I bought one of their coaling stations …like this,
and in the package (there were no instructions, no picture either) there are 6 pieces…
but nothing to tell me where they go. I’m assuming the two top pieces glue to the larger bottom piece, even though one is shorter than the other, making a coal chute. the two toothpick sized pieces maybe attach to the chute (assuming I’m correct)… somehow.
1- What the small brown piece is I have not a clue. If this is how it works,
2- where does it attach to the station itself?
3- Is there anything that can be done, some type spray maybe, that will take the ‘shiny plastic look’ away from the structure?
4- Were coaling stations such as this usually positioned on the mainline or on a siding or spur. I’ve tried to google information on them but couldn’t find anything.
Thanks for any help,
Jarrell
I haven’t built one of these towers in YEARS, but it looks like the kit’s complete. Most plastic kits come with a few random, unexplainable, extra parts in them, so I wouldn’t worry too much about them. It’s not like you’ve remotored a Ford and have a coffee can full of “spare” parts left over! (don’t ask…)
As for removing the shine, I’d have painted it. You can either zap it with primer and/or a new flat brown/black paint, or zap it with Dullcoat, wait for the DC to dry, and spray on an india ink & alcohol wash (use thinned 70% rubbing alcohol, or the Dullcoat will fog up). Most of these old wood docks would get filthy fast, and the only color photos of them I’ve seen show them as being a pretty even grimy black in color.
The dock you’ve got is a model of the D&RGW’s narrow gauge dock at Durango (I think; maybe Chama?). As is, it’s technically a “mainline” dock, but only for a dying narrow gauge middle of nowhere shortline. If used for a relatively healthy standard gauge line dock, it should be a branchline facility. There WERE large wood mainline docks, but they’d dwarf what you’ve got.
Jarrell, could that one brown piece be the end-plate of the cap for the chute? Is there a chute?
Thanks for the info fellas. Yes, I think it is a chute and that board must be the cap for it. I guess I can figure out where the chute is glued, it has to be at the bottom of the holding bin or whatever its called. I mean, they had to have a chute of some type I would think. It doesn’t work like a coal tipple where the tender would be right under it.
Where did the word tipple come from anyway? 
Jarrell
This kit is supposed to have a chute located in the square hole at the bottom of the storage bin [backside in your picture]. The locomotive service track was usually a siding, but not always. Depended upon the amount of traffic the line carried. Coal was dumped in the pit, lifted by the bucket assembly, and fed to the tender on the opposite side by gravity. The coaling tower requires two tracks. I just built one last week – the Bachmann Plus kit. I painted it a dark wood tone enamel, then washed it with a diluted black acrylic and sprayed it with Dull Cote. However, mine required a table cutout for the dump pit.
I bought the same built-up station a few months back. For a model power, it looks pretty good. I hacked off the track inlay piece because I thought it looked a little junkie. I’m considering removing the entire base or at least painting it a pretty dark black. The grey color looks completly off.
I too was stumped with the extra pieces but mine look different than your’s do. Go figure. Needless to say, it looks good enough as is and I dropped the pieces in a bag in case I can make use of them somewhere else on the layout.
EdW
Thanks Ham, I’ll check it out in the morning. It’s out in the trainroom now, but I do remember some type of a chute on the backside of it. Where is the pit supposed to be located, on the backside?
Jarrell
Ed, I may end up taking that track inlay off also. I guess I’ll hang onto those pieces for later. It would help if Model Power would at least tell you where they’re supposed to go. I sure would like to see a photograph of the real thing.
Thanks for the info.
Jarrell