In-ko-pah RR: Water tower spout

[Ray Dunakin]

Lately I've been trying to get some projects done that have kind of languished for a while. Most of these involved refurbishing some of my oldest models, which were showing the effects of constant exposure to the elements...

The biggest job was refurbishing the water tower near the town of Dos Manos. The supports were made from real wood (western red cedar), and most of the paint had peeled off. The wood on top of the platform was heavily weathered and worn. The tank also needed repainting. Most of all, the original spout needed to be replaced -- not only was it beginning to fall apart, I was never happy with it to begin with. Now I have the skills to make a better one.

In this photo you can see the old spout, with the new spout below it. The old spout was made from cardboard tubes coated with fiberglass resin, and spray painted silver. The mounting brackets were crudely made from brass rod. It was never meant to be permanent, just a "place holder" until I had the skills to create something better. The new spout is entirely made of brass:





The prototype for my model is an old San Diego & Arizona RR water tower located at Dos Cabesas, in the Anza-Borrego desert. The prototype has an unusual, hinge-like hardware. Without any good photos of the tower when its spout was still intact, it's difficult to determine exactly how the spout was attached, and how it operated. My original spout worked but did not seem very practical or realistic. When I built the new brass spout, I tried the configuration shown in this next photo:






That didn't really look right, and didn't work very well either. So here's the configuration I settled on:






Here's how the finished tower looks, with new paint and new spout:













The foundation has small brass pins sticking up, which fit into holes in the ends of the support timbers, to hold it in place.

[Chuck Doan]

That came out nice Ray!

[marc_reusser]

Nice fabrication work on the new spout. I am glad you tried a second spout mounting approach, because it is really cool and has a great feel and look...far better than the first go-around. I like the look of the refurbished tank.

[Younger]

It needs a fill pipe, Ray. Here is a shot of it today, and my version in On3.
-Younger

[Ray Dunakin]

Yeah, I forgot to put the pipe back on it before I shot the new photos.