Scenery
:
Buildings
First Look: Aristo-Craft Switch Tower
Jun 2, 2004
By Noel Widdifield
LSOL.com Managing Editor |
Author
Bio
With a ring of the doorbell, the UPS driver dropped off another addition for my railroads today. Outside the door a very large box waited for me.
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With a ring of the doorbell, the UPS driver dropped off another addition for my railroads today. Outside the door a very large box waited for me. Upon opening the box, I discovered the new ARISTOCRAFT Bay Window Signal Tower (ART-7204) that I had ordered last week. The box is 15 1/2" X 22" X 18 1/4" high. 
It is well designed to protect the tower, but will take up a lot of space for those who save the boxes. Do you save your storage boxes or throw them away like I do? The tower comes out of the box easily and is fully assembled 
except for the chimney. The chimney attaches to the building by inserting it into the slot in the platform at the back of the tower and fastening one screw inside the building. 
The building is very eye appealing out of the box. 
It comes on a platform , very similar to the one found with the ARISTO Victoria Station. The platform is a flat light tan color. The tower comes with a large outdoor staircase leading to the upper door on the top floor. 
The stair is cast in a dark wood color and has satisfactory detail. One problem on my staircase was that it was not fastened to the platform and actually rides about 6 scale inches in the air. It takes up a lot of space 
on the platform adding several scale feet to the overall dimension of the model. 
The door at the top of the stairs allows the switchman to enter the building. There is a toolbox and a raised platform 
at the end of the staircase. The toolbox appears similar to the one used on the ARISTO watchtower, but is smaller and the lid does not open as it does on the one on the watchtower.
Overall dimensions of the model are 17 3/4" X 12 3/4" for the platform and the tower without the staircase is 6" X 7 1/4" and 14/3/4" high. The bay window in the front of the tower adds another 1 1/2" to the front of the tower making it 7 1/2" X 7 1/4" overall. 
This means that the model takes up 42 X 32 scale feet at 1/29. That would be too much space if I were going to use it on my indoor railroad. The back of the tower has no windows, but the chimney is attached to it. 
The chimney is 17 7/8" tall and cast to represent brick. 
The top of the chimney is molded to look like a flue. 
There are two small fuel oil tanks located on another platform at the back of the building. These must be for the kerosene stoves found inside these towers On the side opposite of the staircase, there is a door at ground level and three windows in the upper level. 
The front of the tower has the bay window extending out so that the switch tower operator has a good view of the tracks in each direction as he would on the prototype.
The roof is cast to represent shingles and has the characteristic look of many of the real towers found along the railroad in years gone by. I like this. There is a steel chimney attached to the roof 
but it is attached at an odd angle and the inside is not painted black. Inside of the building, there is plenty of room to model the many switch levers and office furniture and equipment found in the real thing. 
There is interior lighting wired into the building so that it should look good at night if you take the time to finish the inside.
In trying to determine the building scale, I measured the door with my 1/29 Scale Card and found that the door is very close to 8 feet in 1/29. 
I also put several different figures next to the door in an attempt to determine which ones look best with the tower. The picture shows from left to right people in 1/24, 1/32, 1/29, 1/22.5 and 1/20.3. You decide. This building is very well done and is molded in flat colors that might have been found on several narrow gauge mountain railroads in the 20's, 30's, 40's or early 50's although the tower is clearly modeled after those found on standard gauge railroads. I plan to paint the entire building in colors more in keeping with those found on my railroad. I will finish the interior and paint the platform a dull gray. I also plan to turn the staircase 90 degrees to the back of the tower. I will cut off 5 1/2" of the platform and reposition the toolbox reducing the overall space required for the tower. I will paint the chimney with light gray paint and rub off the excess to create the mortar between the bricks and paint the flue a flat black. Lightly spraying the roof with a light gray and weathering the sides of the building and the stairs will complete the project. Of course, I will add a couple of people inside the building and perhaps put one or two more outside along side the building. Overall, ARISTO has done a great job on the building. They even claim that it will stand up outside in the weather. After completing all of the painting and modifications, I will put it outside on my outdoor railroad and see how it holds up. Top of Page
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