawings of each side and an isometric drawing 1/2 HO scale with letters on the drawing to indicate the part involved and numbers to indicate the step in the instructions.

Photo of warehouse on Timberline II box cover.
( click on this on any photo to enlarge )

Drawings in kit.

Some kit contents and cardboard template to assemble warehouse.

After looking at the kit drawings of the warehouse I knew the sides were the length I needed and one end was the correct width; however, the other was not as I needed it to be shorter.  The kit drawings were for a building with a rectangle footprint and my allotted space footprint  for General Tire And Rubber was for a convex quadrilateral referred to as a trapezoid building footprint.  I would need to make a cardboard footprint of the building to assemble the warehouse in the modified shape I wanted after I positioned the dock.

Before I started the General Tire And Rubber building I started with the trackside dock.  I found the kit dock scribed decking; however, I did not want to cut all the wood posts and framing from the scale lumber to build the sub structure.  Therefore, I looked through my saved building parts from prior kits and found plastic molded dock framing with posts attached.  The plastic framing was for a longer dock then the kit dock drawing which had the dock only the length of the building.   I liked the longer length as I wanted to connect the hoist dock on end of the building with the one on trackside.  I glued the wood dock decking to the plastic framing with Testors tube cement.  Of all the glues I use, I still find Testors tube cement is the best for attaching wood to plastic.   To locate the dock, I determined the dock distance from the track with a National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) track gauge and set it in place.

Plastic dock posts and framing with kit wood decking.

With dock in place, I used cardboard to make a footprint template for General Tire And Rubber building to help with assembly.  The  square attached to the trapezoid footprint is for space to be occupied by the hoist dock on the end of the building. 

Cardboard footprint template I made to help warehouse assembly.

I began the build of the warehouse by cutting out the sides, ends and roof elevator shaft enclosure from the printed cards with a Xacto knife with a #11 blade followed by cutting out the windows and doors from the cut out sides and end.  Embossed brick paper was glued to the card sides and ends with rubber cement.   Openings for the windows and doors were made by making a vertical cut from the interior in the middle of the brick paper covering the opening and a cut across the top and bottom of the each opening with Xacto knife with #11 blade. The brick paper was now folded and glued to the inside ( interior side) of the card openings.  I changed from rubber cement to Elmers white glue for this task.   Three buildings sides, the long side blank wall, trackside wall and short hoist wall had the kit scale lumber foundation glued to them and then they were glued together with  Elmer’s white glue. 

Three walls glued together after window and
 door openings made and walls glued to foundation.

The brick paper covered sides were colored with Primsacolor pencils:  tuscan red, PC937 and dark umber, PC947.  Pan Pastel neutral grey, # 820.5, was applied over the colored brick walls with a cotton swab.   Again, the brick paper was colored with the Prismacolor pencils.  Pilasters on the building, kit lumber with brick paper covering three sides, were installed and colored as other brick described above.  

Bricks colored with Prismacolor pencils and
Pan Pastel Neutral Grey.

Interior bracing provided in the kit was cut to fit with a Northwest Shortline chopper and installed.  Floors and roof cut from heavy cardboard to replace the thin RR card provided in the kit were installed.   Since floors were tightly fitted to the building walls, a cut was made in their length to allow removal after doors and windows installed.

Interior bracing and removable bottom floor installed.

Cardboard floors installed in the interior.
Front wall with windows and doors not yet cut out sits in front.

I continued the build of the building by completing the front wall of the building even if it would face the backdrop when in place.  Wood kit parts were cut and fitted for the stone trim.  The roof was covered with 320 black wet/dry sandpaper attached with rubber cement.  The elevator shaft enclosure walls were covered with the brick paper and the roof with the same sandpaper as the main roof.   Roof trusses, a unique feature of building, were glued up from the kit wood parts modified to the new roof footprint size. 

The dock and dock hoist, a second unique feature of the kit, were built next.   I cut the scale kit lumber per drawings for the dock posts, framing and attached the scribed wood decking.  In my scale lumber supply I used matching scribed wood to complete the trackside dock decking and the connection I wanted from the hoist dock to it.  On the front of the trackside dock I installed the post bracing in a different pattern then used on the Food Producers building next door.  The kit white metal castings for the hoist frame were installed and painted with Model Master steel, # 1780.

