Sunday Scenic Showcase April 30, 2023

Nice, as always!!!!

Alan thanks for the info in addition to your usual photos of your fabulous work.  Do you have any other pictures of the tank car?

Before, during , and after……

Now it will look reasonable amid the “concrete and brick caverns” of downtown.

Have a great and safe Sunday, folks!

Peter

                                              Another completed module...

Coal trestle model built by Craftsman Ed Bommer via Don Spiro. Thanks guys!

                            Weathered & texture applications added by myself.

                                        Next up, Ed's Howe Truss Float Bridge...

For a change of pace, I finally took the time to finish some wiring and test some street running before I get too much detail mounted.  Until the Union Freight railroad can procure an S2 Switcher or 44-tonner, they're using a Docksider on loan from the Jersey Central...

SIRT, great work as always.  You capture that gritty industrial downtown feeling very well...

Steve,

Your work is beyond first class.

Peter,

You are really going to town. The church looks great.

Coach,

I will see if I have any other pictures of the tank car.

Thank you Jeff. I knew you would appreciate another style of storage tank.

Jersey Central YES. Nice video Dave.

Here are a few pics from the Plainview Pipe Company that currently resides on my home layout. The building was inspired by the pipe company building custom built for the NJ HiRailers. My mission was to create it all from scratch for under $100. Mission accomplished. The Structure was created from Foam core poster board, The corrugated sidings were cut out of manila folder to emulate a scale 4'x8' sheet and run through a crimper. Bass wood for the support was purchased and left over wood from my scrap-pile formed the platforms. The LED's were a small section from a roll of tape strip LED lights. The Arttista figures, were from a large lot, I obtained from an estate sale and cost less than a $1 each (sometimes it pays to be lucky). The Pipe loads were purchased at York over the years from Ralph's trains who removes them from flatcars to make his custom construction cars. He always has a bunch available.

@Alan Graziano posted:

Steve,

Your work is beyond first class.

Peter,

You are really going to town. The church looks great.

Thank you. Alan.....

Steve, simply magnificent!

Great stuff, everyone!

Peter

And some photos, building the downtown chaos of street running...

@EmpireBuilderDave posted:

For a change of pace, I finally took the time to finish some wiring and test some street running before I get too much detail mounted.  Until the Union Freight railroad can procure an S2 Switcher or 44-tonner, they're using a Docksider on loan from the Jersey Central...

@EmpireBuilderDave posted:

And some photos, building the downtown chaos of street running...

There was a time - long ago - when I used to get to Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Street in Boston - during the daytime - and was fascinated by the tracks of the Union Freight Railroad in the middle of the street, although I never saw it in operation at night. But, since those days, I've become a student of the subject and therefore have been following your progress on this layout with interest. I even considered building a small Union Freight layout but have not done so - partly because of inertia, lack of space, and also because I think it's difficult to model street-running in 3-rail. I hope you're planning to include the yard and office at 87 Atlantic Avenue. Please post some photos of the entire layout whenever you can.

MELGAR

Awesome work everyone!

Here are two shots from this weekend while operating a bit.
No recent scenery work here, but I think it nicely shows the backdrop I panted.
Here’s a shot from the main line climbing upgrade past the oil terminal where I’ve been focusing on scenery development.

@Anthony K posted:

Awesome work everyone!

Here are two shots from this weekend while operating a bit.
No recent scenery work here, but I think it nicely shows the backdrop I panted.
Here’s a shot from the main line climbing upgrade past the oil terminal where I’ve been focusing on scenery development.

Nicely done, Anthony! I'm a big fan of Conrail blue. Don't have any CR in O gauge, but I have a ton of it in Z

Knickerbocker Transfer.

Back in the day, before United Parcel Service and FedEx there was the Railway Express Agency (REA).  They handled mail, merchandise service and LCL. These were huge rail operations when all cross-country freight moved by rail and trucks made the local delivery.

My large waterfront switching layout has several industrial districts ( loosely based on Long Island City on the Long Island Railroad ). One district is dedicated solely to LCL and the REA operations. The complex consists of two buildings, the main warehouse and the annex. This build is for the warehouse only and is based on Korber Models Ted's Textiles background kit with two deviations.

