# The cursed water tower?



## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

I found this little S gauge water tower at a small shop, thought the signage was unique, and bought it for $7. I've never seen one like it. It will look great on my whimsical Route 66 layout that I'm presently building, but it seems like everything I set it on falls! First a little curio cabinet in the house and today the train board in the garage! It already had a couple of chips out of the top which don't bother me, and I've had to glue a leg or three back on, but I wonder if I brought home a structure with some kind of a curse on it?


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Yep, no doubt about it!  I'd get it out of there quick before the house falls down.


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## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Gun just wants your to sell it to him ;-)


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

How can you think such a thing.  I wanted it for free, just for taking it out of the house!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Drain the water out it must be top heavy. 

Could that have been homemade?


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

Great find, like the graphics....but, CURSED!!!!!


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

I've always laughed off the little black clouds and superstition, but the shop owner was awfully anxious to sell this little thing. $7.00? I'm keeping an eye on it, and moved it away from the layout and onto the project table. I've threatened dissection! I must say that it is very well made and heavier than it looks. Maybe I should check for water or maybe a confused Genie.


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## I Am Fasha (Apr 2, 2013)

Gun you are a nut!


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

kix662003 said:


> I've always laughed off the little black clouds and superstition, but the shop owner was awfully anxious to sell this little thing. $7.00?


Should have raised the ol' red flag!


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

Haven't had any new strange occurrences with the little tower recently. I have a couple of big windmills keeping an "eye" on it now. Still haven't found another Sore Gum water tank like this one. Anyone seen one before? It's sure not new.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

kix662003 said:


> Haven't had any new strange occurrences with the little tower recently. I have a couple of big windmills keeping an "eye" on it now. Still haven't found another Sore Gum water tank like this one. Anyone seen one before? It's sure not new.


It might be homemade like I mentioned above.
I can't find anything in a search.
Someone took a tank and made the base, then added the decal?

The main reason I say that it might be homemade is because of the base construction.
Most, if not all I see are some kind of angle beams, (like I beams) set on a base. Not the round (dowels?) beams.
And they would be planted into some kind of footings.

Maybe you can make up a base for it? 
Or just add the footings for support?

Do a picture search of O scale water towers and look at the bases.
I think if you made a base or footings it would stay upright too.

Not a bad looking water tower, unusual and one of a kind I think. :smilie_daumenpos:
I could be wrong. 


Edit,
Does it have a light up top?
If not it might look good/better, with a red blinking light mounted up there.


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

You may be right, Ed. There's too much detail in the tank construction to be scratch built; nuts, bolts and rivets in the casting. The legs could be home made, but the bends in the wires are perfectly formed. The windmills that I bought for the layout are made by ERTL, and have an identical footprint as the water tank and seem to be the right size and spacing for S gauge. Perhaps the tank was made to be a part of some diorama and not a model train accessory? Thanks for the blinking light idea! I can easily hide the wire inside the center leg. It's in the plan now.


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## eljefe (Jun 11, 2011)

Given it's cursed nature, my vote is it was forged by Lucifer himself! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY WHILE YOU CAN!


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

The devil's in the details?


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

It got me again when I wasn't looking! My coupler on the AF 303 tender still lost whatever cars I tried to pull, so I took the engine and tender off the track and put them gently on the reloading bench... in the middle of the 20" wide table - not near the edge. I walked over to get my needle-nose pliers from the tool chest and CRASH. 

There lay my only engine and tender on the concrete floor! The bar to the tender was totally off with only a hole on either end. The engine and tender looked okay. The screw above the engine's armature broke off inside the threaded hole, and I've yet to find the rivet or screw from the tender end. With grandchildren on their way to visit, I drilled out the hole with a 1/16" bit and then broke my (not cheap) screw extractor off while trying to back the remains of the screw out. Today, there is an 1/8" hole there, with a self-tapping metal screw that works just fine. I used a plastic machine screw and plastic nut on the tender end which also works well. Really disgusted, I went to adjust the coupler... what coupler? It was gone, and had broken into two pieces. I robbed a coupler from a flat bed car and put it on the tender. After a slight adjustment, my old locomotive pulled four or five cars around the layout many times without losing any. 