Front wall, roof with trusses, end dock and hoist and installed.

Back wall, roof with trusses, end dock and hoist view. 

Dock bracing on the two building docks is a different pattern.

Now I sprayed the windows and doors using a Color-Place rattle can with a fast dry paint color called fire red.  While  the windows were drying I installed steps from the parts box on the end of the trackside dock and stained the docks with FloquiI Oak (S123) Flo-Stain and dirty Dio-Sol thinner.  The brick wall portions showing above the roof were covered with brick paper and colored to match the exterior brick walls.  I finished the exterior roof trusses by adding the wire to represent the truss rods and installed the kit white metal castings for the rod plate and blots.  A roof access hatch was cut from kit lumber, painted to match windows and doors and installed.

Once the windows and doors were dry I installed them in the opening from the interior with the exception of the office doors installed from the outside.  The wood lintels for windows and doors and the window sills were cut from the scale lumber with NWSL chopper and installed with Elmers white glue and painted PollyScale Depot Buff.  The diamonds at the top of the pilasters are white metal castings provided in the kit.

Docks are stained. Windows with lintels and stiles
 and doors with lintels installed in front wall. Wood
trusses have details added.

The trackside dock roof  was next.  I installed the kit provided roof brackets, white metal castings , on the building and attached the wood roof.  I decided to cover the wood roof with Campbell Scale Models corrugated aluminum roofing, #801.  I attached the Campbell corrugated roofing with barge cement.  The corrugated roofing was painted with Model Master steel #1780.

Trackside dock wood roof installed.  

After the wood trackside  roof  was installed I stained the roof trusses with Floquil Oak stain and dirty Dio-Sol paint thinner while the glue set.  It was the same method I used to stain the decks except I also used some of sediment "gunk" from the bottom of the Dio-Sol bottle to make the trusses darker than the docks.

Trackside dock roof with corrugated roofing installed.

I assembled the block and tackle for the dock hoist.  I replaced the kit piano wire to be used for the chain with 50 links of brass chain gifted me by Bill Welch. I also added the metal chimney and vent details to the roof.

Block and Tackle with chain added to pulleys installed on hoist.

Final roof details added and block and tackle painted.

With. General Tire And Rubber building now complete I wanted to get the backdrop installed.  The backdrop is 1/8 inch masonite finished on one side.  I cut masonite backdrop sections 18 1/2 inches wide from 2 x 4  feet pieces purchased at the local home improvement store.  The finished railroad side is painted sky blue and the back side to match the layout room area.  The backdrop is installed with fourteen inches above the benchwork and four and one-half inches under the benchwork fascia.  The four and one-half inches of backdrop under the benchwork fascia rest on the bottom screws attaching the fascia and are secured with the top fascia screws which also pass through it.

Backdrop painted sky blue installed behind Randolph
as viewed from the Randolph Glass Plant end.

Backdrop painted sky blue installed behind Randolph
as viewed from the Wildung Team Track end.

Backdrop is inserted resting on bottom fascia screws.  Top
fascia screws also pass through backdrop to hold it in place.

While the painted backdrop was drying I built and installed the end of road guard  on the end of the road next to the track for the road serving the Food Producers and Randolph Anchor Glass.  I  built the end of road guard using dimensions provided on drawing in NMRA data sheet, Streets And Roads, D2g, issued April 1957.

End of road guard installed at track.

My Randolph expansion is ready for the Minneapolis & Northland Railroad Company to begin serving the new customers gained.  And, it is ready to exchange cars with the  Chicago Great Western connection there.  With a card box, phone and drink holder installed on the Randolph fascia, all that remains is to makeup the necessary waybills to create the customer traffic for operating sessions.

Not a lot of freight cars yet as waybills
 for the Randolph industries need to be made.

Phone, card box and fold up drink up holder
 installed on Randolph fascia.

Work table and throttle holder added to fascia. 
And,  a few new cars coming to the railroad.

Another, “Thank You” to George Toman for providing the Timberline II warehouse kit to build the General Tire And Rubber building and Bill Welch for the 50 links per inch brass chain used for the block and tackle on the Timberline II hoist.  

Thank You for taking time to read my blog.  You can share a comment in the section below if you choose to do so.  Please sign your comment with your name if you choose to leave one.  Please share the blog link with other model railroaders.

Lester Breuer