The LIRR Industrial Service, Inc. shelf layout

[Lemosteam]

Last bit of gravel road to the channel bridge, and a small parking lot for the Old Crow hot rod shop temporarily resting in its place. The west end is almost to the point that I can move the layout back! 



Just have to complete the switch ballast  , install some light poles, telephone poles, run the wires for the lighting and add the Formica fascia. I am designing one last str7cture for this side, a covered passenger shelter/freight depot for the PRR branch line that I will add later, if I still decide to do it. Getting kind of crowded over that way, structure wise. still debating. Maybe a stop east of the channel.



The aggregate yard will be getting some product mounds made of styrofoam and coated with appropriate materials. There will be coal and sand mounds near the engine shed as the shared property agreement between the LIRR IS and aggregate dealer.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Looking good John!

Although you might want to try my "foam scraping" technique on your gravel lots to fully smooth them out. It's really worked well.

[Lemosteam]

Looking good John!

Although you might want to try my "foam scraping" technique on your gravel lots to fully smooth them out. It's really worked well.

Thanks Ed,

I know what you are saying, but I think you need to reread the first page here.  This was never going to be a class 1 type layout (except for the Pennsy main). This literally is a mom n pop railroad maybe run by three or four folks, using whatever means they have of creating their own local infrastructure. Even their ROW will be shared with the aggregate company.

I drove the area in the image on the first page and I can tell you first hand that it ain’t too pretty. I looked down the very channel at the grimy greasy waterway that dead ends into a cross road. Way worse than the Conrail ROW on your thread. All of the dips and doodles in these roads is not meant to be a finely compacted gravel, this is lay it down thick and grind it into the mud wrong side of the tracks type two trackers. They are not meant to be roads, per se, more like paths for the not so well to do folk to get to their work or auto shop. It will be imaginarily overrun by hot rodders and leather jacket tee shirt smoking 50’s cats and gals as well as gritty filthy railroaders, scrap yarders, and muckrakers.

Recall as well that there will eventually be a gang fight under the open girders. This place is a bunch of scrappers. I still have a lot of weeds and green patches to add, as well as water filled potholes because the clay underneath it all prevents the weather from doing anything except evaporating.

I really am trying to stay within my original vision for this thing and so far it’s going exactly as planned, even though I have added new content within the original concept (icing facility) and yet another hard work low pay industry.

I know yours was a reasonable criticism that I understand as well and appreciate. I really am quite happy with all of it so far, and I know that I am not very good at executing scenic elements, but I am ok with what I see. TBH, if I owned the LIRR IS, it would be a no frills, do what you have to do, however you have to do it type place.

[wazzou]

Fascinating work.
The one thing that stands out to me is the Speed Shop which is presumably a repurposed gas station.
There really isn’t enough room between the road and the structure for any pumps in it’s previous life.

[Lemosteam]

Fascinating work.
The one thing that stands out to me is the Speed Shop which is presumably a repurposed gas station.
There really isn’t enough room between the road and the structure for any pumps in it’s previous life.

@wazzou yes- Fair point and it took me a while to postulate a plausible theory on that.

The backstory:

It's 1948 and some nefarious, allegedly mafia locals have an idea to try to serve and create some businesses on the local waterfront and canal after the PRR abandoned the area citing crime and lackluster freight business.  The PRR decided to keep the local commuter passenger/freight station (soon to come) and tower so the connection to the elevated main remained, but they removed the turntable bridge and some switches and left the rest to decay.  The original PRR ROW is in orange and the original service paths/roads are in dark blue.

The gas station was added in 1946 and soon succumbed to the loss of PRR traffic and so the partners purchased the empty gas station in '48 and moved the front pumps to the side. This gave their children a chance to avoid joining the Mafia, expand their hobby and give them a place to build the latest hot rodding trends, so the Old Crow was established (now I have to add side pumps).

The group, borrowing some money in exchange for kneecaps, expanded the the original PRR railroad bridge now theirs, over the canal to allow road access to the other side for the junkyard.  It is said that some snitch mobsters are buried there and under some gravel roads as favors for the mob.

Later in 1948, after working with the PRR, the LIRR IS ROW, in bright green, and gravel roads, in light blue, were completed. The LIRR IS  added a crossover to the biz under the girders, moved some original PRR ROW, and added some short passing tracks in addition to sidings for the junkyard on the east side of the canal.  They have access rights to the elevated main for PRR deliveries, and setouts coming up from below.

They wanted to keep the turntable, but decided it used too much land from their aggregate business, so they filled in the pit; but the enginehouse served them well. The following year John (aka The Immense One) acquired the famous LIRR G5s #39 for historical posterity to add to the LIRR IS roster for local push/pull excursions alongside their venerable ex PRR 44 and SW2 units that get regular freight use.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it. 

[dem34]

@wazzou yes- Fair point and it took me a while to postulate a plausible theory on that.

