1930's modular railroad interlocking tower MOC - real world MOC (finished 2/13/23)

[Murdoch17]

I was inspired to build this industrial-looking old fashioned interlocking Tower by set number 60009 (Helicopter Arrest) and a number of old towers in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.

In addition, the unusually-placed signal arm attached to the building is inspired by an mid-1960s WWII-set black and white film, (The Train) in which a French signal tower very similar to this one is used for some sabotage of a German train and is subsequently blown up in an Allied air raid... and yes, they really did blow it up - no miniatures were involved!

Here you can see the chimney flue on the rear of the building. There is an abandoned OCTAN tank car also visible nearby.

Upstairs is a heating stove for those cold winter nights, six lever frames for moving switches and a signal board for showing which route is currently aligned.

The bottom floor features a (empty) gas tank, a chest for emergency flares and torpedo's, a trash can, plus a telephone.

"This is getting out of hand... now there are two of them!"

The one on the right is my original switch tower, while the one on the left is my Dad's (slightly different) copy. He paid for the model and I built it. I ordered the parts last Sunday (Feb. 12th), the three orders arrived Wednesday and Thursday and construction on the copy was completed last night. (the 16th)

Thoughts anybody?

EDIT: 2/13/23: Real world photos added!

Edited February 17, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Darkkostas25]

Cool building!
For downstairs - a rack with tools will be nic
(toolbox, crowbar, wrench/spanner, screwdrivers etc) for firefighting(extinguisher, bucket, axe) and some for maintenance(oil can, for example, bucket(paint)), boxes/crates with something maybe some "craft tables" workbench maybe and table with letters and newspapers and telephone maybe 

[Murdoch17]

9 hours ago, Darkkostas25 said:

Cool building!
For downstairs - a rack with tools will be nic
(toolbox, crowbar, wrench/spanner, screwdrivers etc) for firefighting(extinguisher, bucket, axe) and some for maintenance(oil can, for example, bucket(paint)), boxes/crates with something maybe some "craft tables" workbench maybe and table with letters and newspapers and telephone maybe 

Thanks for the suggestions, I have added a telephone on a crate, plus a tool rack holding a red handheld signal, crowbar, oilcan, hammer, and wrench to the model. Thanks for the help!

[Paperinik77pk]

Very nice tower!!!! It keeps your "clean" style (which I appreciate a lot) and has all the needed details inside. Plus, it's really usable everywhere. 😊

Downstairs I'd put an open chest with some tools sticking out, some wooden planks near the stairs and some wood to be burned in the upstairs stove. And a bike. 😁

[Murdoch17]

On 12/8/2022 at 3:28 AM, Paperinik77pk said:

Very nice tower!!!! It keeps your "clean" style (which I appreciate a lot) and has all the needed details inside. Plus, it's really usable everywhere. 😊

Downstairs I'd put an open chest with some tools sticking out, some wooden planks near the stairs and some wood to be burned in the upstairs stove. And a bike. 😁

Thanks @Paperinik77pk, and a bike isn't a bad idea! I'll see if I can fit it... I've used up a bunch of space putting in @Darkkostas25's ideas, but I'll see what I can do.

[Murdoch17]

UPDATE:

This is about as far as I can go on the interlocking tower model without ordering anything.

The lower floor is 99% complete, the roof is totally finished, but I can't begin on the second story until I order the little over 100 remaining parts in January.

Any thoughts on it so far?

[Man with a hat]

I Like it. It is looking nice with that little bit of overhang of the top floor.

Obviously there are so many different variations you can make that any suggestion is just a matter of taste. So for example I like a balcony with or without external stairs.

[Murdoch17]

9 hours ago, Man with a hat said:

I Like it. It is looking nice with that little bit of overhang of the top floor.

Obviously there are so many different variations you can make that any suggestion is just a matter of taste. So for example I like a balcony with or without external stairs.

Thanks for stopping by and giving some suggestions @Man with a hat. Sadly, the model's inside will be totally crammed, so there is sadly no way to add a door for a balcony.

Ok, so I managed to get some more done on the switch tower. There is about 80 parts left to buy, worth a little under 15 bucks.

