# The new Watts-Myniss Mine



## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

This is going to be a multi building complex before we're finished, so bear with me. 

The first building is a remake of the old mine tipple. I made a new base to allow it to serve 2 tracks.









I painted it dark ultra flat brown. The roof is a satin ivy green... It looked OK, but not quite what I wanted









Out came the coffee stirrers.... MUCH better - or it will be after I build the bony trestle and give it another coat of paint.










The tipple will connect to the next building on a lower level via a long covered incline. Unfortunately, I sheared off the drive in my B&D rotary tool, so I'll have to buy a new one first....


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

Pretty nifty! 

This is the same building you had on the spur of your old indoor pike? 

And, judging from the thread in the other subforum, the intent is to use O scale track for a narrow guage mine layout?


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Top half (Piko part) is the same. 

Yes, they'll be a 32mm tram line with a dinky pushing a couple mine cars on the lower level -- once I figure out how to lay it all out so that the loop isn't obvious. 

Plans, so far, call for a boiler house, a mine car dumper (just a shed to hide part of the loop), 2 mine adits, a maintenance building, a tool building, the covered incline, and whatever else I need to add to fill in the space....


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Building #2, the mine car dumper-- 









OK, so the building is empty. It's where the dumper would be if I actually built one... This shack will connect to the other end of the above mentioned covered incline. It will have two 32mm tracks entering the front (loaded cars in, empties out) -- Except the live track will actually exit the rear and into another building. It was too wet today to paint, but this building will also be the same brown/green combo as the tipple just as soon as it quits raining.


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

Are you using the old clear plastic cards with the letters on them for exterior signage to build this?


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm using old price sign numbers - about 3/32" thick plexi. Whole ones are something like 8" x 16". I collected a bunch of broken ones over the years.


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

In jobs past, I was usually the guy designated to go out with the suction cup on a long stick and put those things up. (could be a real pain in the butt in windy, below zero, or rainy weather). All the ones I did were the smaller ones - 8 x 10 or 8 x 12, something like that.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Moving right along... today's project was the machinery shed. The back half houses the steam engines that drive the ventilator for the mine, and the conveyor to the tipple. The front half is a maintenance building... In reality all it will actually do is hide part of the tram loop.I need to install a railing and 2 bay doors, but I haven't yet decided what color the doors should be. 


















Our complex so far... 









One more major structure to make. A boiler house. Plus a few sheds and, of course, the mine entrances...


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

I started to lay out the boiler house today.... Geez, but it's going to have to be HUGE to fit an entire half circle of the e-train track inside! (I forgot that the diameter was 77cm! (almost 30") ) We're talking about a single structure 35" long x 17" deep x 12" tall (less smokestacks).... Twice as large as anything I've attempted to make with acrylic so far. 

Here is a pic of the boiler house at Iselin, Pa. to give you an idea.... 









I'll add pics of my efforts later this evening....


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Pix, as promised...

The boiler house at Florence, Pa., Jefferson Co. ca 1905











First was the floor. This took 4 pieces just to make it big enough!....











back corner...









2 pieces aren't quite long enough, I'll need to splice another bit on... I'm attaching the scale house to the side of the boiler house to help hide the loop.










Never try to paint with an almost empty rattle can.... Good thing this is just the base coat!










The paint and glue needs to harden a bit more (and outgas!) before I start on the next phase of construction


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

Dunno Mik...maybe your trying to hide a bit too much track with something that size? not to mention the other buildings...


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By ThinkerT on 13 Apr 2010 08:22 PM 
Dunno Mik...maybe your trying to hide a bit too much track with something that size? not to mention the other buildings... 
It's rather big for a model alright. Except the thing scales out to only 70 feet x 33 or so in half inch scale. Almost tiny for a boiler house! (the four boilers, if I built them, would be about 6 feet in diameter and 24 or so feet long aka 3" x 12" - plus room for water pumps, stokers, a supply of coal, etc.) OTOH, maybe it's a good thing those used curves I got for that end of the layout were 8 footers... otherwise I wouldn't have much room left for garden!


I added two main roof trusses tonight since I took those pictures, and cut the end wall for the scale house. I decided to make it gabled, but shorter than the boiler house, instead of just a lean-to. A little more visually interesting, and probably more prototypical as well. 