The backstory:

It's 1948 and some nefarious, allegedly mafia locals have an idea to try to serve and create some businesses on the local waterfront and canal after the PRR abandoned the area citing crime and lackluster freight business.  The PRR decided to keep the local commuter passenger/freight station (soon to come) and tower so the connection to the elevated main remained, but they removed the turntable bridge and some switches and left the rest to decay.  The original PRR ROW is in orange and the original service paths/roads are in dark blue.

The gas station was added in 1946 and soon succumbed to the loss of PRR traffic and so the partners purchased the empty gas station in '48 and moved the front pumps to the side. This gave their children a chance to avoid joining the Mafia, expand their hobby and give them a place to build the latest hot rodding trends, so the Old Crow was established (now I have to add side pumps).

The group, borrowing some money in exchange for kneecaps, expanded the the original PRR railroad bridge now theirs, over the canal to allow road access to the other side for the junkyard.  It is said that some snitch mobsters are buried there and under some gravel roads as favors for the mob.

Later in 1948, after working with the PRR, the LIRR IS ROW, in bright green, and gravel roads, in light blue, were completed. The LIRR IS  added a crossover to the biz under the girders, moved some original PRR ROW, and added some short passing tracks in addition to sidings for the junkyard on the east side of the canal.  They have access rights to the elevated main for PRR deliveries, and setouts coming up from below.

They wanted to keep the turntable, but decided it used too much land from their aggregate business, so they filled in the pit; but the enginehouse served them well. The following year John (aka The Immense One) acquired the famous LIRR G5s #39 for historical posterity to add to the LIRR IS roster for local push/pull excursions alongside their venerable ex PRR 44 and SW2 units that get regular freight use.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it. 

I take it you just had your first OPs session. 
Keep it up 

[Lemosteam]

Starting the final wiring of the west end of the layout. First up is a test of the tower lights at its intended location.

Trying to decide if a streetlight nearby is necessary.

[OldEastRR]

Actually, you don't even need to justify a gas station there -- just because it LOOKS like a gas station doesn't mean it was built as one. Maybe the PRR put up an office/maintenance building there in '44 thinking the WW2 traffic would remain but then abandoned it when the area went downhill.

But as I always say "You're the boss on the Lionel Lines!" meaning you can do what you want on YOUR layout.

Also, I see now the scrap is freight car to barge operation. Very logical. Possibly have hazardous material dumped there to be hauled by barge to be dropped into the bay (you did imply mob influence). In that case, a shitload of old rusty and battered 55 gal drums would be piled up there, separately (with a big black greasy dead spot of ground around it). The photo of the actual place shows a wide ramp/extension at the bank of the scrap yard which I assume was for bulldozers to shove piles of junk to freefall into the barge. Are you going to add that?

[Lemosteam]

Two more buildings to light, the engine house and the aggregate office, and maybe some light poles near the water, dunno.

[Lemosteam]

Finished up the lighting on the west side as far as I have lights for. More LED and light towers on the way. I feel I need to light the aggregate area by the waterfront and by the scrapyard (later). Going to add some red lights for the bridge and the corners of the channel entrance.

All of the structures in front of the elevated line are held in place with magnets, and electrically detachable from above, and the background structures are removeable and detachable as well.

I found this great 3.5v power plug to power all of the lighting on the layout except the fire flicker LED in the engine house. It’s from a long Christmas light string of resin coated 0402 LED.

But for now, here’s the night scenes:

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Beautiful

[Lemosteam]

Thanks Ed!

[Lemosteam]

Diesel fuel tank for the 44 toner, for outside between the stalls. Walthers leftover, painted with Rustoleum Galvanized paint. Folded 0.015” wire for the nozzle, TCS black decoder wire insulation for hose, pushed over the spout and nozzle end.
 








Diesel fuel tank for the 44 toner, for outside between the stalls. Walthers leftover, painted with Rustoleum Galvanized paint. Folded 0.015” wire for the nozzle, TCS black decoder wire insulation for hose, pushed over the spout and nozzle end.
 

[Lemosteam]

Trying to put lipstick on a pig.

I have a pack of Heljan telephone poles that are the pig. The die shift is so bad you can almost see double insulators at each position on some of them, and some of the poles look like two half cylinders shifted by as much as 0.5mm. Terrible. I probably picked them up at a train show.



After removing the center insulator on each arm, I painted the castings with Tamiya TS- and then a light overspray of TS- . After that I dry bushed Rustoleum gray galvanized paint on each pole. Next I painted each individual insulator with Tamiya flat white and left them to dry.



Next I used Tamiya clear green over the flat white on each insulator to give a little brightness to them and the clear green is gloss to simulate the glass.



Fortunately for the layout, there will be enough castings without die shift to complete the foreground poles.

Here are some on my sales image diorama with added EZ line.  Yes I intend to have twelve wires on the poles here and on my layout. Gotta feed all of this businesses and lights somehow!

[Angus Shops]

Oh yes, lineside telephone/telegraph poles are really lacking in N scale…
Does anybody have any good ideas?