Building The Canyon 9: Water Tank

One of the last components of the San Emigdio Canyon mini is a water tank that will sit in the flattish area on the "back" side of the layout.

I bought a Banta kit, but I'm going to modify it a bit. Because it will sit on a slight slope, I'll be changing the supporting structure: The bents will be turned 90 degrees, and the ones toward the rear, which sit on slightly higher ground, will be shorter than the ones in front. Also, I don't like the way the platform is unsupported in the corners, so I'll make all the bents the same width, then I add joists running perpendicular to the bents.

I started over the weekend, distressing and putting the first layer of stain on the stripwood. The last wash went on today. I'll probably start building later this week.

I'm thinking I'll paint the tank itself a buff color.

12/13/25: I made a good start on construction today. I built the deck and joists, then set it in place and measured the height difference between the front and back. With that in mind, I built the front and rear bents -- the longest and shortest ones. Then I made two intermediate ones. In the picture, I've glued the front and rear bents in place; I still have to add NBW castings to the other two.

In between I assembled the tank core and wrapped the tank side around it temporarily.

This view gives a little more sense of scale:

This tank is a great size for the little engines I use on this layout, and the modifications I'm making will give it a distinctive look. I think there's room to fit a small shed next to the tank, or I might just have a truck parked there.

2/14/25: A little more work today. It looks like I cut the two rear legs a little too short, so I'm going to have to do some landfill to fit.