Tichy Coaling Tower Construction

[doctorwayne]

railandsail

...I even wrote Tichy an email and did not receive a reply

I've found Don Tichy to be pretty good at replying to e-mails, so you may yet hear back from him.

Wayne

[railandsail]

I clicked on 'Home', I clicked on 'Forums". I'm not even sure what else I clicked on, but obviously I didn't click on that one.

 

Thanks very much guys for all of the dimensional info and other references. I even wrote Tichy an email and did not receive a reply

[gregc]

sorry that you're steamed.   hopefully better now that you released it ... just like a steam engine :)

guessing that there's less incentive to send an email when there's a new comment on a thread so that you re-visit the page and see the advertising.

at the top of a forum page (e.g. Layouts and layout building), not a thread, and if you're logged in, there a blue "Create a New Discussion Topic".

[railandsail]

deleted rant about forum software/program...:)    

Sunday morning coffee :)

[dixieflyer]

Wow!  Thanks so much to all who have posted great images and great advice on these coaling towers!  I'm still so new, but I've saved this thread for future reference. Your time posting all of this is much appreciated from this guy.

Warren

[Erie Lackawanna in Georgia]

Another new guy chiming in...just started posting but I’ve been coming to theses forums on and off for years.

It’s the excellent modeling and discussion such as in this thread that have encouraged me to dive back into this hobby a few years ago.   I’ve benefited so much and realize I should be contributing as well.  

So a big thank you to this community!

[Bigjim7]

Now thats a nice coal tower. Well done.

[doctorwayne]

Brian, the track through the coal/sand dump shed fits into a trough cast into the base of the kit, as do the two tracks which pass through the coaling area, as you can see in the photo below... 

The two through tracks are 2"o/c, while the dump track is 3.75"o/c from the nearest through track.

The service track outside the tower legs is not fixed by the tower's base, as the base doesn't extend all that far beyond the legs.  I simply put a locomotive on a piece of flex track in that general area, then lowered the coal chute, jockeying the track and loco until the discharge end of the chute was roughly centred, width-wise, over the tender's coal bunker.  That placed the outside service track 2.75"o/c from the nearest through track.

Since the kit allows the builder to choose chute placement, there are no locating holes or cast-on projections for any of the chutes, sand delivery pipes, ladders, walkways, stairs, or pulleys.  Initially, it was a bit intimidating, but photos in the instructions and some logical thinking about placement of the various components soon sorted out any problems.

It's not all that apparent in most of the photos that I posted originally, but before assembling the "concrete" portions of the kits, I used a modified #17 chisel-type blade and a straightedge to scribe some form-board detail into the surface...basically a drag-and-scrape operation, some of which can be seen in the photo below...

I finally got it installed on the layout's upper level, but the scene is nowhere near finished...

Wayne

 

 

[NeO6874]

Instructions have track 1 to track 2 as 2.75".  Track 2 to 3 is unmarked (if it's to scale, call it 2"). Track 3 to hopper track is likewise unmarked.

The (2013) catalog page has it listed as being printed at 50% scale.  Don't have a rule here, but calling it a foot square is probably a safe bet, assuming the catalog is letter sized (I recall that being the case, but ...).

 

Edit -- well, Ed beat me to it as I was double-checking everything :)

[gmpullman]

railandsail

Wayne, What is the track spacing on that Tichy coal tower?

I'm not Wayne but I may be able to shed some light on your question:

The two tracks under the tower are on a 1.875 inch spacing and the outer track is 2.750 inches from that.

 

Tichy_coal by Edmund, on Flickr

Do you need the distance from Track #3 to the Hopper Track, too? I can measure that if you would like.

 Tichy_coal_plan by Edmund, on Flickr

 For some reason, Don Tichy has the track numbering reversed on the plan and/or the elevation. This is an excellent kit and enjoyable to build.

 The instruction sheets are available for anyone to see here:

https://www.tichytraingroup.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=10WROKV5IaI%3d&tabid=87&portalid=0&mid=447

Maybe Wayne can reply with more information?

