Well I see some eastern mainline motive power and mixed freight, lots of options.. I'll use PA as an example because thats where I live and I also see NS and ex-Conrail locos all the time. Coal mines are always a possibility in Appalachia. A town with some sort of rail served industry, PA is full of breweries for instance and you have covered hoppers, tanks, etc. Though if my tilted-to-the-right vision serves me, I see some western power in the background, which means I'm not sure what region if any you're particularly interested in, lol. Of course I have seen former Rio Grande Geeps in Pittsburgh running on the W&LE, so even those wouldn't be totally out of place. Are you concerned with prototypes or just having fun?
I'm windin' down now This will probably be my last post for this winter layout party. Work will start going nuts tomorrow. I painted a Rix Products building and planted it today. I'm not too crazy about the paint job. I may strip it down and try again eventually. However, I'm happy to have progressed this far during the layout party festivities. Thanks to Dave and all the TB staff for hosting the Winter Layout Party this year. I've had fun and I look forward to the next one.
Todd: As usual a great job improving your layout. With the traverser/interchange in it's new location and the addition of the industrial sidings where it was, once again you have brought new life into your layout. The the addition of the modern gas distributor and Rix industrial building in your industrial park reminds me of those built in the 1960s. This was always an encouraging sign to us railroaders who worked on those lines with declining revenues. They provided hope that the new industrial parks were the saving grace to our road's future. For some it did turn the corner and for others it was just a last gasp of air before abandonment. For your progressive road I expect it is a sign of good things to come. A suggestion for a future project. Why not add a small freezer warehouse addition to your grocery distributor. About the time (I believe you model) in the late 1960's, grocery distributors were adding these facilities in order to take advantage of the new "jumbo" 50 foot, mechanical, refrigerator cars which allowed them to buy an entire carload of perishables at a cheaper price. The addition of a Rix small warehouse addition plus a large freezer/air conditioner unit would proably simulate this nicely. This was the case for J.M. Jones in Champaign before they moved from just north of the IC freight house downtown to the industrial park north of town by I-74 in the 60's. Just a thought. Keep up the good work. Barry
Over the weekend I was mostly feeling kind of ill, but I did manage to solder most of my drops to the track on my 2.5' x 4' module, and I ran a set of bus wires under the yellow line and hooked up that tracks feeders using some Posi-Tap connectors.
Thanks for your encouraging words, Barry. So many of those great ideas you planted last year have taken root. Adding a new industrial park definitely is the goal for my Myersville Branch of the N&W. Indeed, more grocery traffic is in the works. Do you think it would work as a new stand-alone structure on the new siding? That would give me a separate destination for dry goods (existing site at Dixon) and frozen goods (new siding). Is that plausible? Thanks for your sage advice, Barry.
Progress on the weekend was slow but steady between other activities. Detailing the raised area that goes in front of the backdrop. It went from this... To this - To this - And one more at 'ground level'
I have spent a bunch of time on this section - and it is time for the big push and concentrate on the unscenikked area as noted in this picture ( from earlier on ). The area from the yard tower and red building up to the end. I have 4 days left in my week off before it's back to work at the 'big house'. Great work Todd - and FWIW, I think the Rix building colour works very well in your scene. Very subtle.
Thanks for the response -- I'm actually thinking northern VA, MD and PA are great prototypes for me, along the appalachian... perhaps even diving as low as NC (where I am!) The SP geep is something that happened to be sitting there when the photo was shot -- the kind sir whom I bought the Zephyr from was about 3 weeks late shipping it to me, and sent that as an extra token of apology (its DCC... i'll find a place for it!) I'm thinking that the brewery idea is a great one -- do you have any suggestions for a smaller micro-brew that has rail service that i might be able to model with minimal kitbashing? I've installed a small switchback type configuration that I don't have any pictures of yet -- and also, i'll be installing an upper level for the coal mine (so it IS already planned!) Hopefully I'll have some additional pictures up soon.
Breweries that I know are railserved in the area are Yuengling, the Coors packaging plant in Va., and I would think Iron City used to be. Stoney's is within earshot of the CSX main but I can't for the life of me remember if it has a spur or not. You could always make up your own brand too. That would especially be easier if you're trying to avoid kitbashing a lot of stuff.