(1) it's not one kit but two making the overall finished model 46" Long. At that length it's going to need some kind of support structure. And it's permanent home is still under construction so it needs to be easily moved.

(2) I use a textured spray paint that is a dead ringer for poured concrete. But that necessitates construction of the entire building before painting. An added benefit though is that the texture does a good job at hiding any imperfections in your build. This curved, un-weathered retaining wall is nothing more then Masonite and stripwood finished in that textured paint.

Like most Korber Models individual wall panels are assembled into wall sections. In my case 38 panels make up the entire building. The design is modular so any configuration is possible.

Once the center columns are glued in, as shown on the left, the wall sections start to gain some strength. I used gorilla super glue.

The building can be finished completely in concrete or concrete and brick. I chose the latter. Since I'am using a textured paint I realized early on that it would be easier to mask for the brick inserts while most of the parts were laying flat.

3/8 Plastruct angle was add to the rear for rigidity and to form a lip for the upper and lower roof sections later.

The first floor with the loading doors was assembled in a similar fashion.

Before I ware out my welcome I'll end this post now and continue next week.

@MELGAR posted:

There was a time - long ago - when I used to get to Atlantic Avenue and Commercial Street in Boston - during the daytime - and was fascinated by the tracks of the Union Freight Railroad in the middle of the street, although I never saw it in operation at night. But, since those days, I've become a student of the subject and therefore have been following your progress on this layout with interest. I even considered building a small Union Freight layout but have not done so - partly because of inertia, lack of space, and also because I think it's difficult to model street-running in 3-rail. I hope you're planning to include the yard and office at 87 Atlantic Avenue. Please post some photos of the entire layout whenever you can.

MELGAR

Thanks Melgar.  I've collected a fair set of photos and documentation on the Union Freight since I started my focus there.  When I lived in Boston in the 1990s most of the waterfront industry was gone so it's interesting to see how much the area has changed.
I don't have much space for this part of the layout, so the 87 Atlantic Avenue yard is not included for now.  On the prototype the switch to the yard would be located right where the taxi is on my photo.  I am building in a modular fashion in case I have more space in the future to add on.

I'll put together a layout thread at some point, but so far the most progress I've made is this weekend wiring up all the track now that I have a track plan settled on.  Modeling street running is indeed difficult but I think I have a method that will work, and I've seen a few others on this forum pull it off nicely.

I am including some representations from the 1950s prototype that you may notice once I start scratchbuilding.  Thus far many of my buildings are cardboard mockups.  My only building progress is my model of Fish Pier, which I "relocated" from South Boston to the Atlantic Avenue waterfront for my model.

The best info I've found is old issues of the Shoreliner magazine which you can find on the online auction sites.  I have also used these as a reference for my model of South Station.

@Thirdrail600v posted:

Knickerbocker Transfer.

I look forward to seeing your progress as well.  Waterfront switching layouts provide some really nice operation and scenery.
I am realizing my switching layout at 8 feet long is very small to do much with now that I am starting to wire up track.

The format, with its tight radius curves suits my basement well.

EmpireBuilderDave,

What are you using for pavement?

Which issues of Shoreliner do you find most helpful?

@Thirdrail600v posted:

Knickerbocker Transfer.

Back in the day, before United Parcel Service and FedEx there was the Railway Express Agency (REA).  They handled mail, merchandise service and LCL. These were huge rail operations when all cross-country freight moved by rail and trucks made the local delivery.

My large waterfront switching layout has several industrial districts ( loosely based on Long Island City on the Long Island Railroad ). One district is dedicated solely to LCL and the REA operations. The complex consists of two buildings, the main warehouse and the annex. This build is for the warehouse only and is based on Korber Models Ted's Textiles background kit with two deviations.

(1) it's not one kit but two making the overall finished model 46" Long. At that length it's going to need some kind of support structure. And it's permanent home is still under construction so it needs to be easily moved.

(2) I use a textured spray paint that is a dead ringer for poured concrete. But that necessitates construction of the entire building before painting. An added benefit though is that the texture does a good job at hiding any imperfections in your build. This curved, un-weathered retaining wall is nothing more then Masonite and stripwood finished in that textured paint.

I really like the look of the "concrete". That looks like a light tan or a driftwood color. Very nice effect. I look forward to seeing more of your structures and layout.

