Steve B asked a question about the buildings on my layout so I thought I might start a thread.
Here is the current plan for the layout. I realize not while my selective compression is off and although I don't need to change the trackwork, I will have to adjust the street locations and some of the rim structures will fall off the layout.
What is going to make this layout interesting is that most of the buildings on the layout were destroyed in 1964, when the whole place was leveled to make way for the Courthouse, Police, and Fire Department Complex. However, some of the more interesting buildings were left standing. Still I need to find photos of the buildings at the time they were standing. This has proven challenging in that the local library and the Indiana Historical Society have little in the way of photos. Recently however, I heard that a stash of uncatalogued photos was donated to the Historical Society and that I might be given access.
Anyway, I fear my research has only started.
But let's start with the buildings still standing. Use the building code on the layout plan for reference.
6--The Indiana Community Building--Now the Indiana Free Library and home of the Jimmy Stewart Museum. This will be the tallest structure on the layout and probably the second hardest to build. But since it is still standing, I should be able to get a good representation.
I have pictures of several other buildings mostly houses and several other non-descript buildings that have been heavily remodeled that I am not including here.
18. Lauderbach, Barber and Company Wholesale Produce & Fruit--Now the Indiana County Annex Building--This building is highly misrepresented on the layout plan and should include both 18 and 19. It is a very long building that would go off the layout as drawn. I may have to abbreviate it's length on the layout.
This may be the first building I attempt to scratch even if I cannot find pictures. Even though it has been remodeled, it looks as though the windows are the original shape. If you look closely, you can see where the warehouse doors were located and I assume that the line that separates the basement from the building was the height of the dock.
20. Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corporation Offices--Now houses the smaller courtrooms used for civil litigation. This I suspect will be the hardest building to build accurately. Check out the detail. The third picture is a relief that is repeated all around the building. I don't know how I'm going to put it off...yet.
Now we start the what I have of the destroyed buildings.
4. Stewart Hardware. Because of the fame of Jimmy Stewart and the fact that Indiana's current publicity theme is the home of Jimmy Stewart, I suspect that if I keep digging that I will be able to get some good representations of at least the front of the building. What to me is interesting is the interior area of the block, where it looks like contractors drove their trucks to pick up building supplies. Pictures of that area might be hard to come by, but we'll see.
10. The PRR station. This photo was taken of the Indiana Gazette paperboys, but still gives a pretty good detail of the station
All of the photos have the look that the last photo has of the ground area leading me to believe that the paved areas might be brick, but in asking the old-timers in the area, I only got vague recollections like, there was around the station house, or around the freight house.
In this aerial photo taken in 1938, look at the areas around the station and freight house and notice how extremely bright they are. My suspicion is that these areas are yellow brick. However, other photos, such as the one above, make me think that there was a combination of yellow and red brick and that the streets are red brick. Although, I have not seen a lot of red brick in the buildings.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Okay, I guess everyone is waiting for pictures of the layout. this is how it stands as of 11/18/07.
The over all dimensions of the layout are 30" by 156"
The bus line is #12 solid wire and the feeders are #18 solid wire.
The track is Atlas Code 83 and the turnouts are #4 Fast Tracks using Micro Engineering Code 83 rails. The fact that I didn't use ties--I thought all the turnouts were in the street except one--might turn out to bite me. Looking at the second picture of Stewart's Hardware and the picture of the station above, you clearly see the rails.
I added Oak fascia early so I could mount the Hump Yard Switches.
Very neat and nice work, Chip. I hope you have a ton of fun with this. It looks like it should be.
-Crandell
Wayzata Modeler wrote:Question on your humpyard switches. Why are the cables running over the layout and not under? I am using humpyard switches as well - did you paint the handles (grey)? Great look - I think I will do the same!
I wanted the switcher to have the effect of running under a waterfall.
Actually I was still in the process of hooking them up.
The handles are painted a flat silver to model the way the Pennsy used them.
Mr. Mouse:
Around here at least, both the PRR and P&LE used yellow brick for station paving.
And look here: seven down on left
http://cgi.ebay.com/Train-Depots-4-Pa-55-postcards-on-CD-Railroad-cd53_W0QQitemZ160070411700QQihZ006QQcategoryZ20232QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Or this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Indiana-County-Pa-40-Postcards-on-CD-History-cd135_W0QQitemZ160041267661QQihZ006QQcategoryZ20232QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
KL
Wow Kurt!
I think I just made a purchase!
Thanks Crandell,
This weekend was pretty grueling. I only got 8 of the 10 hump yard switches done. The first 6 were singles and took about an hour a piece. The last four turn two turnouts each. The first double took 3 hours. The second double took 8 hours. Everything that could have gone wrong did.
