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Scratch building a depot

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Posted by pennytrains on Sunday, April 7, 2024 11:00 PM

I settled on something you probably wouldn't expect to see in a canal.  Panama maybe but not the Ohio and Erie!  Laugh

When all else fails, go with what you like.  Wink

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Posted by pennytrains on Sunday, April 7, 2024 11:41 AM

There's also a little beauty named "Schaarhorn'.  https://www.shipmodell.com/index_files/0PLAN7A1.html

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Sunday, April 7, 2024 10:44 AM

Under the category of things you probably didn't expect to hear today, is "after I finished ironing my water," I decided to put it in place since it will be a couple of days at least before I install the canal banks.  Paper, poster board, a lot of materials warp when you use water based paint.  A spray of water on the back side and an iron on its lowest setting flattens things back out again.

I also want some kind of boat down there.  I'm leaning towards a tug or small yacht.  Scroll till you see a tug named "Hermes": https://www.shipmodell.com/index_files/0PLAN7A3.html#8S

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, April 6, 2024 8:02 PM

I can see that Big SmileStar

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, April 6, 2024 5:31 PM

I don't know, to me it looks like a nebula WAAAAY out in the galaxy!  Alien

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, April 6, 2024 9:29 AM

Ya know, I could probably take this to a gallery where they would sell it for a lot of money as "high art in the style of Monet".  But to me it's just the muddy water in the canal!  Wink

 

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, April 4, 2024 3:18 PM

pennytrains

Wink. The Ohio and Erie Canal to be specific Big Smile. I figured nothing would be more bucolic than a lazy spot along the old waterway.

 

Hmmmm, lemme see here...

"I got a mule and her name is Sal, fifteen miles on the Ohioanderie Canal!"

Yeah, that works if you sqeeze the lyrics a bit!  Wink

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Posted by pennytrains on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 8:17 PM

Wink. The Ohio and Erie Canal to be specific Big Smile. I figured nothing would be more bucolic than a lazy spot along the old waterway.

Big Smile  Same me, different spelling!  Big Smile

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Posted by Michael6268 on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 8:01 PM

Ehhhh.   A canal.?

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Posted by pennytrains on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 12:12 PM

Can you un "lock" the mystery of what the poster board will represent? Wink

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 4:10 PM

That's a pretty good location for the depot, trains can always back in to offload passengers, it's been done. 

OR, the passenger hauling days are over and the depot is now a yard office. That happened as well.

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Posted by pennytrains on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 2:18 PM

Got the rails cleaned and tightened up today.  I also reassembled my bridges.  Up front on the O gauge line you can see an uncoupling section which, hopefully, will let me drop a load of cars and run the locomotive light to the turnout so it can back to the coaling tower.  Running to the milk platform would be more complicated since the o is slated to run clockwise.  But then that's what switchers are for!  Wink

And that's a tentative location for the depot, but I think I like it there.

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Posted by smokey1 on Friday, March 22, 2024 8:01 PM

Thumbs Up Very cool

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Posted by pennytrains on Friday, March 22, 2024 7:38 PM

And here's a link to some of the reference photos I used of local coaling towers.

https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/tag/coaling-towers/

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Friday, March 22, 2024 7:22 PM

I've been busy trying to help my neighbor with her extra credit science experiments so I haven't had as much time as I'd like to build structures.  She's a special needs kid and if she doesn't get some extra credit she won't graduate on schedule.

So, I decided we'd do something I think I know just enough about to at least be dangerous if not actually able to educate on the subject.  Rocket science!  Laugh.  Of the baking soda & vinegar, air & water, stomp on a bottle and the blow through a straw varieties at least.  We'll probably also do thrust experiments with balloons and make a home made altitude calculator in our search to calculate just how much baking soda and vinegar would be required to launch her baby doll into orbit Laugh

Anyhow, when I'm not trying to figure out how to do that stuff, I've reinvented my layout yet again.  I was tired of curves that don't let my passenger sets stretch out so having a straight tangent up front was a priority.  I added some curves to a siding today though:

And here's the big one:

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, March 22, 2024 9:51 AM

Wow, that depot's coming out so well it's making me homesick for NJ! More than one old depot survives up there that looks so much like your scratchbuilt! 

And you know, that coaling tower on your layout has a VERY strong resemblence to a C&O tower that was still around in CSX's Fulton Yard here in Richmond in the 1990s.  And then one day it was gone without a trace.  Sad. 

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Posted by pennytrains on Thursday, March 21, 2024 12:44 PM

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 7:26 PM

Got the wood for the platform cut and glued to the poster board backing today.  I'm going to stain the wood with diluted acrylic paint before I permanently attach the depot.  Before that can happen I have to make the braces that go along the overhang of the roof and install the finishing trim to the wainscoting.  Installing lighting, stuff I probably haven't thought about yet and chimneys can come later.  I also want a train order semaphore permanently installed but it will be of the non operating variety.

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Sunday, March 3, 2024 9:09 PM

Thanks guys!  Big Smile

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Posted by fifedog on Saturday, March 2, 2024 9:54 PM

Nice details. Truly a depot like no other I've seen. Dinner

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Saturday, March 2, 2024 4:13 PM

Oh wow, some "carpenter's gothic!"  Nice!

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Posted by pennytrains on Saturday, March 2, 2024 3:34 PM

 

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Posted by pennytrains on Sunday, February 25, 2024 11:24 AM

Thanks!  I for one am not going anywhere! Wink

I ended up having to carefully peel back my masking tape roofing so I could spread Elmer's ProBond to supplement the weak adhesive on the tape.  Then, since I got glue on the top surface, I went ahead and installed the ridge vent and repainted the roof.

Yesterday I finished making the windows and now I'm making the trim for the ends of the roof.

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Posted by kblester on Saturday, February 24, 2024 2:24 PM

Hope this is continuing to go well for you. There are those following who enjoy this hobby.

Well wishes to all members of the forum.

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Posted by pennytrains on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 11:33 AM

Besides the photo I linked in my first post, I've seen this one that's a bit on the dark side:

https://imagesandarchives.com/products/old-large-historic-photo-latty-ohio-the-railroad-station-depot-c1950

And this one that's also a bit dark in the Arcadia Publishing book "Railroad Depots of Northwest Ohio" by Mark J. Camp.

It almost looks like a section of rail flange in the one with the boy with his head cocked to one side.

I'll probably make it as a "T" shaped strip of cardstock with end caps added and paint it the same shade as the roof.

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Posted by 8ntruck on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 10:57 PM

I did some Googling and turned up a couple pictures of that depot th a showed that feature both on the track side and street side.  It appeared to run the length of the building stopping maybe 3 feet from each edge of the roof.

One was picture was dated 1950.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 4:15 PM

I concur with 8ntruck it's got to be a block to keep snow and ice from sliding off the roof. 

If it was short and over a doorway I'd say it was a rain diverter, I've seen new houses like built like that instead of gutters.

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Posted by pennytrains on Monday, February 19, 2024 9:32 PM

Latty, Paulding county, Ohio.  Definitely an area that sees plenty of snow and ice.

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Posted by 8ntruck on Sunday, February 18, 2024 9:44 PM

Maybe a metal ice dam/snow stop - kind of like an upside down rain gutter.  The shape of it looks like rain runofffrom the roof would flow over it but it would discourage snow from sliding off?  The ends are capped to exclude birds and other critters?

Do you have a location for the station in your picture?

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