An electrical substation from scraps

In the previous post The bus stop scene I had promised an explanation of the strange green building in the background, here it is.

On electric railroads there are normally substations alongside the tracks every few miles that supply power to the overhead wire.  On the Tokyu-Megruo line there was one of these between the Musashi-Koyama and Nishi-Koyama stations so I wanted to include one on the module.


The one shown in the photo above is on the Tokyu-Toyoko line.  I got it from Ken Shore's article on catenary.  If you want to learn more about Japanese railroad catenary I highly recommend it.

I started out by modifying one of the unused bases from the TomyTec bus stop kit.  The ridges were smoothed out and styrene strip was used to make bases for the building and a large transformer.

Green Max kit # 75 was something I picked up at a train show years ago.  I used one of the three sets of transformers on this project.

Over 20 years ago I had used parts from the Green Max electrical sub station kit # 25 on a club project but did not use the building.

So here is the chance to use up the rest of that kit.

Here is a photo of the finished model after painting and installed on the module.  The large transformer was scratch built from bits of styrene.  Gold Metal Model fencing removed from an old layout completes the scene.  It was very satisfying that this project was built mostly with left over and re-used parts.