Menards fictional city of Cripple Creek has expanded to include Sooty’s Coal Tipple (275-9271). Historically, coal tipples were located near mines. Small loads of coal would be brought up from the mines and dumped into a larger hopper car. Coal would be carried up into the tipple via a conveyor belt. Many tipples had a series of screens and shakers to sort the coal by size. Tracks ran under the tipple and coal would dump out into a waiting hopper car to be hauled to its destination. (Read a more detailed description of tipples at the Coalwood, West Virginia’s website: http://www.coalwoodwestvirginia.com/coalwood_tipple.htm)
Menards structure has a footprint of 9 1/8” x 8 ¾”, and it’s just a hair under 12” tall. The structure body appears to be made of MDF board. In addition to the tipple building, there’s a staircase, four workers (three on the staircase and one with a shovel near a pile of coal on the ground), and of course everyone’s favorite dog, Jack the German shepherd. It seems Jack spends a lot of time at Sooty’s, because there’s a doghouse built into the bottom of the staircase.
Menards includes plenty of other scenic details, like moss growing up the tipple’s support posts, a weathered Sooty’s logo on the roof, a pile of spilled coal on the ground near the chute, gravel on most of the base, and a weathered section of sidewalk at the bottom of the staircase.
Take care when handling this structure as parts of the staircase are fragile. A section started to separate on our review sample (though a bit of glue will easily fix that).
Sooty’s includes both a licensed 1957 Dodge truck (with Sooty’s logo) and an exclusive Sooty’s coal car. The truck is glued in place. The coal car is removable via two pieces of wire tied to the underside of the structure base. You could remove the car and add a section of track so it runs under the tipple.
Coal mining was at its peak in the first half of the 20th century and struggled after 1950. A 1957 truck is a rather late vintage vehicle for such a structure. However, the truck can be removed and either replaced or omitted if this is a concern to you.
As with most Menard’s structures, this one has plenty of LED lighting. There’s a series of lights under the tipple building (see photo), two on the peak of the roof, and one exterior light above the tipple door.
The structure does require Menard’s 4.5-volt power supply (No. 2794061, 2794062, or 2794050, sold separately), that may be connected either over the tabletop through a receptacle on the back wall, or from below with a pigtail connector.
Kudos to Menards for modeling an interesting piece of mining history. Anyone who has a mine (even if it’s off site) will want one of these for his/her layout.
Menards Sooty’s Coal Tipple
SKU: 275-9271
Features: LED lighting, licensed 1957 Dodge truck, exclusive Cripple Creek & Western Sooty’s Coal Car
Price: $99.99
Website: menards.com/trains
