MKT/UP Airlawn Industrial Lead is Dallas TX circa 1988

[Rivet Miscounter]

Here's a pic I took of the Coca-Cola syrup dock.  Of course this was 18 years after your era and I'm unsure if it changed significantly during that time.  I have a few more pics if you are interested.

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[Rossford Yard]

That is quite a high profile and heavily ballasted track for a siding.  Great for the Unitrak guys, and for this layout specifically.

[milw12]

Squirrelhunter, I'm glad you found inspiration from a thread of mine! That was quite the blast form the past, I nearly forgot about that little project. Unfortunately I lost the images from that layout, and the layout itself was discarded later that year during a move. But I see the damage has been done

Lucky having access to the ZTS, a real gold mine when cross referenced with aerials.

As for the Coke plant, if I'm tracking properly, I'd keep the awning and mirror the warehouse across the spurs, between the track and backdrop. Enough to suggest the warehouse, and with a removable awning will make reading the reporting marks possible. Remember, the only people who will now the structure is mirrored is you, those of us here that read the thread, and maybe three other people that can be easily ignored Personally I struggle with it, but sometimes function has to come over form or accuracy, and I'd argue that mirroring a structure is pretty minor, unless the goal is building a near-replica of a place.

Another +1 for modeling the MKT, it's up there as a personal favorite. Looking forward to progress!

Lucas

[Spades]

Doug

More photos of the Coca~Cola facility would be great.

[squirrelhunter]

Here's a pic I took of the Coca-Cola syrup dock.  Of course this was 18 years after your era and I'm unsure if it changed significantly during that time.  I have a few more pics if you are interested.

Doug, thanks for posting that pic, I really didn't have much idea how the awning was constructed.

And I suspect the unloading tracks looked a lot like they do now buy the late Katy/early UP era, so this view is very helpful.

[squirrelhunter]

Looking at Doug's picture, and back at the aerial shots, I've begun to come together on an idea for the Coke plant.

Basically I'm thinking of building the smaller brick structure with the smokestack like bit on the far front left corner of the module and then have the awning structure have a removable roof over the unloading tracks. Across the tracks id model the parking lot.

I think this does a few things:

1. Emphasize negative space- I'm already compressing the distance between the Airlawn 3 lead the Coke turnout to basically nothing, so the parking lot would open the scene back up a bit.

2. Provides enough scenic interest to keep it from looking like bare unloading tracks. The awning and the brick structure with the smokestack will be pretty different from what I think all the other structures will look like on the layout
 

3. Keeps the scope of the work manageable. This could earlier be broken up into smaller sub projects to keep the work flowing along and it let's me move to a different sub project if one bogs down.

[squirrelhunter]

Quick shot of a mock up of where Cedar Spring crosses the Airlawn Lead about halfway down.  I glued some cardboard together and sprayed it with Krylon primer. I'm not happy with how the road had gone want as the glue and cardboard dried, but it was a test.

The boxes are mocked up in areas where there will be structures later. The white and brown boxes will become American Signature Graphics, a printer of catalogs.

[MDW]

Basically I'm thinking of building the smaller brick structure with the smokestack like bit on the far front left corner of the module and then have the awning structure have a removable roof over the unloading tracks. Across the tracks id model the parking lot.

Or flip it and have the brick building against the backdrop and have the parking lot in front?   Either way, modeling a bit of that iconic brick structure will be cool, add interest and anchor the layout location for those that know Dallas.
Looking good!

Michel

[Rivet Miscounter]

OK, I posted all of the pics I've taken of the Coca-Cola plant to an album on my Mockingbird Industrial FB page. (basically my personal model railroading page...there are some things that aren't directly layout related.)   They are public so I think everyone can see them...lemme know if you are having trouble viewing the pics.    They aren't necessarily great, publish worthy pics but for modelling purposes I left some of the iffy ones in there.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=mockind&set=a.1262393420823999

[Spades]

Doug

Thanks for providing the photos

[squirrelhunter]

Doug, thank you for the link to the photo album, those will be very helpful!

[Rivet Miscounter]

No problem!   I may come across a few more here and there so I'll update if so.   I also have a lot of collected photos of the area that aren't mine.   So if there is something specific you are looking for let me know.   I'll see if I can track down a link or otherwise get permission to post.  Mostly related to the Coke plant or areas closer to Mockingbird Yard.

[squirrelhunter]

So I need to post an update, I've revised the trackplan and the benchwork.

But I wanted to quickly note that I and the Airlawn Industrial Lead will be at the first ever Red River RPM in Fort Worth on June 26th. Link to the thread in the upcoming events forum:  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=52242.0

[squirrelhunter]

Ok, so the main update is I have slightly revised the track plan and benchwork. Originally I used two double modules, a quad and an inside corner for a total length of ten feet. Between starting to lay out the structures,roads and parking lots and running several op sessions, it became clear the west end if the layout where the lead joined with the Denton Branch was just too cramped. The structure layout was odd and switching all the east end industries required blocking Denton Drive.

So I assembled my last quad kit and used it to replace the two double modules and put one of the doubles on the other side of the corner module. This increased the length of the layout to about 11 feet.


Here is the Airlawn 1/American Signature Graphics/Vincent Metal Goods spurs before:


Here is the metal goods spur now:


I also did some mockups for the structures in the Coke plant by the corn syrup unloading tracks.




Sorry for the poor lighting...

[squirrelhunter]

So it has been months since the Red River RPM, but I have not had a chance to work on or much less run the Airlawn Lead since June. Just too many family and work commitments...

But I've finally got the layout mostly cleaned off, the track cleaned, and the DCC system hooked back up again. The picture at the top is a slightly revised mockup of the Coke plant. I'm happy with the size/placement of the building and foundation. So next step is to start building the actual structure.

Also, please excuse the steam era freight cars, I re-trucked  them and  I'm switching with them to see how they do before they get cleared to go to shows on the T Trak layout.