Steam pump company complete

I have completed the steam pump company structure.  I have named it "Hott Steam Pump Company".   It is difficult to come up with names for these industries so I do what I can.  Apparently Mr. Hott started this company in 1902 and it is still going strong in 1939.

Above is the track side of the industry.  There is a finished pump on a pallet on the loading dock awaiting shipment.  The rusty metal roofing shows it's age.  You can see the two tilt out windows and a small stack for the office heating stove.

Here is an end view showing the company sign.  There is a sign on both ends.

This is the other side which is open for viewing the interior.  At the left you can see the removable side wall.

The above photo shows the removable wall attached to the structure.  The two end columns form brackets to hold the wall to the structure.

My next task is to design and build a small engine and boiler house to provide power for the line shaft which drives the belts.  The engine/ boiler house will be at the right end of the main structure.  You can see the end of the line shaft protruding from the right end wall just below the roof line.

Modified Jordan truck

I paused my structure build momentarily to build an old Jordan plastic kit I had sitting around.  My intent is to have the truck backed into the steam pump company preparing to get a load.  I have built many of the Jordan vehicles and have a stash of them from years ago.  These old versions are somewhat annoying to build, something I hope has been corrected with the newer kits.  This kit is a 1923 Mack truck chassis (just a cab and frame).  The kit approach to the Mack logo on the front of the truck was to have you cut out the printed logo from the instructions and glue it on - pathetic!  I skipped that step.  I built up the frame and added a wood bed from strip wood with a simulated iron plate at the front of the bed made from a small piece of styrene.

I added a license plate on the rear and dusted the truck with some red/brown chalk for a slight rust effect.  The wood strips on the bed were lightly distressed and dipped in my A/I mixture to age them.
 

Steam pump company detailed

I have completed detailing the interior of the steam pump company (I think).  Interior detailing is fun but a challenge to view when the structure is complete.  The line shaft and belt driven machinery are only on the open side of the building.  There are four figures in the shop; one working on the lathe, one making adjustments on a completed pump, one in the back at a work bench, and the last is a manager standing in front of the office.  I added lots of small detail parts scattered around the shop for a littered appearance typical of shops of that time.

I also installed a wood loading dock on the back side of the structure along with a sliding door.

I still need to add the corrugated metal roofing panels as well as the tilt-out window sections.  I also need to add signage.  I have not yet decided on a name for this industry.  There may be other details to be added before I move on to the steam boiler and engine needed to drive the line shaft.  They will be located in a small structure outside of the left end of the structure as seen above.

Vintage railroad weed-burning cars

This is a break from my slow construction of the steam pump company, which is still progressing.  These early railroad weed-burning cars (approximately 1900 - 1905) were crude by todays standards but interesting.

The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie railway car was built on an ordinary flat car.  The front end contained a steam boiler and engine.  A sprocket chain connecting the engine shaft and car axle made it self-propelling.  In the center was a water tank used both for the boiler and for extinguishing accidental fires.  On top of the water tank was two air reservoirs to supply pressure to spray oil into the burners.  At the rear was a compartment with an oil tank.  At the very end was a set of adjustable burners.

 An adjustable iron plate burner shield behind and beneath the burners protected the car from the flames and directed them to the intended location.  The car was operated by a crew of two men; one to operate the engine and one to operate the burners.

Another car used on the Chicago Great Western railroad consisted of a platform at the rear end of a boxcar.  It was also self-propelling in a similar manner.

Other roads of the time arranged the weed-burning apparatus on a flat car which was moved over the track by a locomotive - a more expensive solution over time.

Some roads of the time (including the Southern Pacific) specified that during the grass-growing season only so much grass and weeds were to be removed as necessary to keep the rails clear.  At the end of the growing season the vegetation was more completely removed and kept that way until the start of the next growing season.  I guess some track areas of the time were somewhat weedy looking.

Steam pump company progress

I have made progress on my steam pump company though it has been slow.  Interior detail always seems to take more time than just building a structure.  After fiddling with interior lighting I decided to skip it since the very open clerestory windows on the roof made it too hard to hide the wiring.

I have added roof substructure everywhere but the lower front, and that will go on after I install the belt drive shaft and machinery belts along this side.  I will be adding more detail parts including several assembled steam pumps along with steam pump parts.  You can see the gantry crane on it's framing just left of center.  The roof will be covered with corrugated metal sheets.  I  will try at a later time to get some close-up photos of various parts of the interior.

The nice warm weather we are having is requiring a good bit of my time in the yard outside.  Lots of things growing outside now - grass, weeds, flowers...........   Some good, some not so good.

Storage bins for steam pump company

These bins were common in industries and railroad repair facilitates in the early 1920's and even later depending on how the company modernized.  These vintage photos are from the Santa Fe facility in Topeka.

These storage bins were arranged longitudinally to allow the foreman to have a view of the floor.

The above storage bins were for tools and small parts.

I built a similar but much smaller bin for my steam pump company.  I made the bin from card stock and at this point it is only painted - no weathering and no parts in the bin sections.

While I made storage partitions on each side of the bin, only one will be visible when the side of the structure is removed.  Sadly when blown up for this posting the defects not really visible when viewing the model in person really show up.  This bin is 3/4 inch high.  Oh well.

I have installed the gantry crane in the building so progress is being made.

As an addition to this post, here is the bin with some weathering and filled with "stuff".

The stuff in the bin is mostly cast metal scrap, but inside the structure it will be indistinguishable.