So I was looking at picture of the STMA for matching colors. Someone on here, in some thread I can’t find, suggested using Rustoleum 2X paint and removing it from the can and then mixing colors and using the paint in an airbrush. I am very intrigued by this and whoever you are and what ever thread it is on, thank you. I think this is a great idea and after a few Youtube vids on draining the cans and storing the paint I can’t think of a cheaper and better way to acquire a lot paint that can be played with and then airbrushed.
But anyway one thing I came across is a picture of two of the STMA locos not to long after the RRs formation and fresh out of the paint shop. Sort of a “builders” photo if you will. But it shows two curious things in the photo, at least for me. One is a telephone/telegraph pole and the other is what I believe is a sanding tower. Now there is little to no information about the slide, its just someone who sells RR slides and pictures not the person who took it or even knows anything about the RR. I can’t even say this is in St Maries ID. It could be somewhere else wherever the locos were modified and painted back when they were purchased.
But if it is St Maries, Idaho circa 1980 when the RR was born, then that pole and sanding tower are no longer there and have not been there since I started paying attention to the STMA operations about the early 2000s.
My question for all of you, is that structure in the photo what I think it is which is a sanding tower? If so its a neat one being wood and more like a coal bin than a sanding “tank” which is more what I am used to seeing.
