NYC (Big Four) towers

[train18393]

I am trying to find a craftsman kit source (or easy kit if it looks good) for the towers that were once common on the Big Four route of the NYC in Ohio and other neighboring states. There were elevated on "legs" of varying height depending on local factors, and the ground level was not enclosed. I could swear that they advertised them once upon a time in the MicroMark catalog. Anyone knowing of a current source of such an kit please let me know.

Dayton and Mad River RR
Paul

[rogerhensley]

I don't recall ever seeing a kit for one of the Big Four towers, Paul, and I've taken the MicroMark catalog for years.

Two things come to mind immediately, One is that many, if not most, of those towers were enclosed at some point before they were torn down, and the second is that either way, you will probably end up with a kit-bash project.

I could see finding a current kit close to the look and cutting away the bottom portion and replacing it with a scratchbuilt leg structure using Plastruct or something similar.

Ok, that said, if you do go that way, it could be a great addition for the NMRA Scratchbuild Showcase/Kitbash Korner pages on the NMRA web site at http://www.nmra.org/

Good Luck and I realy hope that you can find a kit for that. :-)

PS - I'm still looking for a good photo or two of those towers for my Big 4 Memories pages of my Railroads of Madison County site.

[orsonroy]

Being a NKP and P&E modeler, I've collected quite a few photos of these towers over the years (Lafayette and Clark's Hill, mainly). They're REALLY simple to scratchbuild. You're talking about a simple box on H-column legs, with a hip roof. There are a LOT of photos of Lafayette Tower online, including some with boxcars next to the tower for a sense of scale.

No one makles anything even close to these towers, so whip out the Evergreen siding and strip sytrene, and Tichy windows, and get scratchin'!

[train18393]

Thank you for the two good inputs. I am going the kit bash route. I have three Walthers towers that I plan on sawing the bottem off for that purpose. I have the ""NYC Facilities" book which does have some pretty good pictures of these towers as well as some crossing gate towers that were similarly constructed. Just a note for Roger Hensley : the RRs of Madison County has been on my list of favorites for quite some time, thanks for many great photos and links.

Paul