Inspiration brick company example

Below is a turn of the century (the previous one) brick company that existed in Pennsylvania.  It was the Fallston Fire Clay company and apparently was in business between 1891 and 1922.  As you can see it is against a low mountain with inclines to the clay pits on the mountain.  The ovens to the right are the early traditional round kilns. This arrangement is similar to what I am building except my pit is on a low hill against a small mountain and I use an arial tram instead of an incline, partly because the pit is on the other side of mainline track and because for me an incline would be overkill.

Fallston Fire Brick Company

In the event it is meaningful to you, the lower clay pit is "Lower Kittanning clay" and the upper is "Freeport clay", which are geological designations much the same as used to designate coal deposits.

Aerial Tram System

The 1911 advertisement below illustrates the general type of aerial tram system I am installing for my brickworks.

In my case I have implemented a single bucket system since I have a low volume business and, more importantly because it was easier to build.  There was a time when I would have driven myself crazy doing the most sophisticated model i could build, but time and age have moderated my activities.  I am finishing up the clay pit and derrick to be posted in due time.

Brickworks rail truck

As mentioned before, I decided to build a rail truck to move the brickworks rail cars around the plant.  In earlier more prosperous days the plant had a small steam locomotive for moving the cars but time and deterioration made the loco too expensive to use, and the plant itself had become smaller (at least that is my story and I am sticking to it).  The loco is scratch built using a few commercial parts, and parts of parts, as well as styrene and wood for the rear platform.  The rail wheels are from an SS Ltd mine car and are like those on the brickworks cars.  The truck is rail only with no highway wheels.  The engine is a metal casting from an unknown source with sparkplug "wires" added.  The engine compartment has no sides as constant maintenance made them an impediment.  Their are several detail parts on the back deck - a barrel, an oil can, a blowtorch, a sledge hammer, and a large wrench.  There are two connector chains hanging on the rear wall for use in connecting the rail truck to the cars.

This little rail truck was a fun project, and since it is HO most of the details will be hard to see when it is on the layout, but I will know they are there.

Brick works plant track

I will be installing 2 foot gauge industrial plant track in the brick works for moving materials around the plant such as with the clay dump car and the wet brick rack car.  I debated what to use as the "power" for moving these cars.  I decided that the brick works I am building is too small to justify an industrial locomotive.  I then considered manpower and horse/animal power and decided that was a weak idea.  I have settled on using a rail truck for power.  Not having any kit for this I am scratch building a rail truck.  The rail truck is under construction.

The other requirement is the track.  Since this will be a non-operational rail capability I have decided to build the track from styrene as it will be easier to work with for the tight curves than trying to use metal rail plus I need 2 foot gauge track..    Below is a description of industrial track from an 1893 C W Hunt catalog.

C W Hunt was a major supplier of industrial equipment in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Their track was supplied with steel ties.  While the catalog does not specify, I suspect the track was sold as sectional pieces.  Note that in addition to switches they provided small track "turntables"for change of direction where switches might take too much space.  The item in the lower right is labeled "special fish joint".  I guess the term fish plates that we use for our model railroads is appropriate.  

Brick making shed completed

The shed is now complete and ready to be installed on the layout.  After fiddling around with the roof I decided to install it permanently rather than making it removable - too much trouble.  I used the Builders in Scale faded gray roofing tar paper which I happened to have on hand.  One nice aspect of this product is that it is gray on one side and black on the other and leaves no white edge when cut.  While I have made my own roofing many times in the past this was easier.

Now that this is complete, I will move on to other parts of the brick company.

Brick making shed progress less roof

My brick making shed is almost complete, mostly awaiting the roof.  I have left the shed very open to allow the interior details to be seen once it is on the layout.  It contains the two brick making machines, a stove for heat ( a challenge since it is so open), a water pipe from the adjoining water tank, a wheel barrow of clay, and various small details.  I plan to make the roof removable as I have done on other models but once on the layout the roofs are seldom removed.  Interior details seem to be more for self satisfaction rather than any practical future viewing.

There is one figure in the shed made from a cheap Plasticville plastic figure.  Once the flash is removed, the thick base cut off, and the figure painted and weathered it actually looks pretty good.  The weathering is gray chalk used to tone down the bright paint.  The painting consists of a sprayed gray enamel covered with various colors of flat acrylic paint.

Brick making shed in progress

The shed for the brick making machines is progressing slowly.  I am leaving it open to a large degree so the brick machines and details will be visible.  The sides where there are studs will be covered with vertical siding as is the one side away from the camera.  No paint on these boards!  All wood is merely stained with a light india ink and alcohol mix.

Crisfield Maryland Railroad Station 1919

This photo shows the railroad station at Crisfield Maryland in 1919.  Crisfield was served by the Eastern Shore Railroad, a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad.  In those days Crisfield was known as the seafood capitol of the world, and shipped plenty of oysters, crabs and fish.  You can see the station was located right next to the water.  This would make for a really nice modeling scene with the railroad and water adjacent.