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PROGRESS ON THE IRONBOUND RR

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
Likewise, Pete... I really enjoy seeing photos of your layout.
 
As a child, I recall my parents telling me we were going to visit our relatives "down neck" ...I never quite understood that name. It was only years later that I learned the area was more formally known as the Ironbound section of Newark. I remember passing the Ballantine Ale factory where on a summer's day you could actually smell the fragrant hops in the air.
 
Originally Posted by pete trunk:

Andy:

Been a big fan for many years.  My wife & I dine "down neck" often, and I think of your 0 scale modeling when we do!  Your efforts are OUTSTANDING.  Keep it up!

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
Thanks, Simon, you are very kind.
I started out with Lionel trains as a kid, then worked for many years in HO where I pretty much learned from the pioneers, and developed my methods. It turns out that converting them to O scale is a bit more complicated than just making everything twice as big - it never dawned on me that O is 8 times the volume of HO!... 2X length, height and depth. But it's the 8X bigger pocketbook we need that's the challenge LOL!
 
~Andy 
 
Originally Posted by Simon Winter:

Andy is a very talented modeler and knows all kind of tricks! Take note that he runs his layout via rechargeable battery power, and has been doing so for quite some time!

 

Simon

Jay BeckhamJay BeckhamOGR Forum Member

Andy

Thanks for the reply regarding the backdrops.  I did figure that you used both.  I also have Photoshop and a Epson 1400 large format printer.  I like putting photos on foamcore and setting the away for the painted backdrop.  The some limited depth 3D buildings followed by complete buildings.  I am going to see how I can do that.

 

When you run out of space on your layout, I have space on mine available on a long term lease...for free.

Jay

RR Rail ReadingOGR Forum Member

I missed this thread back in January.  I'm thrilled that it "came alive" again.

 

My Dad grew up in Newark (West side) and his father was a PS trolley conductor there.  I worked in the Ironbound for two High School summers in the mid-60s.  I took a bus to Broad & Market and transfered there to get down to Ferry Street. 

 

The place was Homecraft Manufacturing -- and talk about "gritty"! 

 

On stifling summer days with the windows wide open but no breeze, all we got was the over-powering hops smell.  Uggh.  We were constanly reminded to take the salt pills that were provided at each water fountain.

 

I loved your Ironbound RR website.  Thanks,

  --Joe

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
Hi Joe,
 
ah yes Broad and Market... near the old CNJ Broad St Station. I too had an after school job near there. Every day I'd walk down from my school, short-cut through the CNJ Terminal ...mostly RDC's by then, did see the 4-6-0 Camelback parked there one day though! I worked part-time at a printing firm down on Mulberry ST. When I finally got old enough to drive, I'd often deliver printed materials to the Ironbound section. At that time we lived on the West Side of Newark, not too far from Westside High. I recall the PS trolleys well. There was one which ran up Springfield Ave to end up at Olympic Park IIRC, in Irvington where we lived during the 1960's-70's. The good ol' days : )
 
~Andy
 
Originally Posted by Rail Reading:

I missed this thread back in January.  I'm thrilled that it "came alive" again.

 

My Dad grew up in Newark (West side) and his father was a PS trolley conductor there.  I worked in the Ironbound for two High School summers in the mid-60s.  I took a bus to Broad & Market and transfered there to get down to Ferry Street. 

 

The place was Homecraft Manufacturing -- and talk about "gritty"! 

 

On stifling summer days with the windows wide open but no breeze, all we got was the over-powering hops smell.  Uggh.  We were constanly reminded to take the salt pills that were provided at each water fountain.

 

I loved your Ironbound RR website.  Thanks,

  --Joe

C CSXJOEOGR Forum Member

Ironbound:

 

I wonder if our paths crossed.  My Dad's family grew up on Waydell St. off of Ferry (my cousin still lives on Waydell).  He worked for 48 years at Sherwin-Williams.

I lived in the Weequahic section until 1965, than we moved to Irvington like you, IHS Class of '69.  Wife is Class of '71 my sister '73.

 

My Mom's family originally was from Hillside, than moved to 18th Ave. in Newark.

 

Small world isn't it?

CJ CNJ JimOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

Dang .... what a layout! Outstanding! My type of railroading! Wish I could see it in person!

 

"Newark & E-Port Connecting Railroad"  .... what a GREAT idea! And herald, too!

 

(I grew up in Linden. My first job after high school took me to every industrial area in northeastern NJ during the late 70's & early 80's.)

Last edited by CNJ Jim
IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
Thanks Ben! Somewhere in the above replies I gave a description of the backgrounds (yes photos and commercially available bkgrounds combined with overlays). Thanks for your very kind offer of donating "something" to The Ironbound, but at my age I'm trying to shed stuff so unless it's a large storage shed I will have to respectively decline ; )
 
~Andy
 
. Originally Posted by bluelinec4:

Andy

Awesome layout and my favorite part of the country  Did you have all those backdrops made from photographs  Your is the only other layout I saw Ballantine trucks on

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
Thanks Jim! For your very kind comments.
The layout is quite small (3 walls in my garage) and because I have had a lot of experience with publishing photos, the layout was designed specifically for photography (and I hope to get around to doing some action videos eventually) ...because of its relative small size, it's probably not all that impressive in person ???
 
