NKP coaling tower information needed

[Morpar]

Recently just before I went into work, I ran into an old friend and fellow model railroader that I hadn't seen for a while. Strangely enough, he was looking for me! He was wondering if I had, or knew where to get, plans for the old NKP coaling tower in Frankfort, Indiana. Unfortunately, my answer was no, but hopefully someone here can change that. The tower is still standing, but getting to it to make any good measurements is problematic at best. It has 2 live tracks running under it, and usually there are a couple of locos sitting there. Plus there are active tracks on all sides around it. There are also problems getting good straight-on photos from all angles.

Anyway, my friend said he had already contacted the NKP and the N&W historical societies and Tony Koester of MR with no luck from any source. NS was also not real helpful. The actual city of Frankfort wasn't able to provide any help either, but that isn't any real surprise! Anyone have any leads that we haven't covered? I have been planning for years to build a model of this tower for my own layout, as it was a prominent landmark for most of my life, so this will help me also. The only other suggestion was to try to scale the tower based off of photos and make our own drawings. I am not oppposed to that, but surely someone has the information somewhere. I would also like to see where all the coal chutes and "missing parts" go on this beast to model it as an active tower, not the ghost it is now. Thanks in advance.

[jrbarney]

Morpar,
Don't know if they can help you, but have you contacted the Indiana Transportation Museum ? :
http://www.itm.org/
Since they're a volunteer outfit, it might take some time before you get a response.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
P. S. Also, is there a possibility it was a standard design by a company such as
Fairbanks-Morse or Snow ?

[tstage]

Morpar,

Do you have any old pics at all of the NKP coaling tower in Frankfort? If we could see what it looked like originally then that might help expedite things. Each coaling towers was distinctive but there were some that resembled one another.

Tom

[jrbarney]

Morpar,
Two other possible sources for photos might be the Clinton County Historical Society and the Frankfort Chamber of Commerce. Admittedly, they're less likely
to have anything useful.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
P. S. If you do a keyword search at the Index of Magazines using "coaling tower" as the search term, you'll get a four page list of article citations of all types and sizes of coaling towers.

[Anonymous]

I was checking out the NKPHS web site. I went through their past publications and the Winter 1993 issue had an article on the coal dock at Frankfurt, In. The list does not say what was covered in the article or if it was just pictures.
If you are a member of the NKPHS you could go on their web site and see if someone has that issue, can give you details on the article and will make photo copies of that article.

[Morpar]

Actually, I do have a few photos posted that have the tower in it online. This group was taken around 1984-1986:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=118856
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=118863
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=118841

This one was taken just this year:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=165224

I have some others photos in my collection, and I can always go into town and shoot some more. I will pass on the information on the Winter '93 issue to my friend, I think he has back issues that far back, as he was a member of the historical society when we were in high school! I was planning to check the Indiana Transportation Museum on my next trip down there, which hopefully will be late October. When we went there this summer, I spoke with a gentleman who said they were in the process of getting the turntable from the Frankfort roundhouse to use as a bridge. I haven't seen that the table is gone yet, or even that the cat-tails are being cleaned out of the pit.

Thanks for the help.

[GRAMRR]

The coaling tower appears to be of the same design as portrayed in the Walthers Cornerstone kit 933-3042. Maybe it was of a standard design. Anyone know what Walthers has patterned theirs from?

[orsonroy]

Morpar,

You won't find any plans for the coal dock at Frankfort through the NKPHTS, because the NKP didn't build it; Fairbanks-Morse did. You MIGHT luck out and find someone with F-M coal dock plans online, but I've looked for years and have only come up with general advertising drawings (which aren't scale). Your best bet would be to do what everyone else who's modeling Frankfort is going to do: kitba***he Tichy 200-ton dock to match the prototype, based on photos.

I've got four shots of the dock, and another eight of the roundhouse and backshops. Let me know if you want to add them to your collection, and I'll email 'em to ya! (I've got a 2 gig+ NKP photo and data collection). I don't have the track charts for Frankfort scanned yet, but they're in the pile.

GRAMRR: the Walther's dock is MUCH smaller than the real dock at Frankfort. Frankfort was a major multi-division point yard for the NKP (serving four divisions), and the dock there had to be huge. I think the prototype is a 250-ton dock that served four tracks at once. The smaller Walther's kit is actually based on a Pennsy dock in Ohio. But virtually all concrete coal docks in the USA were built by Fairbanks-Morse to standard plans, which is why so many of them look alike.

[tstage]

Morpar,

When I viewed the links you posted on the NKP coaling tower, the Tichy and Walthers tower immediately came to mind. Here's the pick of the Tichy 400-ton tower that Ray was refering to:





There are some variaions and differences between the two but they're also similar. Maybe kitbashing isn't a bad place to start.

FYI: The Tichy coaling tower is currently on sale:

http://www.tichytraingroup.com/index.php?page=view_product.php&id=196&category=Structures

Looks like it comes with a lift mechanism, too.

http://www.tichytraingroup.com/index.php?page=view_product.php&id=170&category=Structure+Parts

Hope that's a help...

Tom

[orsonroy]

To kitba***he Tichy tower into a round-bodied version (which, I think was actually more common than the square body ones), check out Bill Darnaby's article in the February, 1999, issue of MR. I've got TWO copies of that magazine (one stashed in case the other's destroyed or lost!), and plan on turning my Tichy dock into a carbon-copy for my Peoria yard.

[Morpar]

Thanks for all the input! I'm going to try and contact this friend of mine in the next couple of days and pass on what I have picked up from you guys.

Orsonroy: Thanks for the generous offer, I would greatly appreciate the offered photos. If you or anyone else needed current photos of the Frankfort facilities, let me know and I can run into town and get them. The roundhouse is rapidly deteriorating, and I fear it won't be long before it falls victim to the wrecking ball. I only live about 6 miles from Frankfort, so running into town is no big deal.

Thanks again for everyone's help on this, I really thought that contacting NKPHTS would be all it would take. Now it looks like I need to do a little searching for a kit and a magazine!

[rolleiman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Morpar

Actually, I do have a few photos posted that have the tower in it online. This group was taken around 1984-1986:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=118856
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=118863
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=118841

This one was taken just this year:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=165224

I have some others photos in my collection, and I can always go into town and shoot some more. I will pass on the information on the Winter '93 issue to my friend, I think he has back issues that far back, as he was a member of the historical society when we were in high school! I was planning to check the Indiana Transportation Museum on my next trip down there, which hopefully will be late October. When we went there this summer, I spoke with a gentleman who said they were in the process of getting the turntable from the Frankfort roundhouse to use as a bridge. I haven't seen that the table is gone yet, or even that the cat-tails are being cleaned out of the pit.

Thanks for the help.

This tower looks like it would be pretty simple to scratch build a fair representation of it.. If you need a scaling reference, the cyclone fence in the photo taken this year is probably about 6 feet tall, the building next to it being apporximately 8 feet tall..

Just a thought,
Jeff
[:D]