Since;

There is no restrictions this year, just like the very first challenge. Any Size, Any Shape, any Car, Loco, Building, ROW thing, Trestle, Anything RR, or otherwise.

And since I am trying to actually finish an HO module, something I have yet to accomplish in over 9 years of being involved (again) with HO clubs.

Therefore I am going to start building some of the locomotive support/service structures for my HO module set. (I really don’t care Rooster)

Napkin drawing to follow. I spent today at my company’s home office, 234 miles from my house, and driving home from my company’s home office. Now its nap time, to be followed by bed time, to be followed by a train show where my unfinished modules will be on display again.

As someone who almost never finishes anything and it is RR stuff I think it’s a grand idea.

As promised/required, here is da napkin drawing.

Nice drawing.

Welllllll… I built one of those, A real 40’ tall one. Was commissioned to make it look old from the start.

And It really pumps water . Aeromotor 6’ works and 4" pump.

Hopes this help some.

Actually it does. I have several pictures of them that I took when my company traded me to the Dallas branch for 2 weeks, but its hard to tell how big the fan disks are.

The Fan is 6 foot across the blades.

Do A Google search for “Aeromotor Windmills”

Yea, thanks Dave. I have a small one in my backyard. Its just over 6 feet tall, and its just for decoration. Some of those fan disks look to be huge. I will have to spend (waste) a night with my favorite search engine.

That is really neat Dave. The water tower and windmill will be good builds.

Have you thought of combining the 2? I have one on my RR that is loosely based on a real one that was partially captured in an old RR photo. Just an idea.

Well, yes, they are a set, since the windmill fills the tank. I am also thinking of maybe a small pump-house/stove room to heat the tank so it doesn’t freeze in the winter.

Since the theme of the yard is circa 1860-80, the tank needs to be smaller then most, kind of tall and slender. I just need to settle on a design.

OK I built one of those tall and skinny tanks also. This one was operational for my friends 7 1/2 in Gage.

Hope this helps.

BTW: a wind mill can pump water as high as 400ft. up hill to the tank.

So for some scribbling on the workshop wall…

From the specifications that I have found, many locomotive tenders of this era had tanks around 40 inches high, holding around 2,200 gallons of water.

This facility isn’t a major center of activity, in fact, once its done, its going to be an operating museum. So I figure a 12,000 gallon water tank should be adequate for this facility.

There are 7.48 gallons in a cubic foot, so 12,000 gallons would be about 1,604 cubic feet of water.

Volume of a cylinder is π R squared times height.

I want the height to be about 1.5 times the diameter.

So, if my math is right, an 8 foot diameter by 12 foot high tank will give me 1,894 cubic feet of water, or 14,167 gallons of water. I was shooting for 12,000 gallons, but that is close enough for my tired brain.

Now these old tanks were tapered, so I want 8 foot diameter in the center of the tank, 8.5 feet diameter at the bottom, and 7.5 feet diameter at the top.

The hoops were forged as a one piece unit, and driven onto the tanks like hoops on a wooden barrel. So I just need to make metal strap hoops, without worrying about tensioning adjustments.

Since the tenders were lower back then, I don’t really need to put the tank as high as modern tanks, but high enough so nothing catches on passing locomotives.

40" high tanks were small… and that height was height of the water tank, on top of the decking of the tender.

And almost all tenders had “Side boards” that came up above the top of the water tank.

David you are speaking my language. As an assistant manager of a public water utility I love all this talk about calculating tank volume. And without doing the calculations myself I believe your theory is sound.

Now I have a particular interest in the tank bands. If you recall or care to look back to my engine house build I did for the MIK challenge like three years ago I made a roof top tank. I made “real” tank bands that used rod threaded at each end and a bracket that held the ends complete with tensioning nuts. Was quite fun to make.

Dave yes, I know that was the tank height, on the tender frame. Small, well, they were back in the 1860s and 1870s. Most of the locomotives that will haunt this establishment are going to be 4-4-0s of that vintage, with at least one, 4-6-0, and a 2-6-0, also of that vintage.

Devon, yes I remember your build. But the early water tanks were tapered, and used what would amount to barrel hoops as bands. Actually, I should say conical instead of tapered. Wider at the bottom. That presents a challenge, making tapered staves, but keeping the seams between the staves vertical.

Try this for the tapered look. Make the tank from thick ( inside to outside) vertical staves. Glue joints well. Then shave down ( taper ) from the bottom to the top. If you don’t have a lathe, then use a hand plane or better yet, a spoke shave. Or as a last resort, sand the top to the taper .

My spoke shave? Now, why didn’t I think of that?

Bill Ness pointed out to me that my calculations were off. instead of squaring R, I was squaring the quantity of Pi times R. Big error factor in my calculations. So the bits I had drawn out and cut have been tossed into the “Oops bucket”.

See what happens when I don’t take a math class in over 30 years? I mess up on certain details.

I will start again with 12 feet diameter at the bottom, 10 feet diameter at the top and 17 feet tall, roughly. That should get me close to my target volume, still maintain the proportions I wanted, and have enough of a conical shape so that its obvious.

Next question in my fevered mind is do I paint the thing, or leave it bare wood. I like the look of yellow tanks, but I think aged wood would be more of a wild west look.

I let you down David. I didn’t do the math my self just saw the Pi R squared and assumed you squared R and then multiplied times Pi.

Why not an aged yellow tank. In all likely hood it would have been painted and then weathered to rustic wood. Just an idea.

Originally the tanks were redwood. and when they aged they went to that soft darkgray look, and then to light gray.

Dave, redwood tanks? Here back east? I guess they could have flown in some redwood…

Devon, no issue. At one time I was actually good at math. Now some days I wonder why I need to use pen and paper to do simple math.

Chipped, flaked and otherwise distressed paint may be an idea. But first I need to block out some time to start again. Today was a long day at work, and tomorrow looks to be similar.