Linden! Had a great Linden girlfriend in my college days... but we won't mention it since my wife of 50 years may be looking over my shoilder as I type this ; )
 
~Andy 
 
Originally Posted by EBT Jim:

Dang .... what a layout! Outstanding! My type of railroading! Wish I could see it in person!

 

"Newark & E-Port Connecting Railroad"  .... what a GREAT idea! And herald, too!

 

(I grew up in Linden. My first job after high school took me to every industrial area in northeastern NJ during the late 70's & early 80's.)

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
CSX Joe... so right! Small world. But I remember that droll comedian Steven Wright said "It's a small world... but I wouldn't want to paint it..." ; )
 
Weequahic, Irvington, IHS, Hillside (the old Lionel, then Atlas factory!) 18th Avenue... boy we could easily have crossed paths. Maybe at Olympic Park or Jimmy Buffs'. But I was IHS class of '58 so I would've been the "old guy" in the corner LOL.
 
~Andy
 
Originally Posted by CSXJOE:

Ironbound:

 

I wonder if our paths crossed.  My Dad's family grew up on Waydell St. off of Ferry (my cousin still lives on Waydell).  He worked for 48 years at Sherwin-Williams.

I lived in the Weequahic section until 1965, than we moved to Irvington like you, IHS Class of '69.  Wife is Class of '71 my sister '73.

 

My Mom's family originally was from Hillside, than moved to 18th Ave. in Newark.

 

Small world isn't it?

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
Oh boy, Ben... what a great big train room, you lucky dog!
The Ballentine brewery looks like it's pumping out oceans of suds. A good source of revenue for the rr! Is that part of the NJ HIRAILERS?
 
Fortunately I have a supply of trailer flats... in fact I have unbuilt BV flatcar kits which have been awaiting building. I remember the old Reingold jingle "My beer is Reingold, the dry beer... It's not bitter, not sweet... it's the extra-dry treat ...Won't you try extra-dry Reingold Beer?"
 
Thanks again!
 
~Andy 
 
 
Originally Posted by bluelinec4:

Ok but if you change your mind this is what I have   I have a few in 2 rail that I have no use for

 

$[KGrHqZ,!i4F!Ji!IvhpBQU6KREwkg~~60_57

 

Here is my Ballantine brewery

 

425981_10150918154383616_121848322_n

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member

(excuse the cross-posting)

 

For the last two months I have been relocating the “town” area on the Ironbound RR. It’s kind of heart-breaking because it really looked fine where it was! You can find pictures of the town as it was, on my layout website:

http://trainutz.com/ironbound.shtml

But I made a serious mistake when I originally framed the town platform area years ago. And so I am posting this to see if I can save anyone else the headache of making the same mistake. This applies to almost anything on a layout.

 

I located the town area at my eye-level. That is, I located the STREET-level at eye-level. But by the time I added structures, autos, li'l folks, poles, signs, etc... everything looked juuussst a bit too high, so visitors are unable to see the interior scenes and the tons of other custom details I worked on. I can not simply lower the platform... there’s a freight car storage yard located below it. So I decided to bite the bullet and move the town. But there was nowhere to move it TO! The layout is filled to the brim. So I have been busy engineering a raised area over a corner which will be the new town area. This is looking good with many new structures, but still weeks from completion. I will definitely post the new stuff on the Ironbound website when it is complete.

 

Anyway... I am still kicking and I am still loving the layout. Even though it’s relatively small, the detailing and reworking never ends... which is exactly how I love it to be : )

 

Happy Model Railroading!

 

~Andy

Jay BeckhamJay BeckhamOGR Forum Member
Ed has a good idea.  I would add to it that you use an incline at each end to provide a ramp up and down from the raised portion.  Perhaps even wide enough for a wheel chair?
Jay Beckham

Andy, 

I hate to suggest the obvious but wouldn't it be easier to build a raised platform for people to stand on to view the town?

I have a town  that is a bit high for operating so I am going to build a 2' by 10' platform by attaching 3/4" ply to 2 by 8's.  Actually, that was my plan from the beginning.

Best of luck.

Ed

 

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
Thanks Ed and Jay for your suggestion.
 
The platform solution was one of the first things I thought about. Unfortunately, while it is generally a good solution for this problem, it wouldn't work in this particular case because the platform would be directly abutting the main doorway into the layout, making it very dangerous for anyone coming through the doorway, even with a ramp at both ends. I even thought about making it an easily movable platform, or a fold-up platform, etc. But since the layout is in an operating car garage where a large SUV is also parked... well you can imagine the awkwardness of it all...)
 
