Jersey City Industrial Railroad Micro-Layout

[DKS]

These photos are so intoxicating DKS.  I am going to lobby that you stick to mid-century for this pike because it's just so d@mn cool. 

Believe me, it's a huge temptation...

P.S. I'm amazed that the produce survives those trains... yum.

I was thinking, someone ought to offer fresh-squeezed orange juice...

[Alaska Railroader]

This picture tells so much! I think it was Chris (or was it David, hmmm) who I had asked if he was going to weather his structures and his reply was that he was modeling in the era so things wouldn't be so dirty or weathered.

Look at this photo, not a clean window on that building, the open door is filthy, the road is not pristine like a "newer" road should. Even the fire hydrant at the lower left looks weathered. The hub caps on the car are not shiny. I grew up near Akron, OH which was once the rubber tire capitol of the US. The air was more often black with soot from the factories than not. I imagine that life back then, before the EPA, was a lot dirtier than now.

All to say I hope we see some dust and dirt on these two layouts. Not too much but just enough.

[Chris333]

http://forgotten-ny.com/2013/08/dumbos-belgian-blocks-under-siege/

Are all paving bricks Belgian? They seem to be a grey color and all the brick streets around here are pretty much "red".

[DKS]

Are all paving bricks Belgian? They seem to be a grey color and all the brick streets around here are pretty much "red".

Belgian block (very often erroneously called cobblestones--I made the same mistake and got whacked by Sean for it ) are granite block pavers. Brick paving is brick.

[Catt]

A lot of folks can't seem to understand that cobblestones are stones.We used tom have several cobblestones streets here in GR.If I get the chance I will get out and take some pics.

Oh yeah, if you have ever driven over a cobblestone street you will know real quick that it ain't brick.

[VonRyan]

Believe me, it's a huge temptation...

Give in to the temptation 
You know you want too...

(in all seriousness, I'm too keen on seeing how the dual-era thing turns out to really push for early 20th century.)



-Cody F.

[dougnelson]

Here is a cobblestone street made from HO Faller paper, scanned and reduced for N scale.  And that PRR rubber-tired switcher from Shapeways would look good on your Jersey City streets.  The PRR had at least 2 of them in Jersey City.

[Philip H]

yeah,I think DKS needs to get a couple of those too and animate them.  I bet he could stick a Faller Car System drive in one, and lay down the tracks so it could haul cars.

[rswinnerton]

Awesome progress. I love it!

[Alaska Railroader]

... I am going to lobby that you stick to mid-century for this pike.....

I can certainly see your point Gary. But I hope David sticks with the near impossible (his specialty) by transitioning this layout over a span of time. Here in Medford we still have trackside brick industrial structures from the cab forward era and I often wonder what it was like back then compared to now. David took several photos of those buildings when he was here. If he chooses not to go with the plan I hope someone else will give it a try as I find the concept artistically and historically fascinating.

[Chris333]

Yes I personally want David to do all 1940's as well, but that is just me being selfish.

[DKS]

Yes I personally want David to do all 1940's as well, but that is just me being selfish.

Actually, after studying so many reference photos for so long now, I'm starting to get the feeling that signs, cars and rolling stock are pretty much all that dictate the era (with some exceptions, of course, such as long-abandoned buildings and overgrown tracks). Some areas of JC have hardly changed over the decades, right down to the Belgian block streets. I'm still going to take a crack at a dual-era layout, if only because it will put my creativity to the test in order to allow me to have crumbling, abandoned structures side-by-side with vibrant industries, and I still think I can pull it off. But we'll see.

[conrailthomas519]

DKS It's the best idea! Stay with it!!

[DKS]

The tenement is coming together nicely, with most of the structures under way.





Build: http://whiteriverandnorthern.net/chapter_9j.htm

To answer a question in advance: why do none of my structures have roofs yet? The odds of making changes to any random structure can be pretty good, so I like to keep my options open to reconfigure any of them; so far I have modified nearly every one, some of them several times, and a few I have totally re-purposed. Roofs make it much harder to alter the basic shape of a structure, so I leave them off until I know for certain nothing else will change. I'm getting very close to the point now where I'll start to add roofs.

[Catt]

David,question about the buildings at the edges of the layout.How will you treat that outer edge,a finished wall,a modeled interior,or just close them off with the fashia.Or do you have something else  in mind?