The north end of the Ricksburg, WV yard features a wye for turning coal power for the Morrison Prep Plant and Arrival/Departure yard. The tail of the wye pokes thru the backdrop wall and presented an awkward scenic challenge. What to do? We’d long been bantering about our work crews being really just- “Tres Amigos” (Three Friends), so I decided we needed a “TA” Tower somewhere. And this was the Where.

After drawing a sketch, I laid out the footprint of the Tower base using cardstock. This became my template for the wood base.

Some left over flooring and other scraps soon formed an insert into the ugly hole in the wall. Side abutments were also constructed.

Jumping ahead a bit, .o4o styrene was glued to the sides of the wood using contact cement. Evergreen styrene strips were MEK’d as shown to create a poured concrete look.

The concrete stairway was made of Hydocal cast in styrene form. I’m sure I’ll find other places to reuse this!

Once the stairway was installed, the entire structure was painted with Woodland Scenics Concrete color. This was followed by oil washes of Brunt/Raw Umbers, etc,. followed by mists of flat black spray paint to blend it all together. Note that as the track recedes toward the wye tail, the walls are darkened to help the disappearing illusion.

Finally a handrails were made of .032 brass wire, holes drilled, and the handrail mounted.

A cantilevered signal bridge was built of brass and styrene to direct departing northbound traffic. Note that because one (unsignaled) leg of the wye passes beneath the bridge, a “Doll” signal head is added for this track, helping avoid confusion for A&O train crews (good luck with that).

The base of TA Tower is now complete, including its CTC signal. Next up, the tower itself which will sit atop, and of course some scenery.