The new town location seems to be working out well, and once I started the demolition and actual move, the emotional turmoil dissipated with every building successfully relocated ; )
 
Cheers,
 
~Andy 
 
 
Originally Posted by Ed Kelly:

Andy, 

I hate to suggest the obvious but wouldn't it be easier to build a raised platform for people to stand on to view the town?

I have a town  that is a bit high for operating so I am going to build a 2' by 10' platform by attaching 3/4" ply to 2 by 8's.  Actually, that was my plan from the beginning.

Best of luck.

Ed

 

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member

Well, it’s taken me more time than I expected but the latest revisions to The Ironbound are finally complete. Notice that I did a lot of work on integrating flat backgrounds with fully-dimensional foreground models, allowing me to squeeze more modeling into my limited space. More to come, but here's a quick look at a few of them.

 

http://trainutz.com/I-CNJSTAcu.jpg

http://trainutz.com/I-GEILINGCHEMcu.jpg

http://trainutz.com/I-WESTELEC.jpg

http://trainutz.com/I-shinermed.jpg

http://trainutz.com/I-BettysFSDinerNight.jpg

 

More can be seen on my website at

http://trainutz.com/ironbound.shtml

 

~Andy R!

Last edited by Ironbound
SW Simon WinterOGR Forum Member
Originally Posted by Ironbound:
I remember the old Reingold jingle "My beer is Reingold, the dry beer... It's not bitter, not sweet... it's the extra-dry treat ...Won't you try extra-dry Reingold Beer?"
 

I drank a few Rheingolds while I was visiting Long Island back in '68. My memory is hazy, but I think the jingle may have been better than the beer!

 

As beer advertising went I always got a kick out of "Olde Frothingslosh" the pale stale ale with the head on the bottom, and the fat lady on the can! (Pittsburgh Brewing Co.)

 

Simon

Dewey TrogdonDewey TrogdonOGR Forum Member MEMORIALIZED MEMBER

Truly excellent Andy.

I worked in the Ironbound at Wilson Ave. & Amsterdam St. four years during the early 1970s. Man you have really captured the flavor of the neighborhood[s] as regards the structures, bridges, etc. I used to eat often at a little place near where Ferry St. and Wilson Ave split up but its name escapes me now.

I look forward to your future work and your past magazine work is more than worth repeating.

Last edited by Dewey Trogdon
IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
Thanks for your kind comments, Dewey. Hey was that the Andros Diner? I haven't been back to my home State, Jersey, in quite a few years...but I  think the diner's still there.
~Andy
 
Originally Posted by Dewey Trogdon:

Truly excellent Andy.

I worked in the Ironbound at Wilson Ave. & Amsterdam St. four years during the early 1970s. Man you have really captured the flavor of the neighborhood[s] as regards the structures, bridges, etc. I used to eat often at a little place near where Ferry St. and Wilson Ave split up but its name escapes me now.

I look forward to your future work and your past magazine work is more than worth repeating.

 

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
Thanks Art! It continues to amaze me how you can find “new” projects to keep you going on a rather small O scale model railroad that's more than 8
years old! And there's so much more I have yet to get to.
~Andy
 
Originally Posted by Chugman:

Very inspirational Andy!  I love scenery and setting the stage with my layout and you have mastered that skill.

 

Art

 

SW Simon WinterOGR Forum Member
Originally Posted by Ironbound:
Thanks for your kind comments, Dewey. Hey was that the Andros Diner? I haven't been back to my home State, Jersey, in quite a few years...but I  think the diner's still there.
~Andy
 

 

Andy, Dewey,

 

Whenever I hear the word Diner, I immediately think of Jersey! I spent quite a bit of time working in "The Garden State" back in the 80's and 90's and had many a good meal in the multitude of Diners that dotted the landscape. The fare was mostly above average and the prices below!

 

Simon

IronboundIronboundOGR Forum Member
There were some mighty fine old-style fluted metal diners in the area for sure. My best friend Joe B lived right off Morris Ave just west of Eliz in Union. There were several of these nice diners right on Morris Ave. I also remember the Parkway Diner near the GSPkwy and the Springfield Diner on its namesake Avenue, and a lot more whose names I don't recall. I styled my O scale “Betty’s Flying Saucer Diner” after the type. (Betty was the Betty of Betty and Barney Hill fame... who claim to have been abducted by a flying saucer in the 1960's)...it's in the video briefly but here's a couple of good still shots of it by day and by night:
 
http://trainutz.com/I-BettysFSDiner.jpg
 
http://trainutz.com/I-BettysFSDinerNight.jpg
 
I started with an inexpensive ol' Plasticville Diner and freelanced from there : )
 
Originally Posted by Dewey Trogdon:

I found the Jersey Diner food and service to be hearty and healthy.

One of my favorites was the "Betsy Ross Diner" on Morris Avenue in Elizabeth near where I once had an apartment at 20 Elm St.

 

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