The East Broad Top tanks were enclosed in roughly trapezoidal structures to protect them from freezing in cold weather. While there was a family resemblance among the tanks, from Mount Union to Saltillo to Robertsdale and Wood, each tank has its own individual character. Originally most or all of them were constructed of rough planks or board and batten siding, with a stove inside to heat the tank and provide respite for crews. This is a photo of the Mount Union tank in its original form.
The shed on the right is unique to the Mount Union tank. The tank at Saltillo had a simple lean-to and space inside for a hand car. Others, like the tank across from Mine #1 at Robertsdale, were utilitarian box-like structures. Some had wood siding, some Insulbrick, and some were half and half. The Mount Union tank had windows on the front and back, and was used by the yard crews between jobs. When the above photo was taken in the 1940s, the siding was already in poor shape, The following photo shows the tank as it appeared around 1950, with the wood siding covered by Insulbrick asphalt shingles.
In the background can be seen the Mount Union engine house with Jack's Mountain in the distance. Below is a view from the back taken after the end of common carrier operations in 1956. The tank is clearly the worse for wear with the rafters showing under the shake roof.
In the following view from the last years of common carrier service, one of the EBT narrow gauge locomotives is getting a drink from the Mount Union tank, while standard gauge 0-6-0 #3 is steaming into the engine house after a busy day shifting narrow and standard gauge hopper cars loaded with Broad Top coal.
I have always been intrigued by the EBT tanks, which are not often modeled, perhaps because they were so mundane in appearance. White Ground Models produced a kit for the Saltillo tank many years ago, which can occasionally be found on eBay. I picked up a couple of them over the years with the intention of modeling the EBT tanks. I also ran across a Model Hobbies kit for a Huntingdon and Broad Top water tank for $1.95 (from VERY long ago!) that looked a lot like the EBT tanks. The Saltillo tank kit contained four basswood walls, cast hydrocal foundations for the tank and shed, windows, door, chimney and parts for the spout and mechanism, but it didn't really resemble the Mount Union structure as it appeared in 1950, the time I model. For one thing, the sides were board and batten, which did not match either the earlier plank construction or the later Insulbrick siding.
Then I realized that since the board construction can't be seen under the Insulbrick siding, it wasn't necessary to use the basswood walls in the kit, except as templates to cut four walls out of 1/16 inch styrene, which would then be covered with printed paper Insulbrick shingles. I proceeded to cut out the sides, then score and cut out the openings for the windows and the door.
In the photo, the four walls are shown resting on a sheet of Clever Models brown Insulbrick self-adhesive paper. The brown seemed too dark to me, but it was the closest I could come to the prototype with what was available from Clever. Then I had a lucky break. In searching through my files on the EBT I ran across a set of drawings on the Mount Union tank done by William E. Grant and dated February 9, 1992. In the same file folder were several sheets of printed Insulbrick siding by William Adams in the same yellowish color seen in the above photos. The caption on the sheets said the siding was also used on the Coles tank and the Wrays Hill tunnel north portal shanty. I had completely forgotten I had these on hand! When I compared the prototype photos with the two paper sidings, it was clear that the lighter color was a more accurate reflection of the original.
I assembled the walls using the Insulbrick walls in the bottom photo. Doors, windows and corner posts were painted roof brown. The spout, cables and pull rods were assembled as per the instructions in the kit. A sheet of corrugated metal was installed beneath the spout and painted a rusty brown. Here is how my water tank looked before the roof was finished or the shed was attached.
The roof is made of triangular sections of cardboard that fit together to make the hip roof. I opted to use uneven brown shake shingles from B.E.S.T. Models. They are self-adhesive and easy to install. The most difficult part was the joints between the triangular sections of the roof. I ended up using pair ofs shakes overlapping from the eaves to the peak to cover the seam between sections,
The lean-to structure on the right side of the tank was actually more difficult than constructing the tank itself, as it had a wood plank front but Insulbrick shingles on the side and back. It took some finagling to get it all to fit correctly against the side of the tank, which slopes inward. Bill Adams' drawings indicated that the shed roof was corrugated metal, which I painted black and weathered.
The tank is situated a few yard from the Mount Union engine house, where it is convenient for both standard gauge switchers and road engines to top off their tanks before the next trip. Here the fireman for EBT 2-8-2 #14 is about to pull down the spout for a fill before heading back south to Rockhill and the roundhouse.
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