A tool or "section" house is a small shed along the line that holds tools, equipment, and materials for maintaining the track. I am trying to make a model of PRR plan #59326. A cleaned-up version of the plan can be found in the book "Trackside on the Pennsylvania - Volume 2" by Jeff Scherb on page 79.

The prototype photo on the right came from the RailPictures.net web site (I can't find the original photo right now). I am not necessarily trying to copy this particular prototype, but it does provide the general feel for what one looked like.

I used a piece of Plastruct sheet as the base of the model. It represents the ground. In retrospect I should have made it longer to accommodate the two pieces of rail.

Next I cut two pieces of styrene of .0040" to act as the foundation. I will be using code 83 rail, so the two pieces of styrene will get the foundation up to near the top of the rail, which is what the drawings seems to indicate. The pieces measure a scale 20'-4" by 15'-4".

On one piece I marked a line indicating how far the rail is to go into the structure.

The prototype drawing states that a wooden floor is to be used. I missed that when I started the project. If I build another one of these, I will use a wooden floor.

I carefully cut the slots for the rails in the one piece of styrene on which I had drawn the line. On these inside cuts you really have no choice but to keep cutting the line until you have gone through the material. The cut-n-snap method doesn't work for something like this.

The next thing I did was glue the two pieces of styrene together to create the foundation of the structure. I used Testors' Plastic Cement.

I then used the gap in the top piece to cut the gap for the rail in the bottom piece.

After some filing and trimming, I glued the foundation to the base.

The plan shows a small concrete wall all around the foundation of the structure. The top, outside edge of that is sloped probably for rain run-off. I tried several ideas, but the one I settled on was to use some Plastruct shallow U-channel stock with the flat edge facing out. The inside of the structure is not going to be visible on this model, so it doesn't matter.

The stock is visible near the bottom edge of the photo. Sometimes late at night you have to improvise. I cut and glued two pieces to the long edges of the foundation. I put some metal weights on them to hold them in place while the glue dried.

I did the same thing with the short edges. The one in the front is not in place yet in this photo.

After I installed the front foundation wall pieces, I used some spackling compound to fill in the gaps left by the U-shaped channel pieces at the corners of the structure. After that dried, I filed it down.

This photo shows the whole foundation painted with Floquil's "Aged Concrete". With the paint you can't tell that the corners are patched.

I cut two scale 24-foot pieces of code 83 rail, painted them with Floquil's "Rail Brown" and glued them to the base using 5-minute epoxy. The rails were properly spaced using the S Standards Gage.

Since the interior will not be visible, I used styrene angles to act as the wall supports. I used those parts because that was all I had in stock. I glued them to the painted foundation using super glue.

Next came the walls. I used "novelty" siding for the wall sections. I roughed up the outside faces with some 60-grid sandpaper. This should simulate wood. I glued the back wall to the foundation and to the vertical angles. While the glue dried I marked and cut the openings for the windows for the side walls. I decided not to put a window in the back wall.

The wall sections were painted with Polly Scale "RGW Building Cream" which mimics the PRR's standard exterior colors.

I cut, painted, and installed the front and rear walls. I had already painted the window frames with Floquil "Tuscan Red". The window frames are actually Grandt Line N-scale window frames. They don't look too bad. Since I am just starting out S-scale, I don't have a collection of scratch-building items yet, and so I had to make do. I didn't want to hold this project up.

After hurricane Ike blew through on Saturday September 13th, 2008 we had nothing to do with no electricity, so we spent some time working on our structures. Ria worked on a structure she's currently tackling, and I painted the interior of the toolhouse with a black acrylic paint so that the walls don't shine through.

Before closing up the structure, I glued clear styrene behind the window panes using Crystal Glaze, and cut a piece of black paper stock to prevent revealing the obviously empty interior of the structure.

I glued some 3/16th inch metal siding from Evergreen. I was starting to trim two pieces when I realized that I could just cut one piece and fold it in half to form the roof. That is what I did in this picture. The prototype calls for shingles, but my version is a bit more updated, so it has a metal roof. Just like in the prototype, the actual construction varied from the design due to available materials and future upgrades and repairs.

It is hard to remember to take photos when it is hot in the house with no electricity, but here's an updated photo. Since the last photo, I cut and installed two strips of styrene to cover the fold in the roof, painted the roof with Polly Scale's Aluminum (one coat), and glued fascia panels to the top of the roof. Those still need to be trimmed and painted. I will probably paint the roof with a second coat also.