Tannery model preliminary sketch

Years ago I used to draw detailed plans when I scratch built a model.  Then I realized I always made modifications to each model, sometimes big changes for which I seldom if ever made a revised plan.  Eventually I decided that the plans were mostly a waste of time.  Then I began to use only a sketch of what I intended to build.  The sketch takes far less time and still gives me a concept to work from.  Sometimes I make a cardboard mockup - mostly to determine the most pleasing or effective size and impact on the surrounding scenery.  Does this result in mistakes - oh yes, but then so did the detailed plans.  There is no shame in tossing all or part of a model you are building and starting over or making significant revisions.  This is after all a hobby and the fun is in the building even if it is a do-over.

So....  I have made a rough sketch of my tannery complex, which is not just one big building but rather a complex of specialized buildings each designed to accommodate the function being performed inside.    It thus is important to understand what function is permed in each building.  You should also realize that this tannery complex will be a highly condensed version of what size an actual tannery would be - a typical situation for most models.  Here is my sketch.  After doing several days of research, the sketch took about 30 minutes.

The layout space for my tannery is at an outside corner of the center peninsula of the layout.  It already has a track spur installed as seen in the drawing.  The buildings I am planning include a hide receiving shed (my hides will be received via rail), the leach house, the beam house, the engine room, the tanning pit house, the finishing room, and the boiler house.  This set of buildings and functions fit my time period of 1939.  The tannery in my 1939 time period has been around for quite a few years and is not new.  Since I will be recording the building of this tannery in the blog you will get a chance to see what changes (and mistakes) I may make.

Building a model tannery

My next big project is to build a tannery for my HO model railroad.  Years ago I bought the Fine Scale Miniatures tannery kit which I later decided was too silly to serve as a tannery, and so I sold it.  I have long collected old industrial books and industry postcards to assist in my modeling efforts and it seemed clear the FSM kit bore no resemblance to any of my references or anything I could find on the Internet.  I model the 1939 era so that influences the models I build.

The tannery industry is one of the oldest industries - heck, even the cavemen wore animal skins though their tanning skills were probably crude.  In the 1800s and early 1900s almost every town of any size had their own tannery.  Now there are few tanneries left in the US.  In the late 1960's my brother-in-law worked in a tannery in Maine for a while before getting a more desirable job.  Tanneries were smelly and used lots of nasty chemicals.

The postcard above shows a tannery in Endicott New York.  There is a tank car sitting on the rail spur to the tannery.  This is a much larger tannery than I intend to build.  I am now sketching out what i intend to build to fit the area available on my layout.

Logs in the bog

Logging apparently at the waters edge.  The loader is in the background probably on dry land, but the rails continue into the foreground in shallow water - sort of a bog.  A little animal assist is also in evidence.

Makes for an interesting scene.

MOW Car

Below is a photo of a maintenance of way car I cobbled up from two cheap plastic kits I had lying around - a Walthers flat car and an MDC old style tank car.  I enhanced the flat with paint, weathering and new metal grabs and mounted to tank car tank on one end of the deck.  On the other end of the flat i built a simple wood encloseure which i then filled with detail parts including a compressor, a pallet loaded with freight car parts, oil barrels, a ladder, compressed gas tanks, and a small cable drum.

Everything is heavily weathered - the way I like it.  Just a simple model from my imagination.

Skidder on flatcar

The skidder shown below appears to be a home built affair, probably incorporating a commercially available donkey engine for hoisting.

The flat car is from the Wisconsin Central, a predecessor to the Soo line.  Lumber and logging was a significant business for that line around the turn of the century (1899/1900).  The only visible means of holding the skidder to the flat (other than gravity) are some chins at the rear.

McGiffert in the woods

Here is a photo of the McGiffert on the layout in the logging area.  The logging is being done on the mountain in the center of the layout.  The mountain goes all the way to the ceiling and hides a support column.

Keep in mind the scale is HO and the track here is HOn3.