My pristine Flyer engine has become an AF Rat Rod. I think it's really strange that after of more than 50 years of my train being in stored hot attics, various storage buildings and after being moved to different apartments or houses a dozen times, it's never fallen or broken before this cursed water tower was sitting nearby. Last time the whole train table fell a few feet. I think it must be unhappy that I mounted it so it leans like the leaning water tower off of old Route 66 in Groom, TX. The cursed water tower got me again, and it didn't defeat me, but if I don't use it for target practice and my posts stop suddenly....


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## eljefe (Jun 11, 2011)

Maybe you should reconsider sending the tower to Gunrunnerjohn!


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Sure.......go ahead.......Blame it on the poor little water tower.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

eljefe said:


> Maybe you should reconsider sending the tower to Gunrunnerjohn!


I'm starting to reconsider my offer to give it a home, I'm not sure I can afford it.


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

Well, it's only attacked the S-gauge so far. Not sure what it may do to John's O-gauge! The HO town layout is going along without a hitch. Most wiring is done now.









I've even put LEDs in the commercial buildings, but they don't show well in these photos. Sadly, a lot of the roofs were glued down a couple decades ago, and I'm having a hard time creating "light blocks" inside the structures. Most have solid bases, but I have an pneumatic panel saw that makes precision cuts. It should be easy enough to insert black board panels that way. If funds allow, I want to include some of the animated billboards and window signs for the two 3-story buildings (YMCA and Hotel).










The right side of the layout will get some foam landscaping, especially around the houses and barn. I have a box full of signs, telephone poles, track and building accessories, and do-dads to include. Like the S gauge layout, it's pretty basic so far, but everything I have on this board is working great. Glad the cursed water tower isn't on the HO board!.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Kix

Some nice buildings there. I've been lighting my buildings with
those strip leds, including
the restaurant, as you have, with the Orange Roof. It's a real pain doing it. They're
made of a plastic that is not opaque. You have to black out all of the
walls and roof or your building will glow like they've been nuked. 

I put in a ceiling so I didn't have to black out that big roof. To black the
walls I use a combination of card stock and black electricians tape.

Sure wish we could convince the building manufacturers to make the
buildings of opaque materials or black them out before assembly. 

Don


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## wingnut163 (Jan 3, 2013)

when you cut out an opening make it big enough to be able to paint the walls black.
it works and you dont need to be to care full the windows have enough extra around them to keep the paint off them


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

wingnut163 said:


> when you cut out an opening make it big enough to be able to paint the walls black.
> it works and you dont need to be to care full the windows have enough extra around them to keep the paint off them


I'll probably use a combination of black card stock or mat board, and then paint some of the walls as suggested. The country church looks like a white lampshade when lit, and the stained glass windows don't show at all. I'd like to separate the floors and windows that are lit. What kind of black paint did you use; craft, latex for houses, model dope, etc? 

I've enjoyed re-doing some of the buildings so far. The structures look a lot better now with new paint and less shine. New acetate panels in some of the windows made a big difference. I dabbled in art some years ago, and have quite a collection of supplies that are still usable. Weathering the coaling tower was a new experience, but soft pastels made it easy to apply years of coal dust, road dirt and weather damage. Keeps me busy while Mrs. Kix crochets and watches the boob tube.


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## wingnut163 (Jan 3, 2013)

latex paint. its cheaper than craft & model dope. works the same.


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

wingnut163 said:


> latex paint. its cheaper than craft & model dope. works the same.


Thanks! I've compiled a small collection of sample sizes from Lowes and Home Depot. I know Lowes will mix a sample of any color they sell. That should be plenty. I'd like to make the lit rooms bright enough to see with the overhead lights on. I'll probably have to build tiny mat paper boxes to just light a room, entrance or office in each structure.


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## wingnut163 (Jan 3, 2013)

yes. a lot of work to section off rooms.
i am going to try fiber optics. the led's are to bright for me.
so i will see if it works.


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## kix662003 (Mar 8, 2013)

wingnut163 said:


> yes. a lot of work to section off rooms.
> i am going to try fiber optics. the led's are to bright for me.
> so i will see if it works.


I was looking at this site with the same thought, and didn't buy as many LEDs from Litchfield Station as I may need. Please share your progress. As you said, it's going to take a while to get the light block boxes installed for what I already bought.


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