Based on Jim's good advice, I've been working these last weeks on modifying my Gloor Craft Coaling Tower which was the first structure I built in 1997 and has never been on a layout. In addition to scrapping the catwalk that was blocking access to the tower with tracks at my 3.5 inch spacing, I also went much further. I've redesigned the chutes and their suspensions, added lighting, replaced broken ladders, and added "concrete" footings under all the timbers. I've been writing about this whole process to submit as an article to O'Gauge RR magazine. This is based on a comment made by Alan that I should considering writing some of my learnings into an article. If the story isn't accepted, I'll publish it as a build thread in this forum. Here's a teaser...
The chutes now drop their load directly over the center of a tender sitting below them. The pulleys are home made and the right hand chute is able to raise and lower correctly. The left hand one is not movable due to a pulley that has a slightly undersized upper clearance so the chain doesn't pass through smoothly. All redesigns were done on the computer scaling them directly on the picture I took of the problem. The chutes are made of styrene sheet.
