A Coal Platform for Sandy Shores
Quite often before bed, I'll use the peace and quiet to come up with, and jot down, some ideas. A couple of nights ago I was looking for a way to solve a minor problem I had with the water tower; the ladder I have is too short to reach the top. Rather than try and make a fiddly ladder myself, I thought that I could build a little platform for it to sit on. Then I saw a sudden opportunity for adding an extra bit of visual interest; a coal stage. With the loco area lacking almost everything in the way of facilities, I realised there was nowhere for any steam locos to restock on coal. As there is obviously a water tower (albeit without a hose at the moment!) already on the layout, a coal stage would make a useful companion; and would also solve my ladder crisis!
The build is pretty simple, and totally freelance; just as I would expect for such a line. Made up of salvaged standard gauge sleepers and whatever wood was available, I spent an enjoyable morning/afternoon on it. Construction is typical of the wooden structures that can be found around the layout; so I won't bore you all with details, as the photos show everything nice and clearly. Everything you see here is made up of, yes, you guessed it: cut-up lollipop sticks!
Construction was done with relative ease, although the little pile of wood lengths at the bottom right of the first two photos above shows that chopping the sticks thin enough and uniform enough is not always easy!
Something I should probably touch on is the use of my mobile phone for coming up with ideas. It's not a big modern smartphone; in fact, I've had this phone for 8 years! However, I only really use it for the occasional text, as my alarm in the morning, and also for drawing whilst in bed! The touchscreen and stylus make it ideal for quickly jotting down ideas, and I can sketch tiny drawings to remind me of what I wish to do the following day! The photo above shows a collection of 3 tiny sketches; the coal stage idea obviously being top right. Perhaps I'll make the wooden railing and bench another day...
With the structure assembled, it was time to make preparations to bed it in to sand dune adjacent to the water tower (the tank of which still needs painting; and is on my to-do list!). The marking out of the approximate area that needed removing was done with a mechanical pencil; whilst a craft knife made relatively short work of cutting through the sand dune. It took many adjustments to get it sitting perfectly; and it wasn't long before I realised I'd also need a small retaining wall on the left hand side. This was soon carried out, and the 3 components were ready for my usual painting method; a black wash, a brown wash, then a slightly darker brown wash. I haven't bothered tackling the weathering yet, but I suspect a little lightening of the outside faces will be needed; along with blackening where the coal will sit.
And with apologies for the glaring sunlight, here's the state of play so far; as you can see I've found an incredibly long handled shovel from a OO gauge locomotive; quite why it's so long I'm unsure as of yet! In any case, the result of a few hours work is a lovely little addition to the maintenance facilities of the SSLR.
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