Build a Structure - Mike Arnold - Tower 17, Rosenberg TX
Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2014 11:06 pm
Well here goes. It is something I will have to scratchbuild as there is nothing like it available on the kit market, the interlocking tower at the Junction of the SP (now UP) Sunset Route and the Santa Fe (now BNSF) route from Galveston/Houston to Hearne Texas in Rosenberg, Texas. I started building the base boards over ten years ago and most of the track is now laid but the signature structure, what gives the location its name, Tower 17, is still to be built.
The tower was originally a near square structure with two sides each comprising five bays/windows and four bays on the other two sides. The tower was extended some time later in the 1950s by an extra three bays on the shorter side making it seven bays by five. The tower was sited between the tracks by the diamond crossing but now resides a few hundred yards to the East in the Rosenberg Railroad Museum. The five bay sides faced South (backing onto the yard tracks with just one window - a second was totally boarded up) and North (over the diamond with five windows), with the seven bays sides facing East towards Houston/Galveston (with six windows and one door) and West (with three windows and four blanks). Here is the East side, in its last colour scheme before removal, after UP and BNSF had taken over (thanks to Todd Arnett). The lower floor windows are all blanked out, completely.
0718140-R1-E005RE by mikearnold, on Flickr
Here are the North and West sides, in an earlier more run-down condition:
Train171 by mikearnold, on Flickr
It will not need to be a total build from scratch as I have identified that the upper floor windows are a great match for the Grandt Line part #5195 RGS Style 4 pane window. It will be a shame to cover some of the detail as the upper panes are all blanked out with a plywood sheet painted white in the period I want to model which is in the years just before its closure and removal. I may also attempt to put in some interior detail from photos. I shall start by constructing the window sections for the upper floors in order to get the all round measurements. The windows will be assembled with a 60 thou square section plastic rod between each window frame, mounted on a window sill cut from 20 thou plasticard. It is not an accurate science but that seems to be the appropriate spacing in HO from the photographs I have located. I will then mount it all on its floor before proceeding with the construction of the lower floor.
The tower was originally a near square structure with two sides each comprising five bays/windows and four bays on the other two sides. The tower was extended some time later in the 1950s by an extra three bays on the shorter side making it seven bays by five. The tower was sited between the tracks by the diamond crossing but now resides a few hundred yards to the East in the Rosenberg Railroad Museum. The five bay sides faced South (backing onto the yard tracks with just one window - a second was totally boarded up) and North (over the diamond with five windows), with the seven bays sides facing East towards Houston/Galveston (with six windows and one door) and West (with three windows and four blanks). Here is the East side, in its last colour scheme before removal, after UP and BNSF had taken over (thanks to Todd Arnett). The lower floor windows are all blanked out, completely.
0718140-R1-E005RE by mikearnold, on Flickr
Here are the North and West sides, in an earlier more run-down condition:
Train171 by mikearnold, on Flickr
It will not need to be a total build from scratch as I have identified that the upper floor windows are a great match for the Grandt Line part #5195 RGS Style 4 pane window. It will be a shame to cover some of the detail as the upper panes are all blanked out with a plywood sheet painted white in the period I want to model which is in the years just before its closure and removal. I may also attempt to put in some interior detail from photos. I shall start by constructing the window sections for the upper floors in order to get the all round measurements. The windows will be assembled with a 60 thou square section plastic rod between each window frame, mounted on a window sill cut from 20 thou plasticard. It is not an accurate science but that seems to be the appropriate spacing in HO from the photographs I have located. I will then mount it all on its floor before proceeding with the construction of the lower floor.