Winter 2010 - Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society

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Modeling “KASE” Tower in HO Scale By Chuck Cover, photographs by the author unless noted (Above) “KASE” Tower in Sunbury, Pa. looking due north in the late 1950’s. Ahead to the left is the bridge over the Susquehanna to Northumberland Yard. Behind us is the line to Harrisburg and the connection to the Shamokin Branch. Crossing to the right of the tower are two legs of the wye connecting to the Wilkes-Barre line. Chuck Cover collection. My model railroad is built in a 23 ft. by 50 ft. studio and is based on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in about 1959. I model the Shamokin Branch and some of the main line of the PRR along the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania between Harrisburg (Enola yard) and Williamsport. The Shamokin Branch left the PRR main line at Sunbury, north of Harrisburg, and continued east through the valley following the Shamokin Creek to Mt. Carmel, Pa. where it interchanged with the Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR). I also model the LVRR’s Hazelton Branch which leaves Mt Carmel and goes east toward the steel mills and Allentown, Pa. I began building the layout in August 2005 and have completed the bench work, track, wiring (DCC) and have begun some scenery on the main line and the branch line from Sunbury to Mt. Carmel. The main line consists of a staging yard to the south (Enola), the town of Sunbury, “KASE” tower, the Susquehanna River Bridge, Northumberland Yard, the major industries in Milton and a northern staging yard (Williamsport). The Shamokin Branch consists of the horn track going through Sunbury, Crowl (including the General Store), Weigh Scales, the Glen Burn Colliery, Shamokin and Mt. Carmel with the interchange with the LVRR. The LVRR portion includes the shared Mt. Carmel Station, the industries in Hazleton and the LVRR staging (Allentown). The Main line is about 1.5 scale miles and the Branch models over 4 scale miles of the 28 mile Shamokin Branch. I am attempting to build the model railroad so that specific real locations, including buildings and industries, are modeled. Some photographs of the real railroad are displayed on the backdrop and I am attempting to copy these scenes on the layout. I have been operating my layout without tower protection at “KASE” for a few years now, so I thought it was time to build “KASE” tower. I do not have any diagrams of the tower; however, I have collected a number of photos from various places that give me a good idea of what the tower looked like in the late 1950s. “KASE” tower was built, I think, early in the 20 th century, as a wood tower. It was modified over the years with various window placements as can be seen in some of the photos in my collection, and it was finally replaced by a concrete block tower after being damaged in a wreck about 1959. The back side of “KASE” in the late 1950’s. Note the concrete tower. Chuck Cover collection. The Keystone Modeler 34 No. 72, Winter 2010
Without diagrams, I needed to get some idea of the dimensions of the building. By finding the measurements, footprint, and panel size of other PRR wooden towers, I was able to develop a pretty good idea of the size of “KASE”. The other critical bit of data that went into the model dimensions was the size of the windows and the door that were needed to model the tower. I broke the overall measurements down into panel sizes for this project, and all measurements in this article are in scale dimensions. There are eight panels along the length of the front (trackside) and back walls and three wider panels on each side. After taking the measurements of other wooden towers and considering the available model window sizes, I finally decided that the front and rear panels would be three feet six inches wide and the side panels would be six feet in width. The first floor windows are not as tall as those on the second story. From the photos, comparing the number of siding boards and the door height, I estimated that the prototype board spacing is four inches. I counted the number of four inch siding boards in each panel, and taking into consideration the model windows available, I estimated the heights of the panels for the model. From the ground to the bottom of the first floor windows is four feet. The first floor windows are seven feet, the next panel is two feet, and then there is a one foot shingled panel, water table, which rises to the bottom of the second story windows. The second story windows are nine feet, and the last panel, a shingled coved eave, is one foot. The overall dimensions are L28 ft. x W18 ft. x H24 ft. to the base of the roof. I built the tower in three major components: foundation, main structure and roof. The main structure of the wooden tower is constructed of shiplap siding so I used Evergreen #4062 Novelty siding as a starting point. This siding has spacing slightly wider at five and one-quarter inches compared to the prototype’s four inches, however, it is the closest to the wood siding for PRR towers that I could find. I measured the four sides, the front (trackside) and back are 28 ft. x 25 ft. and the sides are 18 ft. x 25 ft. and cut them out. The extra scale foot in height is to accommodate the separate roof unit which on my model is removable to allow access to the interior to repair any window glazing or to do some interior changes at a later date. Next I drew the panels on each of the sides with a pencil. I used a photo of “KASE” in the late 1950s as a guide to the window placement. The first floor windows are double hung nine over two panes and can be modeled with Grandt Line #5193. The second story windows were not found in the commercial market, but I lucked out when Ron Hoess offered to cast them for me. The single door on the side of the tower can be modeled using Grandt Line #5072. Once the door and windows were selected, I measured the openings in the panels and cut them out with a sharp chisel blade and installed them in the walls. The bay window is the most difficult part of the construction. I cut out the panels in the front wall where the bay was to be installed and constructed the bay as a separate unit. I first cut out the floor for the bay and test fit it into the space that had been removed from the front side of the building. Mine measured 21’ along the inside of the bay (the width of 6 panels) and tapered to 14’ (width of 4 panels) on the track side. The bay is four feet deep. Your bay may differ slightly, depending upon the windows you decide to use for the second floor. (Top) Four walls and bay window unit. The panels on each wall are marked off, window, door and bay openings are cut our and doors and windows are installed. Note that the rear wall (on right in back) is placed upside down. (Middle) Walls squared and assembled. Bay window unit is installed. (Bottom) Trackside photo with the gables and all horizontal trim and water tables in place. Some vertical and corner trim needs to be attached. The Keystone Modeler 35 No. 72, Winter 2010
Page 1 and 2: No. 72 Winter 2010 Inside: • Two
Page 3 and 4: The challenge of paint matching Mod
Page 5 and 6: Upcoming Events January 30-31 - Wes
Page 7 and 8: PRR photo of G26 #439048, 10-27-30,
Page 9 and 10: One thing I discovered while invest
Page 11 and 12: their 500 G31E of 1952 had 3-rib Dr
Page 13 and 14: (Right top) Inside view illustratin
Page 15 and 16: I had heard that gluing in the door
Page 17 and 18: Balanced Locomotive Roster for Oper
Page 19 and 20: Trains PH-4 and PH-7, PH-11, and CI
Page 21 and 22: (Top) K4s #439 on Train #412 paused
Page 23 and 24: All these engines have sound decode
Page 25 and 26: Kitbashing an NA Cabin Car in N or
Page 27 and 28: 14. Cut and install roof of 0.020 i
Page 29 and 30: Underframe and draft gear The under
Page 31 and 32: Making Model PRR Station and Tower
Page 33: (Above) Tim mounted large keystone
Page 37 and 38: The chimney was constructed from Pl
Page 39: All four sides of the completed wea

Winter 2010 - Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society

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