Coaling up

Coaling stage

I came across this little 4mm scale yard crane in a pile of 'old stuff' at the club. It needed a few repairs but was essentially all there, and as we are needing some form of coaling stage for the narrow gauge part of the layout, I figured it would do for 7mm scale for hoicking buckets of the black stuff onto the footplates of the little engines.

The timber staith and stone platform are made from foamboard offcuts, and the coal is graded cat litter. To be truthful, nothing looks like real coal except real coal, but cat litter painted with black acrylic comes close enough for me.

All we need now is a couple of buckets, a chain and maybe a new hook, and some steps for the crane operator to be able to climb up onto the platform, and it's ready to plant.