The following shows the cable work for three of the switches. I know it looks ugly, but when it is covered in brick or whatever is in that part of the layout, it will look just fine.
I also got the backdrop cut, the backside painted midnight blue and the front painted with the base coat. Tomorrow, I'll take my camera and try to sneak into a couple high rise offices and get pictures of the background land structures and the older larger buildings that would have been around in 1950.
SpaceMouse wrote: This weekend was pretty grueling. I only got 8 of the 10 hump yard switches done. The first 6 were singles and took about an hour a piece. The last four turn two turnouts each. The first double took 3 hours. The second double took 8 hours. Everything that could have gone wrong did.
Looks like you're having a lot of fun, Chip!!
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Brunton wrote: SpaceMouse wrote: This weekend was pretty grueling. I only got 8 of the 10 hump yard switches done. The first 6 were singles and took about an hour a piece. The last four turn two turnouts each. The first double took 3 hours. The second double took 8 hours. Everything that could have gone wrong did. I'll bet you had quite a sense of satisfaction when that 8-hour job finally worked right! Looks like you're having a lot of fun, Chip!!
Now that I think back on it, I'd just as soon it went smoothly. I'm perfectly capable of creating my own challenges, thank you very much.
SpaceMouse wrote: Brunton wrote: SpaceMouse wrote: This weekend was pretty grueling. I only got 8 of the 10 hump yard switches done. The first 6 were singles and took about an hour a piece. The last four turn two turnouts each. The first double took 3 hours. The second double took 8 hours. Everything that could have gone wrong did. I'll bet you had quite a sense of satisfaction when that 8-hour job finally worked right! Looks like you're having a lot of fun, Chip!! Now that I think back on it, I'd just as soon it went smoothly. I'm perfectly capable of creating my own challenges, thank you very much.
I've had bosses over the years try to downplay some difficult work ordeal as "Ah, it'll help you build character." I point at my crows feet and receding hairline and say: "See this? Trust me, I don't need any more 'character'".
SpaceMouse wrote: I think I just made a purchase!
I would check to make sure which CD has the Indiana station on it before buying. That guy uses the same images to illustrate all his station CDs. I just used the first one that came up when searching.
Kurt_Laughlin wrote: SpaceMouse wrote: I think I just made a purchase!Mr. Mouse:I would check to make sure which CD has the Indiana station on it before buying. That guy uses the same images to illustrate all his station CDs. I just used the first one that came up when searching.KL
I have my grain of salt handy.
SpM:
So the whole left end of the city pulls out to line the staging-yard tracks? Ingenious! I think this could work out very well - the staging is somewhat camouflaged, so the magic isn't lost, but it's not hard to get at. Do you think it will be tough to get 3 tracks to line up at one time?
As for the pavement, perhaps you could track down somebody in the Indiana, PA water department, or the local gas company, that might remember what they dug down through around the old station area. Those bricks might well be down there, if they were bricks. Could those bright city streets have been concrete?
I have modeled layered building detail, such as the Coal Corp. and Stewart Hardware have, using laminated layers of cutout cardboard (matboard, posterboard, or even Cheerios-derived). You could certainly do the same with any suitable material. The sculptured detail could perhaps be etched (which I have never done), or obtained by cutting apart paper doilies, or embossed greeting cards. I'd look around the craft store, perhaps in the scrapbooking area. The general gewgawness would seem more important than literal duplication.
AutobusPrime wrote: SpM:So the whole left end of the city pulls out to line the staging-yard tracks? Ingenious! I think this could work out very well - the staging is somewhat camouflaged, so the magic isn't lost, but it's not hard to get at. Do you think it will be tough to get 3 tracks to line up at one time?
Actually, the plan was just to line one up--the one representing the train on one of the two main lines. But now that my right of way includes a steel pole, I'm just going to fiddle.
Great Idea.
A person on another site suggested I might take photos of the details and print them on card stock.
Very nice!
Dont worry about the time, it's the Journey!
I look forward to seeing your street crossing pictures.
This week I got the first layer of the backdrop. I had to mount it early because I'm moving from my office into a home office I am building and I have to rearrange my furniture to get my server set-up. My house will now have a Novell network and business DSL. Anyway, here is the base color installed.
I went up on top of my office building and took a couple pictures that will be the model for what it will eventually look like. The first is the view that will be the behind the above photos.
The next will be the view off the staging area. Eliminate the steeple in this picture and the big courthouse in the first. The courthouse is in the location of the layout on the map.
The above photos are taken on a cold clear day. This painting I did looks more like what the sky looks like in summer.