...and yes, old man Takeshi (ex-pilot from Exo Force) works as the switch operator for Davis Tower. Here is his post-2008 backstory:

You see that guy with the thinning green hair and potbelly over there, glaring at us? His name is Takeshi, and he was once one of the best Exo Force pilots in the service of Sensei Keiken. He and his fellow teammates came -this- close to getting rid of the scourge of Mecha One and his robots in the jungles at the base of Sentai Mountain, when the worst possible thing happened: their theme suddenly got canceled! In the ensuing chaos, nobody bothered to finish the storyline unofficially. This deeply affected Takeshi psychological and physically. He went from a proud mech pilot in peak physical condition to an overweight, balding shell of the man he once was.

Today, 14 years later, he still talks at great length about that dark day in 2008, along with the time the robots' vehicle designer somehow killed the color Teal while inventing the Dark Panther mech. (Don't ask!) He also has a thing against modern robot helpers such as Alexa and Roomba, and despises Ninjago for it's similarity to Exo-force and it's 10+ years of life.

As for friends, he still keeps in occasional touch with the now-married Hitomi and Hikaru. Ryo is his regular drinking buddy on Saturday nights where they reminisce and talk about the good old day. Sadly, everyone else on his old team has avoided him while they moved on with their lives. Even Mecha One avoids him, though this is most likely because the former villain got a job sweeping floors of Ninjago City under the alias of 'Sweep'. All in all, I feel sorry for poor Takeshi.

(Thoughts?)

[Shiva]

Cute tower :)

One question. Why not 3676 in the corners?

[Murdoch17]

10 minutes ago, Shiva said:

Cute tower :)

One question. Why not 3676 in the corners?

Thanks @Shiva! The part you describe will not work because the outermost corner stud would not be used: the MOC goes from 14 wide for most of the model's second floor, to 12 wide on the outer edge of the walls. This takes off that corner stud in the process of the change, making 3676 not usable without a complete redesign. (I hope that makes sense!)

[Shiva]

A little bit :) + brain not top notch when it is 02 here.

[Murdoch17]

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's a Christmas update for you all on this project:

Everything left to find for the switch tower and the green 1959 Cadillac Eldorado* costs so little (about fifteen bucks for both together before S&H), so I combined them into one project to save on shipping. All said and done there are 97 parts left to order. (some aren't in the picture) Thoughts?

 

*The car model is a heavy MOD of 2016 Ideas set 21108 - Ghostbusters Ecto 1

[Shiva]

Looks interesting :)

[Murdoch17]

It's finally done! @Man with a hat @Paperinik77pk @Darkkostas25 @Shiva (If I tagged you, it's because you commented when it was a WIP and I thought you'd like to see it finished.)

..actually, it's been done for a month, but I forgot to take actual photos until today.  More photos can be seen in the first post!

On 12/30/2022 at 5:17 AM, Shiva said:

Looks interesting :)

Thanks, and sorry for the late reply!

Edited February 13, 2023 by Murdoch17

[Shiva]

Cheers and Nice :)

[Darkkostas25]

yeah! waiting for more photos 

[Murdoch17]

18 hours ago, Shiva said:

Cheers and Nice :)

Thanks!

5 hours ago, Darkkostas25 said:

yeah! waiting for more photos 

Thank you, but more photos are probably not coming, as I've got nothing else to show off on this model. (unless I majorly change something, or course)

[Paperinik77pk]

Nice, nice, nice, really! 

Ciao!

Davide

[Murdoch17]

17 hours ago, Paperinik77pk said:

Nice, nice, nice, really! 

Ciao!

Davide

Thanks @Paperinik77pk!

"This is getting out of hand... now there are two of them!"

The one on the right is my original switch tower, while the one on the left is my Dad's (slightly different) copy. He paid for the model and I built it. I ordered the parts last Sunday, the three orders arrived Wednesday and Thursday and construction was completed last night

Thoughts anybody?

[JopieK]

Very nice. Your dad is more into 9V? You could also use it to hide functional parts (e.g. switch controller) inside!

[Man with a hat]

Nice work. Great to see it finished.

[Murdoch17]

7 hours ago, JopieK said:

Very nice. Your dad is more into 9V? You could also use it to hide functional parts (e.g. switch controller) inside!

Thanks! He's got 9v out the wazoo... he's got only about ten missing 9v era sets. Sadly, he never runs them.

6 hours ago, Man with a hat said:

Nice work. Great to see it finished.

Thanks, me too!

[X_Builds]

Compact, Simple, but very detailed. Well done!

[Murdoch17]

2 minutes ago, X_Builds said:

Compact, Simple, but very detailed. Well done!

Thank you!