Washago coaling plant--step 8

Now we will fashion the heavy steel beams which will support the rails and grating. A quarter century ago while studying structural engineering, I knew of these as "welded wide flange" (WWF) sections. Start by measuring the length between north and south walls with your calipres, as shown above. Knock off a smidgen (say about 0.010" at each end) to allow for a tiny bit of room to position the beams.



The width of the I-shaped section we're creating will be 12", with a depth of 16-3/4". Evergreen I-beams do not have the required width; their H-sections have too much width. So, they need to be built up to be accurate. This takes less time for you to do than it takes for me to type instructions. The plate thickness is 1". In S scale, I used 0.020" styrene, which amounts to a little more than an inch; I feared that anything slighter than that would not have sufficient stability. Cut four pieces 12" wide to length for the top and bottom flanges. Cut the two webs to a height of 16-3/4" less 2 x thickness.



Use Ambroid Pro-Weld or similar to make up the sections.



Test fit them in the hopper. At this stage, I discovered that my foundation walls were a few inches too high, so I topped up the inner concrete supports with a length of wood. This is not too critical, as they will largely be hidden.



Should you need to shim up your steel sections to make them flush with the top of the concrete walls, use 18" lengths off the strip used to make the top and bottom flanges.



After shims have been attached in the appropriate places (if at all necessary), label the sections on the underside to ensure proper orientation. I inscribed "NR" (for north railside) and "NC" (for north conveyor side) on one end of each.

Washago coaling plant--step 7

Thanks to everyone who has sent emails or added comments to the various steps so far. Based on the response to date, it is apparent that a lot of modelers are following along, if not building.



It is now time to build the two supporting piers for the steel beams which span the coal hopper (and upon which the rails rest). I cast these wafer-like pieces in hydrocal, but you may wish to use another medium. Their height (9'-9 3/8") and width (7'-8") are shown on the sketch above; their thickness is 1'-6".



Using an old scrap of ceiling tile underneath, I pinned down strips of balsa, 1'-6" in height, as forms for the plaster. There is a sheet of light plastic wrap laid directly on top of the paper sketch.



When the plaster set, the forms were carefully removed. Then the pieces were rubbed against a piece of coarse sandpaper to smooth all six faces.



Using yellow carpenter's glue, affix the supports against the north and south walls, equi-distant between the track and conveyor side walls of the coal hopper. Note that these pieces are aligned with the short dimension horizontal, the long dimension vertical. Dial calipres are handy for positioning them dead centre.

Washago coaling plant--step 6

As you can see above, pouring hydrocal into narrow openings can be a messy business. No matter! Just make sure that you work on a level surface, and gently tap the base on the table top to bring air bubbles to the surface. The right consistency of hydrocal is achieved with a 2:1 mixture (hydrocal:water). Make sure the poured plaster overtops the formwork.

Before the formwork was removed, I used a cheap hardware store scraper (which consisted of a single-edged razor blade in a plastic handle) to gently scrape off excess hydrocal almost to the top of the formwork. This was done after the plaster had set, but while it was still damp. Then I turned the assembly upside down, formwork and all, and rubbed it on a piece of coarse sandpaper until the top of the plaster was level with the top of the formwork.


When you are satisfied with the top surfaces, gently peel off your formwork in reverse order of how it was attached. For the plug in the wall section, I used a spade bit in an electric drill at slow speed to gouge most of it out; the rest came easily.


I mentioned that I positioned my opening in the wall in the wrong place. A few minutes with a X-Acto knife were sufficient to trim out a portion of the wall and replace it in the correct orientation. Hydrocal is an amazing medium--the cracks were filled with soupy plaster applied with a cheap paintbrush. This patching mix set instantly upon making contact with the finished surfaces. Then it was a simple matter of using the scraper to smooth over the joints.



Here is the prototype. The portion of the structure we have just finished can be seen at the bottom. The rails to the receiving hopper were laid flat on the top of this concrete section. About half of this first section is buried underground on the outside, but the grating, hopper and machinery were on the inside.

That will be it for a short while; looking forward to hearing from other modelers undertaking this project! (click on "comments" under any relevant posting).

Washago coaling plant--step 5

Now we attach the formwork to the base. Keep in mind that you want to be able to remove the forms after the hydrocal has set. So you want an adhesive that is flexible, yet strong enough to hold in place. I used LePage's water-based contact cement for the joints between the balsa and plywood, allowing only about 1/2 hour for the glue to set before joining the pieces.



Attach your formwork in the sequence shown, starting with the picture above. Be sure to keep the forms flush against the lines, to the outside. Squareness is essential. You will note that I cut the outside track and conveyor side forms a little long (which I would not do, if starting over).



Now add three of the inside forms, as shown above. Note that the inside track form is aligned with the 3" x 6" strip between the forms.



Now add the inside conveyor side form, again with the 3" x 6" strip aligned between the forms.



Insert the plug which will create an opening in the main foundation wall to allow passage for coaling plant men in and out of the conveyor room. This piece should be aligned 5'-7" from the right side of the form. Employ adhesive on the bottom face only--not on the surface joints with the forms. NOTE IN THE PICTURE ABOVE THAT I HAVE THIS PIECE ON THE WRONG SIDE!! DO NOT REPEAT MY MISTAKE.



Finally, add the outside conveyor side wall and the formwork is complete. Wrap a number of elastic bands around the formwork to prevent the corners from opening. The hydrocal will exert considerable force against the joints.

