Back in May 2011 - I picked up an old 97 Coal Elevator from Mizell Trains in Denver which went out of business this past spring. ( Mizell Trains was a great Hobby Shop ) The 97 Coal Elevator was well used and a little dinged up but the motor and the tray coil and the unload coil worked fine. I cleaned her up, straightened the bent metal as best I could and gave her a new paint job.
I custom built a uncouple / control rail section of track from a old 6019 Remote Control Track that I took apart. This allows a car to be switched and uncoupled to the unload position and then the car can be unloaded into the tray.
I then decided to kitbash the 97 to make her look less toy like.
The safety cage ladders are Plastruct. The bottom of the ladders are set into two small holes drilled into the wood. The top of the ladders are secured to the catwalk by magnets, so they can be easly removed. The stairs are also Plastruct, but the handrails are thin balsa. The top of the stairs landing platform and the catwalks a