Plumbing supply company model

I have just finished my latest model - a plumbing supply company inspired by a well known photo of such a business in Brockton, Mass circa 1940 (close to my era of 1939).  My model does not resemble that company other than in spirit.  When I set the model in place on the layout I will surround it with plumbing items on the outside as in the Brockton photo.  This will give me the chance to use a bunch of  bathroom and kitchen detail parts I have acquired over the years.  While I have used some of these detail parts in the past for interior details, I have decided it is a waste since they are then difficult if not impossible to see.

  Above is the initial start to the model based a Design Preservations Models (DPM) freight house kit that I have had for years.  I cut out a section of two opposing walls to reduce the footprint and eliminate a second freight door.  I also turned one of the windows into a door as you can see above and squared the vent at the top of the roof peak.

As you can see, I added a clapboard wood second story to change the appearance of the freight station into something better resembling a business.  I have named this business "Barrett Plumbing Supply, New and Used" after the plumber we have been using.  Like the Brockton business I covered the outside with signs and posters.

I made the door on this side open a little and added a small wood porch.

The above view shows the rear of the structure (not viewable from the layout aisle) which is trackside.

This view shows the upper access door and the hoist for raising and lowering products. I put a burglar bar set on the window below the hoist to protect the window from items being hoisted or lowered.

Next I will be setting the structure in place on the layout and adding the exterior detail parts.  I will provide another photo or two once that is done.

Arizona copper company rail cars 1914

Below is one of the early 1914, 225 cu.ft. copper slag-pot cars made by the M. H. Treadwell company.  The Arizona Copper Company used them to carry slag waste from the copper smelting process to a dump area in the desert. The dumping mechanism is under the shield at the left end of the car.

The next photo shows a train being headed by Arizona Copper's 18-ton Baldwin-Westinghouse electric locomotives hauling two Kilbourne & Jacobs 20-ton larry cars for calcines, two slag pot cars, and a 165-cu.ft. larry car for transporting clinkers.  A really neat train.

The slag pot cars were similar to those used in steel mills.

Firehouse model

Well, the new firehouse is mostly complete.  I am still working on the weathering and some details, but since this has taken so long I thought I would get something posted.  It is an improvement on the old, temporary firehouse (photo at the end of this posting).  It is wider than the previous model but not quite as deep, consequently the fire engine in the old firehouse does not fit in here.  Not a problem as I have several other engines, some in need of repair and improvement so will work on that next.

The structure is almost entirely built of styrene, except the wood covered rear entrance.  The walls are made from a fairly thick sheet of styrene covered by Holgate & Reynolds brick sheeting.  I do not believe this brick sheeting is any longer available but I bought a supply years ago.  The decorative top on the front is built up from styrene strips of various size and width with four decorative plastic vertical pieces from some long forgotten kit on top.  The UFD (Uniontown Fire Department) letters are raised letters from a Slaters alphabet set (Slaters is a British firm).  The sign over the door was made from styrene strip with the lettered part being something I printed on my computer and glued to the styrene.  I  coated the printed sign with clear spray.  All windows and doors are made from styrene strip.  The bell tower on top was salvaged from the old firehouse as I thought it looked OK and not worth my time to build another.  The drain pipe on the right wall is made from heavy wire with a styrene collection box on top.

The stack is a piece of brass tube.  There is an access hatch on the back part of the roof.  Just inside of the main doors on the right is an enclosed staircase to the second floor.  My wife insisted I should have a fire pole inside but I declined as I do no think it would be visible with the fire trucks inside.  That said I did make there fireman's coats and hats hanging on the back wall.

Here you can see the coats hanging on the wall of the office at the rear of the building.  The coats were made from facial tissue wadded up and painted black.  The hats were made by rounding the end of a small dowel then cutting it off and gluing it to a small circle of paper - then painting the hat yellow.  Stuck an axe (made from card stock) on the wall over the coats.   The brown trash can by the office door is a section of small soda straw.

Here you can see the rear of the building with the enclosed wood entrance.  Originally I was going to leave the rear wall blank as it faces away from view but I decided to put on the rear entrance even though it will not be seen when the structure is placed on the layout.  I may put an open shed on the left wall for doing work on the engines.  

Above is the crappy old firehouse on the layout.  It has since been removed and stripped, to be thrown away.  

I will be doing some finish work on the new firehouse before it goes on the layout.  I keep busy.  

Wallaroo & Moonta Mines

I found these photos in a 1914 engineering book and thought they were interesting.  The  Wallaroo & Moonta Mines was located in South Australia.  They mined and smelted copper ore.

The photo above is a general view of the mines complex.  The ore was transported from the mining area to the smelter in the small four-wheel gondola dump cars seen in the foreground of the photo.  More of these cars can be seen at the right under the elevated trestle leading to a dump station for the smelter.  

Above is a Bucyrus steam shovel working in "the old dumps" of the Wallaroo and Moonta Mines. The shovel is loading one of the small dump cars.  I guess there were a lot of these cars as this one is numbered 233.  

The Wallaroo & Moonta Mines is long out of business.  

I am well along on the firehouse project so will post the results soon.