Washago coaling plant--step 4

Later on, we will construct a steel grate over the receiving hopper. This grating will rest on an indentation on the inside edges of the track and conveyor side foundation walls. The indentation is 3" in depth and 6" in width. To produce this indentation at the casting stage, we need to glue a 3" x 6" strip of material (your choice) along the top edges of the inside track and conveyor side forms. As you can see in the picture, this strip is aligned flush with the edge of the form, with the 3" dimension glued to the form.

Washago coaling plant--step 3

On your base, lay out lines denoting the inside and outside of the foundation walls. Dimensions are shown in the photograph (the 17'-0" applies in both directions, and the wall thickness is 2'-0" all around). The outside lines are 1'-3" in from the edges of the footings on the large square. The rectangular portion to the right is the footing for the conveyor, the foundation for which we will pour separately.

As you can see, I was a little over-zealous with a palm sander on my plywood base. But as mentioned before, this portion of the structure will be buried underground. For our purposes, it is a flat base upon which the foundation walls rest, and a floor for the receiving hopper and conveyor house.

With this illustration in front of us, it's a good time to speak of alternate means of construction. In a small scale such as N, pouring hydrocal would be impossible for small components. You may choose to cast the base as a solid block. Or, regardless of scale, you may opt to use styrene, wood, illustration board or some other medium and avoid casting altogether. If that is your situation, you will find in these instructions the required information to take that route (you may have to read ahead a couple of steps).

As per usual, click on "comments" below if you have anything to say pertinent to this instruction.

Washago coaling plant--step 2

It's now time to produce formwork (we're going to pour concrete sections with hydrocal plaster). In S scale, I used 3/32" balsa sheet. Styrene or bassword would work as well. Make sure you have adequate thickness for strength. Making formwork is like modeling in reverse. Most of the time and care is employed in fashioning the mold.

Above, you can see the sections labelled as to their locations on the structure. All the main pieces are 11'-2" high. Cut two pieces 21'-0" long (outside north & south sides), two pieces 21'-0" + 2 x thickness long (outside track & conveyor sides), two pieces 17'-0" long (inside track & conveyor sides) and two pieces 17'-0" - 2 x thickness (inside north & south sides). Additionally, cut a piece 8'-2" high x 8'-8" wide x 2'-0" thick; this will act as a plug in one wall section (I used two pieces of 3/16" balsa laminated together to make 2'-0" thickness in S scale).

Let's get down to work--coaling plant step 1

Here goes for the start of a 150-ton monument to steam operations on the Northern Ontario District mainline. We are going to build this structure from the ground up, much like the prototype. At last count, Robert Wilton, Andrew Batchelor, Ryan Laroche, Dick Chalmers, Doug Cushman, Fred Steiger and Bruce Wilson were going to join me.

My model is being constructed in S scale, but I will provide measurements in scale feet & inches and assume you will employ a scale rule or convert those to fractional inches for construction in your scale. I strongly recommend a dial calipre for accurate layout work.

We begin with construction of a base representing the footings and floor of the structure. The prototype footings are 2'-6" thick. Use material of your choice; I used 7/16" plywood for S scale. Dimensions are shown on the sketch underneath my finished base. Note that this component represents poured concrete, and will be buried underground on your layout, module or diorama, so precise edges are not necessary.

Fellows following along--please click the "comments" link below and advise when you have accomplished this step. Also feel free to post any comments for the benefit of others who are building this structure now or later.

Coaling plant project

Thank you to everyone for your patience regarding the planned construction of one of these classic CNR concrete coaling plants. Pictured is the installation at Washago, a few minutes' drive from my hometown. I spent several hours studying the plans and visiting the structure yesterday. I am going to begin construction today, and will report back shortly as to progress. The first attempt to duplicate the concrete portions of the structure will be in the form of hydrocal castings. If this is feasible, I will post instructions and sketches immediately. If not, a second attempt will be made in another medium.

Construction will be broken down into major components: concrete sections, conveyor apparatus, discharge mechanism (chute, chains, etc.) and safety appurtenances (ladders, railings, etc.).

I will be working from drawings of two of these structures, a 100-ton model and a 150-ton model. The only difference between the two is height of silo. However, there are various differences among prototype structures at various installations. Those at terminals tended to have sand pockets and sand pipes; those at intermediate points on the mainline (such as Washago) did not. Lucky for us, most of the prototypes are still standing (Washago, South River, Hornepayne, Foleyet and Fire River for sure). Does anyone know if the coaling plant at Bayswater on the Sudbury Subdivision is still in place? Also, about 20 years ago I observed a mainline coaling plant at Riviere du Loup--does anyone know (a) if this one is still standing, and (b) if it is of a similar design to these Northern Ontario District structures?

Steam in Northern Ontario

All the pre-subscribed copies of Steam in Northern Ontario were shipped over a two-week period beginning September 29. Thank you, all, for your patience.

We have received dozens of emails from folks regarding the book, so I figured I'd open a discussion for readers of this web log. Any questions regarding the material covered in this latest book, any thoughts, comments or otherwise, fire away!

Shipping update

As of Wednesday, October 4, approximately one half of the prepaid individual copies of Steam in Northern Ontario have been shipped, along with approximately one half of the first wave of dealer orders. We are on track to be finished shipping all pre-ordered copies before the end of next week.

Shipping of Steam in Northern Ontario is well underway!!

As of Monday, October 2, one third of the prepaid individual copies have been shipped, and we have begun shipping dealer packages as well.