I am working on a small, portable N scale display railroad based on the PRR. I would like to add a small coal loading area for two hoppers. I am thinking of the type that is an elevated land ramp that a dump truck would drive up and off-load into the cars from above. (I’ve seen them a couple times on layouts in MRM last year) I have the elevation made out of insulation foam, but am trying to come up with ideas for the wall that will “retain” the loading area where the hoppers are serviced. Right now I am at the early stages of the layout…mountains framed in, no plaster. I have a small spur with an access road leading across the tracks to a curved drive that leads up a hill to the loading area at car level. I’ve seen wood timbers used but I know they were on an HO layout. What would be a good wood material to use to remain true to N scale, OR what would be a better option to match prototypes…concrete, stone?? I’m loosely modeling the late 50s-60s, but don’t mind dropping back a few years in case I want to run steam 1940s. It is a tiny loop /w a spur Eastern App. Mountain layout primarily to display trains instead of on a shelf, I don’t have a huge amount of time or space, so I am flexible on timeframes. I’d like to really focus on detail because there is not a huge area to try to manage. Do these ideas sound like something prototypical? Thanks! ----Rob
I used a pair of old Life-Like timber trestles (for effect - the track is plenty stiff enough to bridge this gap) and hydrocal castings for walls. The mold is from Dave Frary at www.mrscenery.com and it’s the one called “cut stone wall.”
I made a “heap” of coal under the track with foam, plaster cloth and a thin layer of WS cinders ballast for the coal. I’ve got old Mantua operating hopper cars, so the “heap” actually is more like a volcano, and the coal drops through the hole in the center to a box beneath.
You could also make a timber retaining wall with balsa wood, and stain it appropriately.
If I understand your description correctly, what you want to model is called “cribbing,” and is put together rather like a log cabin with un-notched logs. In N scale I would try working with flat wooden toothpicks (if you can find them.) Strips of 1/32" balsa or basswood will also work.
Ancient cribbing was built of round logs (often with the bark still on.) Modern cribbing is usually rough timber, rectangular section. It can be vertical (if not too tall) but is usually sloped. A truck ramp would usually be vertical on the track side and sloped inward on the sides perpendicular to the rails. In addition to the overlap at the corners, there are intermediate timbers spaced 4 - 6 feet apart all the way across the cribwork on every level.
Chuck (who has built full-scale cribwork but models cut stone retaining walls)