Peter

Here is a coming attraction.....am waiting for the rain to stop this week.....also a Korber building....two apartment fronts that will become one whole building....

Have a fantastic week, everyone!

Peter

Peter,

Glad I'am not the only one.

ctr,  the best source for anything to do with modeling the New Haven is to Google John Pryke. Wrote numerous articles, Allen Keller video and did a book on modeling city scenery based on NH operations in Boston.

I let my membership lapse on receiving the Shoreliner. Lots of info. and not sure how often but they also would send copies of The Speed Witch which was all modeling the NH.

Peter, I’ve been watching a lot of You Tube videos lately featuring Howard Zane. He is pretty much building these days for a customer in 3 rail. He’s featured on Al Pugliese’s Trains a couple of times a week. He may be the only one with more windows than you. I guess when your a scratch builder like him. You don’t want to be ordering supplies in the middle of a build.

John Pryke's book, Building City Scenery for your model railroad, is a fantastic reference and inspiration for modeling Union Freight or any city based switching layout.

Vol 34 Issue 1 of the Shoreliner is the best reference for the Union Freight RR along with online resources.  Here is a quick photo of the references I have piled up in my office.  Seems like I should include a bibliography in my layout thread.  Of course, I am only modeling a small representation but trying to capture the look, color scheme, and feeling of the 1950s in Boston from South Station to the Dover street yards to the Union Freight along Atlantic Avenue.  A pretty fascinating story of city based railroading...

@ctr posted:

EmpireBuilderDave,

What are you using for pavement?

Which issues of Shoreliner do you find most helpful?

I'm using 1/8 hardboard purchased in 2x4 sheets.  It takes the paint well and is a fairly economical solution.  Using the technique of spraying a flat grey then overmisting with white and black spraying a couple feet above the wood.  This gives a nice gravel pavement texture.

After plenty of experimentation, I am planning to use 1/16 spacers glued to the Gargraves ties and then the 1/8 hardboard on top of that which spaces correctly to meet the top of the rails.  Still working out the details so the rails do not stand above the pavement but the trains still run smoothly.

@Dave_C posted:

Peter, I’ve been watching a lot of You Tube videos lately featuring Howard Zane. He is pretty much building these days for a customer in 3 rail. He’s featured on Al Pugliese’s Trains a couple of times a week. He may be the only one with more windows than you. I guess when your a scratch builder like him. You don’t want to be ordering supplies in the middle of a build.

Dave, I seem to recall the George Sellios did a huge building with about a 1000 windows on the F&SM……... I’ll have to look it up when I get home…….working a clinic at the VA this AM.

Peter

Peter, I had the opportunity to visit that layout a few times many years ago. It’s jaw dropping. He use to run just one train. You were so preoccupied with everything to see a running train didn’t even get your attention. I think the building you are referring to was called I. M. Boren building. It stood out amongst every other building because of it’s size. As it was tall and loaded with windows. I guess for him it was a monotonous build.

@Dave_C posted:

Peter, I had the opportunity to visit that layout a few times many years ago. It’s jaw dropping. He use to run just one train. You were so preoccupied with everything to see a running train didn’t even get your attention. I think the building you are referring to was called I. M. Boren building. It stood out amongst every other building because of it’s size. As it was tall and loaded with windows. I guess for him it was a monotonous build.

That’s it!

I’m going to have to watch the videos again, I seem to remember it goes under or inside the building…….I need to be sure, now!

For those of you who like urban modeling, George Sellios’ Franklin and South Manchester is a real treat……think about the spectacular urban scenes by the OGR Forum members we see on this site…….and then think about a layout 3 times the size and in HO so there is more to see.

Peter

Peter the structure I mentioned is located in Manchester. It towers over everything. When I first visited Manchester and Dover were complete and there was benchwork started to Franklin. The layout was about 1/3 done.  A temporary track was in place to allow continuous running. A few years passed before I visited again and the RR was pretty much in place by then including scenery and structures.

At one time he had open houses once a month on a Saturday. Don’t know if he still does them. You called ahead and he would let you know if you could be accommodated. If you are ever in the Boston area for any reason it’s definitely worth planning a trip around it. The local Boston news station visited one day as he had a special guest to see the layout. Rod Stewart.