Hope that helps. 

Regards, Ed

[railandsail]

Wayne,

What is the track spacing on that Tichy coal tower? Seem to be having trouble finding that and a good footprint dwg.

[Nickel Plate Road]

It looks very nice Wayne, hope I can do the same when I am ready still working the bugs out of my first "big boy" layout :-)

[HObbyguy]

I've got to say it, watching along has got me wanting to build a coaling tower.  Maybe down the road when I get to building my yard...

The only one that I have ever taken a good look at is the coaling tower at the Nevada Northern RR.  Those things were massive!

[LARRY HURD]

Wayne, 

Nice Photo! I really admire these old relics. Its too bad there isn't enough money in the industry to preserve these historical structures for future generations. I understand they become a liability at some point, maybe we were born too late.

Thanks for sharing Wayne, It's been great!

Larry 

[doctorwayne]

Glad to be of assistance, Larry.

The roof on my Tichy coaling tower was originally done in the same concrete colour as the rest of it, but I later went back and, using a brush and PollyScale paint, re-did it to represent one which had been tarred.  This was a common practice, as was done on this one in my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario:

By the time of the photo, steam was long gone, but the tower was still used for supplying sand for the diesels.  It has since been demolished.

Wayne

[LARRY HURD]

Wayne,

 I think I'm on probation with this sytem since I'm new here. I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to figure this out. I'm really thankful I got through to you on the PM sytem but I do'nt know how. Anyway.....

WOW!, that is really nice. You describe in detail what I've been experiencing during the construction of this kit. That's a great idea regarding the piano wire to attach these delicate parts. I'll give that a try. I'm using a home made foam cradle that seems to be working pretty good without potential further damage. I too have been scraping the paint away very carefully with an X-acto blade to attach the parts. I here what your saying about the coal chutes, sand pipes, and chains. They're pretty delicate as to how they attach to the various parts. Yes, I want mine to move for various ops as well.

You've got some great photos here to study. I have spent many hours studying the directions from the kit and preparing a paint scheme. Mine is similar in colors on the body usin polyscale concrete and an airbrush. The platforms are black and all my sand pipes are industrial primer red, windows and doors are pullman green. I was thinking of roofs on the hopper, sand and hoist house would be tar paper but I'm not sure yet. I'm trying to think of the prototypes and not wanting them to catch fire with cinders.

Thanks for all you help and the great photos to help me complete this kit. Hopefully when I get it completed I can attach some photos This is my second coaling tower model. The first one is a Walthers Wood Coaling Tower kit and it turned out pretty good. I'm putting more work into this one with paint scheme an I'll use this one on my railroad. Erie RR Mahoning/Allegheny Division at Hornell NY along the Canisteo River Valley.

Thanks again Wayne for all your time, Great Work and Photos.

Take Care,

Larry 

[doctorwayne]

Glad to see you here, Larry. 

I wonder if your initial posts went into some sort of a moderation queue, as a bunch of them have appeared interspersed through ones which I posted last night - they certainly weren't there when I posted.

The Tichy instructions leave a lot of the assembly up to the individual modeller, and I was initially a bit perplexed that there were no locator indices cast into the main tower structure.  However, the door openings pretty-much determine the platform locations, and logic will sort out ladder sites.
I'm not a fan of ca for use on paint, even though I used Floquil for the tower and ironwork, so all small fittings had the paint scraped away from the attachment areas using an X-Acto blade.  The parts were then attached using solvent-type cement. 
This procedure was also used for the platforms and the bucket hoist, but with their fragile nature in mind, I also used .015" music  wire to "pin" them to the main structure.  This involved drilling both the platform edges and the concrete tower and then using ca to secure the wires and solvent-type cement for the plastic-to-plastic joints.

The coal chutes and sand spouts are positionable, a nice feature for photographs, but once you begin installing the chains, handling the model requires quite a bit of care.  If you do lower a coal chute for a photo, you may need to use tweezers to restore the chains to their standby position.

