The adv N ture begins

[C855B]

... As to the dumpster, that one is oriented correctly for that style where I live.

You know, thinking about it, it might be a regional thing and/or dependent on the lift equipment. Haven't paid much attention recently. I'm just recalling from my long-ago facility management days the truck operator being all upset whenever the dock crews turned it around to make it easier for us to use (low side facing the truck access direction) 'cause he'd have to get out of the truck and turn it back around. He was right, the trash would start to fall out before the dumpster was all the way over the hopper if he did it backwards.

[dick green]

Rust
can-o-worms is wide open, tank and pump house gets it started. 

Rust up the sides of the rails.
Some chain link fencing around pump house would help a lot. 
Bits of trash that escape during loading and unloading around freight doors. 
Most businesses would not pass the opportunity to put their name and or logo up on that tank.
Building looks freshly built and painted but tank and pump house look well aged.  Dirty up the roof at the very least.  Most businesses don't spend lavishly on the railroad side that cannot be seen from the road.
Graffiti, if it exists in your world, it can help set the date, Kilroy for bygone days or the current billboard and mural styles can give an immediate sense of time and even place. 
Signage for close clearance of freight cars, era appropriate. 
Taller weeds, layers upon layers are important to make convincing scenery. 

Everything blends, the only rule of model railways that I always follow...

Thanks for the suggestions
This is why I'm here and my skin is thick as an old saddle.

I agree about the chain link. looking for the right material I use tulle for HO but its rather large for N I know I can buy some but at the beginning of this thread; I'm trying to do this with minimal cash outlay. Not only because I'm cheap but to show others that you don't have to spend a lot of money on kits and details.

The tank; There are four business in the industrial park I'm planning to model with storage tanks of some kind and none of them have names

I thought about signs but they would be so small as to be unreadable maybe I should just with a representation

Also no graffiti on buildings in this area. my long term plans are suburban industrial park on one end where this will be which seem to be cleaner and better maintained and an older city scene on the other end of the layout that will be grittier and dirtier I agree about some clutter along the tracks though.

as for the scenery this diorama is more about the building but I agree about layers.

Dick

[C855B]

... The tank; There are four business in the industrial park I'm planning to model with storage tanks of some kind and none of them have names...

Agreed. For that matter, I've noticed in my travels that tanks like this rarely have any lettering at all ('cept near the bottom, if needed to identify quantity or contents, or a hazmat label if mandated). Heavy industries like this usually don't want to attract attention to chemical or petroleum product storage. That outfit near Charleston, WV, for instance... 

[jpec]

Looking good Dick, a few touches as suggested and you'll be fine. As for fencing - digging around at Michael's in the wedding frillies I found this stuff called wired edge ribbon. Silver in color, 7/8" x 3 yards,  cost less than 5 bucks. Wee bit tall for N scale but nothing a straight edge an an x-acto knife can't fix.

Jeff

[dick green]

thanks Jeff

I have been googling n scale fences and fabrics and now I need to get to JoAnne fabrics and look for a fine mesh ribbon. and strip some wire till I find the right size fence posts

probably gonna have to get some brass wire though. It will cost 5.00 in gas to buy a 1.00 brass rod at the closest hobby shop

Dick

[robert3985]

Some good advice here.  In addition, since you're building a lightly trafficked siding, I would have hand-laid code 40 track (PCB ties every fifth tie), OR, I would have cut the spacers between the ties and spaced them further apart.  I would have colored the ties to look much more weathered (either a gray or a light brown...or both) and rustified the rails much more.  In addition I'd have buried the track much more so that the ballast/soil was level with the tops of the ties in most instances even with some partially buried...then used some static grass to put some weeds in between the rails in a few spots.

Also, I'd put some dirt on the side of the road...paint some lines on it and grade crossing notifications (depends on your era) and at least put up a couple of grade crossing crossbucks.  Make sure you at least paint the crossbucks and look for some that are finely detailed as most are injection molded, large cross-section representations that look pretty gross.   I ended up making mine out of brass and printing my own decals after researching the proper font.

Also, some private property signage and warning signs might be appropriate,  along with some power poles and "cable" (I ended up making mine out of wooden "swab sticks" I bought a a local pharmacy), along with a little junk, such as a broken pallet or just pallet parts near the track by the loading dock and litter by the road.

Some N-scale pigeons sitting on the crown of the roof would add a final touch.  They're available somewhere on Shapeways (I don't remember where).

Although HO scale allows "deeper" detailing, a lot can also be done in N-scale as I think you're learning.  You really don't give up much, and I find the challenge of having to search and "work" more for details and fidelity in N-scale to be particularly rewarding.

[jimmo]

Some N-scale pigeons sitting on the crown of the roof would add a final touch.  They're available somewhere on Shapeways (I don't remember where).

Here: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/americanarchetype

[Baronjutter]

Maybe it's regional, but every picture I could find of a garbage truck lifting a dumpter has it grabbing it angle-side facing the truck.




In fact I couldn't find any that would do it the other way.

[Scottl]

It could not be fully emptied the other way...

[dick green]

This one is for Bob



Dick

[dick green]

Barron I really want that wooden truck.

Dick

[C855B]

Maybe it's regional, but every picture I could find of a garbage truck lifting a dumpter has it grabbing it angle-side facing the truck. ...

It apparently is regional, and is revealing my West Coast roots, I'm afraid. Oh... as well as time - things have also changed since I moved away from California. Apparently front-loader refuse truck designs differed in the western markets up until ~1990.

I found a smattering of photos of western body styles on Classic Refuse Trucks showing slant front dumpsters, although mostly in street pickup service. However, in the picture below in the bottom panes, are photos of a bunch of dumpsters lined-up in a parking lot which are clearly to be picked-up from the "high" side. While this picture I can conjecture was from the late '50s (the accompanying text located it in Los Angeles), it was how it was done back when I was familiar with disposal operations in the '60s and '70s:



One thing I do recall was the truck operator always having to get out of the cab to open the lids before pushing into and lifting the container, then (...sometimes...) getting out to close the lids. That extra effort alone was likely to have eventually encouraged a design change.

[C855B]

Oh... note for Dick... monster thread drift is S.O.P around here. But you may already have known that.

[dick green]

Ah yes stream of consciousness posting

Dick

[Baronjutter]

Woah very interesting.  Born and raised on the coast and never seen a dump truck like that.

Also maybe I missed it but did you scratch build those dumpsters?  I need at least a dozen, should figure out how.