I also figgered out a cheap 'n easy way to make the chimneys. I'm going to use the leftover parts from those solar lights, just cut the clear plastic part on an angle to match the slope of the roof, paint and glue! And if I make a hash of one or two, I have a couple spares.... I also have a Delton whistle around here someplace to mount on the roof.


BTW, it already weighs about 20 pounds, at least I shouldn't have to worry about it growing legs and wandering off 


Just wait until I start making the coke ovens... is there any way to seal plaster n scale tunnel portals so that they won't crumble? It would save time....


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

Yeah Mik, I'm only too well aware of how large industrial buildings usually are. No railroad tracks around here...but plenty of welding shops, pipe inspection shops, metal fabrication outfits, industrial supply shops, ect. (One reason I'm setting aside fair chunks of space for my industrial areas and even then they'll mostly be relief structures.) 

My concern was...that narrow guage line is an attraction in its own right...yet you seem to want to hide something on the order of half of it. Maybe have it snake around the outside of some of these buildings rather than be in them?


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By ThinkerT on 14 Apr 2010 12:20 AM 
My concern was...that narrow guage line is an attraction in its own right...yet you seem to want to hide something on the order of half of it. Maybe have it snake around the outside of some of these buildings rather than be in them? 
Um.... exactly? And 2/3 actually. The point of running it through the buildings IS to hide a great deal of it. By having the tramline play peek-a-boo I'm hoping to create the illusion that there are 2 trains actually doing something besides going roundy-round.... And, yes, I'm also quite aware that the buildings will probably be small critter magnets, and that the likelyhood of derailments increases dramatically inside structures where it's harder to reach.....


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Mik, make sure you test run your largest roster peices thru those opening BEFORE you finish it. I found on my Micro places where I had to chip and notch away at places to get items to clear.


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

nice. Looking forward to the rest of the project


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Today I made 2 of the adits. One is actually a drain pipe to prevent rainwater from flooding the mine area. The other is just for looks... I may add another adit, and I may frame them all with timber.... I'm not sure yet.








Another view...









I just couldn't resist roughing out the tram trackage, just to make sure everything would fit. There will be a couple more turnouts and a crossover in the final version. But I have to pour a bit of concrete first.


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

Coming along pretty good! (especially now that I have a clearer idea what you had in mind).


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

The arrival of more 32mm track yesterday, and a break in the rain today allowed me to make some progress. I had to relocate one of the adits to allow for the sectional track. I think it looks fairly proper and functional.






























Don't you just love my jigsaw puzzle rockwork?


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Wellllllll, I guess I've been away from this project longer than I thought. 

Today I FINALLY set the tipple and made the conveyor (a section of square plastic downspout - fast n' easy). 



























Still need to make a boney pile. under the chute


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Man, you are really going to town! Looking better every day! 

Greg


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Looks good; I'll be following the progress photos; thanks for sharing!


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow Mik, quite a project, coming along real good. WHere do you get the coffee stir sticks? I lost my contact to get those.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Kim grabs a small handful every time she gets coffee at the local Sheetz convenience store (free for me). I also saw them for sale at Michael's and Mal-Wart in a bag of 100 with the ends already square.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks, I'll look at Walmart next time. Have seen popsicle sticks sometime, but not the little wood boards.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

I made a little more progress on this over the last week. The most noticeable is a 'boney' or tailings pile. 3 parts real boney, 1 part cement. You can also see the blower house upper center part of the pic

In the real world, the piles can be a eighth mile or so long and over 70 feet high... so the rest is off layout....









I also started putting together the 8 NoS Delton wooden hoppers -- only to find a bunch of truck sides have gone missing.... So I only have 3 completed cars at the moment. (yes, this one needs couplers)









Under the tipple. I'm considering single tracking it and adding a 32mm track to serve some coke ovens instead.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

I made a little more progress on this over the last week. The most noticeable is a 'boney' or tailings pile. 3 parts real boney, 1 part cement. You can also see the blower house upper center part of the pic

In the real world, the piles can be a eighth mile or so long and over 70 feet high... so the rest is off layout....









I also started putting together the 8 NoS Delton wooden hoppers -- only to find a bunch of truck sides have gone missing.... So I only have 3 completed cars at the moment. (yes, this one needs couplers)









Under the tipple. I'm considering single tracking it and adding a 32mm track to serve some coke ovens instead.


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