New River Coal Mine modifications


beiland

Well-Known Member
I screwed up !!

Today I was working on this particular corner where I had (have) plans for the coal mine. I am using the Wathers New River Kit, and I thought I had it all thought out as to how it was going to rest on some foamboard I had fashioned to cover the 2 mainline helix tracks running under it.
For some reason I fashioned that foamboard in 2 levels rather than just one,...I don't know why I did that. The problem now is that the 3 tracks under the loader are now at least 1+3/8" too low. It would be nice it I could replace that double level foamboad with a single level one, BUT that would screw up a couple of things,..1) I can't go lower as I need the higher level in order for double stack cars to run on those mainlines beneath it, and 2) I can't go to the higher option as I can't make the access tracks that steep.

What are my options? Do I dare to try and cut (section) that mine kit down by perhaps 1.25",...or ??

DSCF7662.jpg DSCF7661.jpg
 
I don't know if anyone savvies your problem... I don't... Where are the vertical steel beams, feet, and braces which support the structure across the stall tracks ? And, since you've taped everything together (no apparent glue yet) what is preventing you from removing the whole kit and caboodle and correcting whatever it is your having trouble with ? So you screwed up. Do whatever it takes to un-screw it up..
Also, where it's sitting the stall tracks to-be would butt right up against/into the blue wall (How will you run hoppers through it ?) And yet, oddly, directly to the right of it there is a tunnel through this wall...Why not a tunnel where the mine stall tracks could/would go through (where the photo is hanging) instead of to the right of it ?
Maybe I'm failing to comprehend what you're attempting here.. But from here things look,..... well, to me, anyway,....goofy......Sorry.....

Look..Here it is in a nut shell:
Get the New River mine out of the corner entirely and fit it in a place where trains can run hoppers / jennies freely under it, through it, or around it...
I believe having it in a corner (unless catty-cornered with curved stall tracks) is a no-no from the get go...
 
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Is it possible to cut on yellow line and drop that section needed amount? Might look better to try and line up window measurements, like you dropped that basically one floor…
 
There is NO option to move that mine out of that corner. And the opening to the right is a track loop coming in from the helix, so NO option to move that. The other photo was an idea to make it look like a long row of empty hoppers coming in under the tipple to be loaded.

Modifying the tipple kit itself was not very appealing.

Someone on another forum made a GREAT suggestion,....add chutes to the tipple:

NS5844.JPG



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Those chutes will actually add some interesting stuff to that rather dull side of the original Walthers kit, ....AND I will not have to cut/section/etc the original kit that much, other than adding the openings for the chutes.

Perhaps those chutes will originate up under the tipple rather than the front face?......No, they look neater out front?
 
I want to blow up the size of that background to show an artist,..so they he (they) could prove me with a backdrop image of empty cars coming to my tipple,...
coal hoppers backdrop.jpg



Just discovered this older posting I had made:

[QUOTE}
That was a decent idea there, I had not run across so MANY images.

Interestingly, most of the photos displayed LOADED coal cars. I found this one of unloaded cars. I would want unloaded cars lined up to get loaded under the tipple.
[empty-coal-train-cars]

It would be nice to fine such a photo with at least 2 tracks full of unloaded cars.
 
I am liking this image more and more,....both the weathering of the mine structure and the nature of those feeding tracks,...cliff and trees on one side, then across those feeder tracks just trees hiding that helix track exiting from the back wall of the shed (that tunnel opening).
[51558972964_991e89a9e6_z]
 
Before the 'New River Mine' was offered, I started a scratchbuilt version of the St. Nicholas Breaker, near Mahanoy City, PA, which was built after WWII on the Reading for sorting anthracite. I used cardboard from the backs of paper note pads, as well as Grant Line Windows and doors, to give it the right feel. I had made several trips to PA, to get photos of my own, on which to base the model. I had a relatively small space for my layout in those years, about 12x12, so it couldn't be too big. I think you're headed in the right direction.
 



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