Does anyone know the genesis of this peculiar tower, please?

Just love those old open towers with all the glass to see in/out of. Really pretty piece fellas

My guess is that its a foreign made piece or it could have been scratch built.

It does look very European.

Isn't that Harry Heikie's o scale Mission Tower? 

The tower is a two piece urethane foam structure. The roof is one piece and the body with the "end buttresses" is the other. It does not appear to be scratchbuilt. I added the stairs, signals interior, etc. Any other guesses or pronouncements will be welcome.

Thanks, George

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Isn't that Harry Heikie's o scale Mission Tower? 

I thought so too until I found this Hieke photo:

Love the tower depicted, but that is not the same one.

The tower in question looks a lot like the old Kearny Jct. Tower that was located where the DL&W passed under the PRR mainline. It was a long, narrow tower that sat between two main tracks on the Lackawanna ROW. I would hazard a guess it is the same tower the model was copied from. The window details are spot on...Very interesting tower model!

Tom

I wondered if it was DL&W inspired. Now for whose kit it is!

George

Could be home made.

I had to run down stairs and dig out my book about Lackawanna towers. I thought it looked familiar!

When the tower was open, it had the odd TO signals in addition to the usual interlocking signals. I am not sure if the tower had the DJ telegraph call sign or not though...

Tom

Tom, Could you post a photo of the real tower please. The signals on the model were added by me from my imagination. I made them from a few Oregon signal parts and Evergreen tubing.  The DJ call sign are the initials of the friend who had the piece before. If I am that physic.........,WOW!

George

Tom,

Just saw your previous post with photo. Sorry about that and thanks.

George

There was a tower on the old Erie Railroad with the letters DJ on it.

Thanks for the reference. 

I should explain that I named the tower "DJ" in honor of Don Jones who gave me the unique tower at the December TCA show here in Raleigh thamk me for taking the post of TCA Secretary of our Southeastern TCA chapter . You may know Don. He posts regularly and often has items to sell on the Forum from his large layout. 

But nobody at that show or anyone who has seen it can tell us who manufactured the model!

Are you SURE it's a manufactured model?

It looks very close to the smaller Hieke tower posted by BLUELINEC4.

https://ogrforum.com/...-4th-st-switch-tower

No, it is not the Heike tower. If it is not a kit then someone went to a lot of trouble to make the urathane foam castings. The walls are slightly warped as if the mold was not supported during the pour. There are only 2 pieces and I can't see any joints in the 2 pieces. It is definitely the Kearny Jct tower posted by Kriegloc.

Pass out the thinking caps and dig deep in your memory's.  Thanks, George

George Lasley posted:

No, it is not the Heike tower. If it is not a kit then someone went to a lot of trouble to make the urathane foam castings. The walls are slightly warped as if the mold was not supported during the pour. There are only 2 pieces and I can't see any joints in the 2 pieces. It is definitely the Kearny Jct tower posted by Kriegloc.

Pass out the thinking caps and dig deep in your memory's.  Thanks, George

Definitely of DL&W heritage also.  Googling shows much of their work in concrete, from the Tunkhannock viaduct to stations, towers and phone sheds in concrete. 

George thought it was a Lackawanna design, too. At first I thought it was reminiscent of NYC.

Strange that nobody has ever seen a model just like it. Maybe it's one-of-a-kind, but if so, as George said, somebody went to a lot of trouble to cast just one.

One of the folks involved in the design of Kearny Jct tower was William Hull Botsford, an architect for the DL&W who perished in the sinking of the Titanic.

Tom

Hi all,

My wife and I just got back from the NJ Hi-Railers' Trainstock 10 (as always, a great time--great people, great trains and great food) and there's a nearly identical tower on their layout. I assume someone from the Hi-Railers built it and would know if it's from a kit or scratchbuilt based on the real tower. Perhaps a club member could post and give us all the lowdown.

Chris

Looks scratch built to me, a lot of the parts look like that LGB engine shed although they wouldn’t be the right scale

Thanks to everyone who speculated where this tower came from.  I am including a few more photos.

Krieglok posted:

The tower in question looks a lot like the old Kearny Jct. Tower that was located where the DL&W passed under the PRR mainline. It was a long, narrow tower that sat between two main tracks on the Lackawanna ROW. I would hazard a guess it is the same tower the model was copied from. The window details are spot on...Very interesting tower model!

Tom

That is the tower modeled for certain!