After building two of these, I had quite a few detail parts left over (most are also available separately, too) and used some of them to dress-up a small Walthers tower at a site with no room for the larger Tichy one:

Wayne

 

 

[LARRY HURD]

Hi Wayne,

Thank you for all the nice photgraph's. You are a fine modeller. This will help me to complete this kit. I really like the shots from under the slope shields. Excellent job on the weathering techniques, very subtle. My apologies to all who reviewed this thread and found no response from me due to technical difficulties. I'm a newbie at this and hopefully will get it figured out.

Best regards, Larry H. alias the opie 

[doctorwayne]

I just recently received a PM from Larry (the OP), thanking me for the photos and explaining that he's tried to reply here several times, without success.
I suggested that he clear his cookies (not the same thing that I thought it to be when I heard the expression for the first time), but that's about the extent of my computer skills.
Anybody else have some suggestions?

Wayne

[LARRY HURD]

Wayne, Since this is my first forum I'm trying to figure out how this thing works and why it didn't post my previous communications. Thank you for your patience in my learning curve with social media. 

[doctorwayne]

I really do appreciate all the nice comments, but I wasn't seeking accolades or even thanks. 

Usually, answering a request like that of the OP generates more specific questions by the OP (or others), and I was surprised that didn't occur. 
I had an incident on another forum where a newbie had asked a fairly basic question and I replied, followed by several others.  I then elaborated on my original reply, mainly speaking to the OP there, and one of the other previous responders got a bit out-of-joint because he interpeted my reply to be directed at him, and thought my words to be condescending.
I always hope that what I offer here is useful and respectful, but I don't believe that my methods or opinions should carry any more weight than those of anyone else.

Wayne

[LARRY HURD]

Hi Wayne,

I'm the OP. I posted yesterday but not sure what happened here. Thank you for the photos. You do very nice work and I have seen other postings by you as well. I especially like the images viewing the slope panels. This will help me as to my original question. Most of our lives are very busy and we have other things to do. Thats why this is a hobby. You did not frighten me away and in my case I was out on business this week and could not find the time. Thanks again for your helpful information and not being too judgemental. I enjoy your work and look forward to your thoughtful contributions to the hobby. Respectfully,

[mobilman44]

Wayne,

  Your photos/work are inspiring, so please keep them coming.  The OP (note it was post #1) likely got all the info he needed from your photos, and "took off".  He should have thanked you and acknowledged your input.  Sadly, that is not all that unusual on the Forum.

ENJOY!

[7j43k]

Wayne,

 

All my steam locos burn oil.  Except for the rogue 4-12-2.

So I only just now visited this topic.

Some people "get behind".  And some are socially clueless.

 

I always value your opinion.  And your help.

 

Ed

 

And your PHOTOS.  Nice work!  And, believe me, your advice and photos don't "end" a topic.  That is not so.

[shanny10]

The photos you post are amazing and really inspire my daughter and I to push ourselves to new limits. So far thanks to your contributions we've managed to fix a steam locomotive and install a decoder. Everybody that posts photos inspires everyone here as well Im sure so please keep posting everyone.and if by chance the OP doesnt respond it will be their loss.

[wickman]

Very  nice job on  the build and nice colors.   I've  built the  walthers tower and now have a  Campbell  wood coal tower I will  build  soon.

[LARRY HURD]

Wayne, Very nice and Thank you for getting back to me. My apologies gentleman, been away on business. Yes, the instructions are very general. Your photos will assist me greatly in completing the kit. I really like your weathering techniques as well. Nice job and thank you for your patience.

Larry (Modeling the Erie RR- Mahoning Division)

[doctorwayne]

Thanks for the positive responses, guys. 
It's not really much bother at all to post photos, but I find that it often does end a thread, which isn't my intention, and especially when it's for a new member.
I figure the pictures save several thousand words that many wouldn't otherwise bother to read.  Maybe I just need more new pictures to post.

Wayne

[BigDaddy]

The OP has only had one post in 2 years, so it might be a while before he gets back to us.