Jersey City Industrial Railroad Micro-Layout

[wm3798]

Thanks, guys.  I just burned most of my day staring at abandoned auto plants.

It's astonishing how much stuff doesn't get manufactured in this country anymore.

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Don't be too down, a lot of it still is, it's just done in soulless ugly buildings, like this:


Or this:
https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=DAP&data=!1m8!1m3!1d3!2d-76.487145!3d39.326364!2m2!1f305.74!2f90!4f75!2m4!1e1!2m2!1ser4uXetst7bcsV0VJUfOzQ!2e0!4m30!2m16!1m14!1s0x0%3A0x856f7b4c44cd7086!3m8!1m3!1d186278!2d-76.58078!3d39.281166!3m2!1i1440!2i725!4f13.1!4m2!3d39.326563!4d-76.4875031!5e4!6sdap!5m12!1m11!1sdap!4m8!1m3!1d49332!2d-76.6151416!3d39.3963611!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!17b1&fid=5

The biggest "problem" is that a lot of it is done by robots and other sophisticated machinery. It's a problem from an employment standpoint, but from an economics one, not so much.

[DKS]

That sure is an interesting shape.

The shape of my corner building was inspired by the end one in this trio:



I was originally going to make the middle building as well, having it wrap around the end one the way it does here. But it got a bit too crowded to do this.

I've made a small collection of unusually-shaped corner buildings--







And that's just corner buildings; there are countless bizarre shapes to suit other unusual circumstances, like the one to the right in the above image.

What are you using to cut the DPM plastic, David? Those walls are thick and tough in my experience and I don't often even want to kitbash with their buildings because the walls are so hard to modify. Plus the draft angle is pretty severe on the edges of side walls, so how are you cutting and trimming?

I am using a MicroLux Miniature Table Saw. Makes quick work of those thick slabs for walls. To make the bends, I kerfed the backs of the walls with the table saw, then bent them.

[DKS]

UPDATE: A package just arrived with a couple of Union Crane and Shovel kits, so I whipped up a modded version that fits the corner.



The thing I like most about this change is that I get to have one of those buildings that wraps around curved track. I was going to do that with the furniture factory, but it's the wrong kind of architectural style to do that. This worked out perfectly.

[conrailthomas519]

WoWs  aahhH!!! Nice DKS  This section of your layout kinda reminds me of some modeling done of downtown LA by Robert Smaus.

[sizemore]

That sure is an interesting shape.

Its organic to the location. A lot of architecture is like that near the mainline. It's also a great way to uncover old mainline that is long gone while the structure remain.

The S.

[DKS]

Its organic to the location. A lot of architecture is like that near the mainline. It's also a great way to uncover old mainline that is long gone while the structure remain.

Indeed. It shouldn't be too hard to tell where a mainline once ran through this city:



Spend some quality time with Bing Maps and you'll find that, in the hearts of some old Northeastern towns, it's actually a challenge to find buildings with any right angles.









The challenge I've found is that being true to life can sometimes make modeling look whimsical or just plain bizarre; getting oddly-shaped buildings to work can be a real challenge, and I'm not convinced all of my structures succeed.





Note the telephone pole in the middle of the roof in that last one...

[peteski]

Neat!

[Catt]

David, between you and Chris I may just not ever get my new show layout done.I keep coming back to this thread and Chris's and almost automatically start mentally changing a layout I can't seem to even start.You guys are quite the inspiration.

[conrailthomas519]

Prototype for everything.... who knew that a telephone pole would be placed on top of a building? Got me wondering if that is or was a common practice or just unique to that particular site..

[DKS]

That's a truly wacko-looking industry. You can see the core building with light-colored roof has basically been swallowed whole by additions and alterations.





Would love to model it someday.

[conrailthomas519]

Most definitly be a conversational model to say the least...  Awesome reference shots,  Nice & clear satelite views of the structure and its local. 

[robert3985]

I especially like the power/telegraph pole sticking out of the roof...

[chicken45]

This is indeed neat. No right corners. It's so simple! Brilliant!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Prototype for everything....

Oh no he didn't....