Canton, Highlandtown and Fells Point - Compact layout

[wm3798]

Yes, Paul, I didn't mention that, but I will be trimming down the base to match street level.  Should pare about 3 scale feet off the overall height.

Lee

[wm3798]

The glacial pace of progress continues on the Highlandtown, Canton and Fells Point.  I finally managed to get a base coat on the Gunther Brewing Company. 



The siding will come in from the left, and will run along a trestle next to the building.  I'm going to add facilities for unloading grain hoppers next to the tower, and some loading docks for insulated box cars behind that.  There will truck bays under the trestle.  I'm looking forward to teasing out this complex, compact scene.

Update:  I found a section of bridge track that will be handy for the siding trestle.  As soon as I brush a few pesky clients away from my face I'll start working out the details.

Lee

[GimpLizard]

So Lee, that traffic's mess due to too much brewery intake, or a bunch of Chicago drivers in town?

[wm3798]

Heh.

It's clearly a dangerous work zone!

[sirenwerks]

Heh.

It's clearly a dangerous work zone!

And as usual, Baltimore City police threaten to arrest the victim driver who requests aa report be filed. It happened to me.

[wm3798]

The stone masons stopped by to lay the bridge abutment and the grain bin foundation at the Gunther Brewery.





I'm using some old styrene brick/block sheet of unknown origin.  It came to me in a pile of stuff from a guy at the Baltimore Society of Model Engineers in ... get this... 1979.  Yes, I've had this stuff longer than I've had a driver's license. 

Anyway, the size of the blocks are pretty bulky, but I want to represent the giant granite blocks that make up so much of Baltimore's 19th century infrastructure.  I'm painting them a dark brown, then using a lighter tan wash to fill in the mortar lines.  Ultimately I'll blend it with some weathering washes and then apply some creeping foliage and other details.



I'm also working on laying out the steel work for the trestle between the switch and the grain platform.  As you can see in the first image, the goal is to put some truck loading bays on the ground floor, and a rail warehouse on the elevated platform.  Grain cars will be spotted at the end of the spur, on the concrete platform that will be installed on the walled part.  I'll add some apparatus to represent equipment that will lift the grain up into the brewery's tower.


Like this.

Lee

[Chris333]

Anything that looks like a coal trestle is OK in my book! 

[glakedylan]

looking great
you have really finished off those brick sheets
in a way that looks so realistic
looks like Baltimore
very fine work!
sincerely--
Gary

[OldEastRR]

Just a technical question -- if the grain unloading part was built in the 1800's then I assume it was designed to receive grain from boxcars. Wherever the receiving intakes in the floor were then, I doubt they were directly under the car. So using center-flos and covered hoppers means that the floor was rebuilt to accommodate new discharge openings. This gives the possibility that the grain structure from the track level up was re-built with relatively modern materials and equipment, maybe even corrugated metal walls and roof. This would make using the Rix grain facility stuff feasible, and that would cut down on the amount of scratchbuilding you'd need to do. It would also give you the interesting but logical visual mix of 20th century equipment sitting on 19th century foundations.

[wm3798]

That's exactly the effect I'm shooting for, OldEast.  My modeling period for this layout is mid 1960s, (the 1970 vintage WM covered hopper is actually a cement car... I'll need to dig a more appropriate car out of the boxes), so it would be reflective of that kind of technological evolution... old structures with newer hardware.

Lee

[OldEastRR]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to see that mix of eras on the building.

[wm3798]

Stone masons were back at work applying some lintels, arches and keystones.



Needs some more touch ups, but I wanted it to look a little more like a festive brewhouse and less like a morgue.

I'm thinking about adding a more "N" looking office/entry at the street side.  There's about an inch and a half to work with.  Probably use a DPM modular wall or something else gleened from the junk box.  It can wrap around the far side of the first floor, too.  I might leave the space between the old entry door and the raised platform to make a beer garden...  The old American Brewery on Gay Street had a fenced in area in its front yard (or maybe across the street) for such a purpose.

Lee

[davefoxx]

Lee,

What is your plan for the trestle itself?  If you're planning on leaving the Life-Like-esque trestle bents and the standard Code 55 track, I will bust your balls until eternity.  I promise.   

DFF

[DeltaBravo]

Lee,
 the mason's work really makes the building pop.

[wm3798]

Fear not, Esquire.  I've been accumulating bits and pieces in my scrap bins for decades.  The bents will likely be part of it, but there's much more in the works...

Lee