I am looking to get the Cornerstone Modern Coaling Tower kit (HO), which is their number 933-2903. This kit allows for one track “through” it, and another track outside a wall to facilitate coal loading. It also has a through shed for coal unloading from hoppers.
I’m in the middle of the new layout design and want to incorporate this in the engine terminal facilities. My question is, what is the distance between the two loading tracks (center to center), and the distance from that to the shed unloading track center?
Working from back to front, from the loading track to the first of the two tracks which pass under the tower, I measured 3 5/8". The track centers for the two tracks which pass under the tower are 2 1/8". From there to the track that passes in front of the tower is another 2 5/8". The track through the coal shed will need to be elevated slightly so add that to the equation.
There is enough room under and in front of the tower that you could probably fudge these by 1/8" one way or another and it would still look and operate OK.
One word of warning about the kit. I found working working the the very small plastic parts that make up the coal chute assemblies and counterweights to be very difficult and frustrating. I don’t have the greatest of dexterity when it comes to working with tiny parts and these were more than I could handle. I ended up leaving some of these details off and I still think it looks pretty good without them. If you are skilled in working with small parts, this might not be a problem for you. One modeler suggested replacing the kit parts with some detail parts from another vendor and that might be worth considering looking into. I’m not sure who sells these kinds of parts but you might want to look into it.
But i also made the Coal shed functional by adding a Tyco unloading track inside and cutting a hole in the top of the layout so the coal dumps to a coffee can below the layout
The tyco operating cars come in several road names
C&O Pennsy Virginian and others and can be found on ebay but bring a high price
I, too, have the modern coaling tower. I run two tracks, spaced 2 1/4 inches apart, under the coaling tower, and a third track on the outside of the coaling tower. So, it is possible to service three engines at a time.
The coal hopper shed is elevated so you need to take that elevation into account, particularly when landscaping the area around the coaling tower.
As far as the detailing parts go, they are small, but if I can do it, you can do it. I managed to assemble every little part, so it can be done and it can be done well. I am very satisfied with the overall results.
As you can see from the frontal view, there are three sections to the tower and there is one chute in each section. The middle one faces in the opposite direction of the two outer chutes. I’m not sure if this is how the tower is designed or if the modeler can choose which direction these inner chutes face. It’s been about 3 years since I built it.
It appears to me the middle chute would service one track and the opposite facing chutes on the outer sections would service the other track.