I've been working on the Adams Street viaduct over the CNW and BN tracks this week. I didn't like the original height or width of the foam that supported the cardboard strip I was using as a mock-up of the road and bridge, so this past weekend I tore it all out and put in something a little higher and wider. Tonight, I painted the I-beams that will support the new, wider bridge deck (which is now made out of gray foamboard). And I've cut some wooden dowels to use as pillars to support the middle of the I-beams, halfway between the (styrofoam) earthen berms on either end of the bridge. As of this moment, the bridge deck and the roadway itself at either end of the bridge is made of a continuous piece of foamboard, but I'm considering cutting the foamboard and installing the roadway on the earthen berms permanently and making the bridge deck something that can be lifted out when I want to clean the track. The viaduct is only 2 inches above the rails and is a little more than 6 inches wide. If the bridge deck is permanently installed, the whole structure will be at risk each time I attempt to reach under it. It would be nice if I could just lift the deck, I-beams, and center pillars out of the way as a single unit. No pics this week...but next weekend is a 3-day weekend, so I hope to take pics of the bridge project then.
Todd: Sounds good to me and would make a nice addition to your industrial park. For reefers, since you model the N&W and it was a member of FGE, you would probably have FGE/FGRM for Fruit Growers Express and ART/MODX for American refrigerator Transit (atleast after the NW/NKP/Wabash merger). However, PFE, SFRC, WFE and (Pacific Fruit Express, Santa Fe Refrigerator and Western Fruit Express,) mechanicals would also show up on your line whether handling perishables from west coast origins or as a reverse route mty/ld out of the south. For modeling puposes, Athearn, Atlas and Micro Trains have all produceed models of mechanical reefers some of which are the earlier 50 foot cars and some the later 57 foot cars. No matter, these cars always provided a bit of color in ordinary sometimes drab, freights of the 60s and as a bonus were for the most part well maintained, painted and grafitti free. Keep up the good work, it is inspirational to us all. Barry
working more in my approximation of the CMStP&P freight house in Stillwater, MN. This is my first scratch-build, ever. So I'm keeping it simple
This party has brought out the scratchbuilders big time ! From a boat ( sorry, ship ) to a freight house....what's next. Keep up the good work and chipping away at the projects. No picture today, but I am hard at work on the layout doing small things. There is a blank space along the base of the backdrop so I decided some different fencing would would and give the backdrop a 3D flow into the layout. Some balsa, styrene and a scarred-up popsicle stick worked. I also used some 'shubbery' - ( and I may put in a small path and then cut down the tallest tree......with a herring !)
Better Late Than Never I am finally posting for the Winter layout party. Maybe we should start a sign-up list for those who want to carry over to the Spring/Summer Layout Party? Just being helpful, you know... Here is where I was going to place the station, but I think that is gone. The area is so small that I will have to elongate the footprint for the whole station. I'm not sure how, yet. N scale. Station kit by Micro Engineering. It has a lot of parts. This is a good chance to display some old cars. Beginning structure. This is an easy kit. Weathering will be the key. Taking a picture is a good way to see your mistakes.
Main Structure Completed Here is my Mobilgas main structure pretty much completed. I will add some interior photos or just black out the windows. Now to create the plastic base or "footprint" and arrange or create all the details.
Got a little more work done this weekend... Installed the Adams Street Viaduct and planted some trees and grass around it. Then put some cars on it and took a shot from a little farther away. I still need to fine-tune the grass and trees, add traffic lane stripes, put the middle pillars in, and clean up all the foam and paper construction scraps. The tracks in the yard also need some work...It has been quite dry this winter, and the shrinking benchwork boards have caused all of the CNW Adams Street Yard rails to warp. Hopefully, there will be time to finish the viaduct and the street industries and still be able to work on re-aligning the tracks. Planted some trees behind the auto dealer lot. Adams Steet by the Hubcap House still needs to have some traffic lanes painted, but I thought I'd sprinkle a few cars on it to get an idea about how they will look
My apologies for missing some updates. I've made some major progress on the structural aspects, and anticipate completing the structure tomorrow. Additionally, I hope to have pictures to post as well.
Ooops...forgot to post progress this past week. Left side of layout was turfed, fences installed to mesh backdrop into the scene. A few trees were planted also. More to come hopefully this week if my job schedule doesn't interfere too much.
Still working on the freight house. I was at the in-laws all weekend, so I only had time to add fascia and a couple doors.
