Canton, Highlandtown and Fells Point - Compact layout

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Where are all of the boarded up ones located? 
That's just sad.  Outwardly, they look to be in pretty good condition.  Are they to be torn down or is that just the wrong side of the tracks now?

Most of east and west Baltimore, sadly.
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.296866,-76.588594,3a,75y,0.5h,82.39t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sp1PrTYaMPMhPdXvsK5GZMg!2e0

[wm3798]

Gary, I'll have to perfect my technique for applying N scale Formstone!

I use a good metal straight edge, and score the outside surface with a sharp X-acto, repeat, then snap.  I use sandpaper on a flat surface to smooth the edge.

If you're doing the two facades on the same elevation, you don't have to snap them apart.  Just monkey with the finishes per Gary's photos, or change the cornice on one and voila!

Lee

[wazzou]

Most of east and west Baltimore, sadly.
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.296866,-76.588594,3a,75y,0.5h,82.39t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sp1PrTYaMPMhPdXvsK5GZMg!2e0

Have thugs just taken the area over and forced people to find safer areas to live?

[Dave V]

Man, Lee, am I glad you're back in the train room!  Few of us have your "eye" for locale and era, and even fewer can pull it off like you do.

I miss the WM, but this makes me miss it less!

[davefoxx]

Man, Lee, am I glad you're back in the train room!  Few of us have your "eye" for locale and era, and even fewer can pull it off like you do.

I miss the WM, but this makes me miss it less!

Hear, hear!

DFF

[GaryHinshaw]

Have thugs just taken the area over and forced people to find safer areas to live?

The Wire is required viewing to better understand the underside of modern-day Baltimore.

[DeltaBravo]

Lee,
 Do you plan to do custom Canton Railroad locomotives?

[jpec]

Lee,

Do you remember the DPM part number for the wall sections you're using?

Jeff

[wm3798]

Thanks guys.  It's good to be back in the saddle. 

I won't go into my various theories as to why Baltimore is faltering...but here are a few facts. 

There are neighborhoods that do thrive, my daughter lives off of Patterson Park, and the area is teeming with yuppies and hipsters.  This pocket is surrounded by the neighborhoods featured in The Wire, though.  There are thousands of condos being developed around the harbor, but I'm not 100% sure what people who live there do for a living...  Manufacturing is all but dead, there hasn't been a production beer brewed in over 30 years, (although some outstanding micro brews have come along now that the city/state has lightened the draconian restrictions on such establishments) and there isn't a Fortune 500 company left with a Maryland address... 

These rowhouses were once peopled by families with Polish, Irish, Italian and German surnames, who worked by the 10s of thousands at Bethlehem Steel, Western Electric, Proctor and Gamble, General Motors, and Esskay Meats.  All of the above are gone, as are most of the jobs.  There are glimmers, though.  Under Armour is based in Baltimore in the old P&G plant, for instance.

The economy of Fells Point has been focused on drunken sailors since the late 17th century, and proudly continues that tradition, although the sailors now come from the suburbs in their mom's BMWs, instead of from Greece and Russia on tramp steamers.  And most of the industrial buildings along the Canton waterfront have been converted into high rent condos.

As for kit part numbers, I haven't a clue.  But if you find some of the mid size two story buildings with four windows across the back wall, you've found it.

I'm experimenting with using their modular walls as a base for more.  Pictures shortly.

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The Wire is required viewing to better understand the underside of modern-day Baltimore.

Not just Baltimore, but most cities.

But, it goes back many, many years. The Wire shows symptoms of a chronic disease that's the flip side of the "Long Boom" of post-WWII America.

As we became more affluent, we abandoned cities for suburbs (for a whole host of reasons that I don't really have time to get into on a Thursday morning when I should be coding), leaving behind ruins such as these.

In large parts, what isn't left to ruin is now occupied by the latest group to populate it who were too late to take part of that long boom ascendency. With limited economic options, it falls further into disrepair.

There's bright spots, of course. Cities are generally growing again, full of younger professionals who have realized that wasting 2+ hours in a car commuting every day is a raw deal just to have a big lawn. There are parts of Baltimore that have become pretty vibrant places, but most of the time, the tracks don't run through them.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

There are thousands of condos being developed around the harbor, but I'm not 100% sure what people who live there do for a living...  Manufacturing is all but dead, there hasn't been a production beer brewed in over 30 years, (although some outstanding micro brews have come along now that the city/state has lightened the draconian restrictions on such establishments) and there isn't a Fortune 500 company left with a Maryland address... 

Well, there's this: http://baltimoretech.net/blog/category/companies/

Baltimore actually has a great interactive and tech community. Sure, it doesn't employ 10,000s of low to medium skilled people, but it does contribute significantly to the city's vibrancy.

Also, these guys are still here on Joppa Rd, right up the street from my house with a huge office:
http://www.stanleyblackanddecker.com/

And a few others: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/blog/lists/2013/09/baltimores-largest-private-companies.html?page=all

[GaryHinshaw]

Didn't for a second intend to imply that it was all bad in Balmer, or that the Wire would provide a complete understanding of its ills.

I'm definitely looking forward to Lee's depiction!

[wm3798]

Stanley-Black and Decker chose Connecticut for their corporate HQ after the merger.  There are still a hand full of functions carried out at Joppa Road, but they've closed their manufacturing plants in Maryland and moved most of the corporate functions.  I think they still have a warehouse in Hampstead, but that's pretty much a shell of what it once was, too.

But I digress...

Meanwhile back on S. Linwood Avenue... work progresses.



Added foundations and cornices up the block.  You can see the experimental modular flat... pretty successful, I dare say, and quite a bit easier than the standard DPM in terms of workability.  The cornices are from a strip of wooden dollhouse door trim I had floating around.  I was unhappy with the steps I built on the first unit, I'll be doing a long strip of more precisely modeled steps, then cutting sections for each house.  The first unit's cornice will stay, having been "remodeled" with cheap, low maintenance materials!



Here's your peek behind the curtains at how I assembled the block.  Basically scraps of strip stock used to tab it together, leaving room for window glass to be install after the interior is shot black for light leaks.  After that, I'll build a 3/4" deep frame (this is a backdrop flat) so I can add the requisite interior lighting.

And the street view...


I think I'll paint some faux formstone on one of the units.  If you listen carefully, you can hear Chuck Thompson calling the play by play as Brooks snags a sharp grounder, turns and fires to Belanger covering 2nd, then on to Boog to complete the double play...  Ain't the beer cold!

Lee

[jpec]

Thanks, Lee...I thought those might be modular parts. Guess I'll start looking through the pile of unbuilt DPM stuff I have. They do have a modular wall with a lower and upper door that could be used to make row houses, not just very Baltimore-ey ones.
Baltimore suffers from what happened to a lot of blue collar neighborhoods. The success of the middle class enabled them to head for the suburbs and the loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector finished it off but as Ed noted, young people are taking advantage of the bargains that can still be had and revitalizing neighborhoods. They did the same in D.C. but it exploded so fast it went from nobody wants to live here to nobody can afford to live here in a decade...

Chuck was great to listen to, especially after the Senators left D. C. He was in that rare class with Jon Miller and Vin Scully...he didn't call a game, he painted a picture. I stay up sometimes and listen to them doing Dodgers and Giants broadcasts...

Jeff

[wm3798]

The only one that's made from a modular part is the red one.



Here's the kit the back walls were taken from.

Lee