Factory model building #2

Building number two of the factory is now complete (unless I make changes or additions).  Building #2 will be to the right of building #1 with an alley between them.   There will also be two elevated and enclosed walkways between the buildings - that will be a little tricky.

The other side of this building will be against the wall.  The vertical wood column on the right is an external elevator - this is an old factory building and originally had no elevator.  One of the elevated walkways will attach to the left of the two third floor windows.  The other one will be attached to the wall to the left you cannot see and will be at the forth floor level.

The ladder against the top of the elevator is for access to the elevator roof hatch for maintenance.

As you can see I decided this will be a paper box factory - an old term for cardboard boxes.  I will probably make a few boxes to litter around the outside of the buildings.  I like making litter for my models.

Limestone mining 1939

This photo shows the locomotive and cars of the Greer Limestone Company at their mine in 1939.  That is the year I model but I have no room on my layout for a limestone mine.  The loco appears to me to be perhaps a fireless cooker as I see no tender or coal compartment at the back of the loco.  I thought most limestone mining was done from an open pit quarry but this one has a mine opening in the hillside.

 This company was (and is) located in West Virginia.  Those cars look like they have seen some rough usage.  Even when I see a freight train go buy these days, the gons always appear to be the most beat-up.

A modeling tip:

A friend of mine thought this might be of interest.  I use mostly white glue in my modeling and I used to get frustrated that after some usage, the tip of the glue bottle would get clogged up and need to be cleaned.  Pouring the glue from the bottle on to my model work also frequently produced more glue than I wanted.

Quite some time ago I decided to use a toothpick or a 6 1/2 inch wood applicator to get the glue from the opened glue bottle and apply it to the model.  This works really well for me.  I also use a small square of glass to hold a large dab of glue, then use the toothpick to pick up the amount of glue I want to apply to the model.   This may not be new to you but for what it is worth .....

Factory building #1 complete

The factory building #1 is now complete - I think.  Building #2 will occupy the footprint identified by the manila colored cardstock.   The alley runs between the two buildings.  The chimney goes in the corner - the right side will be against the wall.  There will b e two elevated walkways between the buildings.  One will attach at the third floor level to the left of the vertical vent, and the other at the forth floor level above the right set of windows.  All lower floor windows have been fitted with metal security grills.

Below is an updated view of the left side of the building.

Progress on building #2 is in progress.  I am still contemplating what this factory manufactures.

Long Valley Coal Company

The Long Valley Coal Company was built in western Pennsylvania in the 1800s.  I believe it no longer existed by 1900, whether it was abandoned or absorbed into another company I do not know.  In those times entrepreneurs started many small coal mining companies.  It was apparently quite easy to start a business in those days - something that is quite hard these days.

The photo above shows a small loco with a string of very small coal cars in front of the blacksmith shop of the Long Valley Coal Mine company.

The wider view above shows what appears to be the same train again in front of the blacksmith shop plus a clear view of some of these small coal cars.  The logs could be for railroad ties or perhaps mine support beams.

This photo shows an elevated plane which I believe brought loaded coal cars down the mountain from the mine so they could be hauled off by the loco.  Elevated planes were quite common in the mountainous western part of Pennsylvania in those days.  Even the city of Pittsburgh had a number of  what they called inclines which carried passengers and even vehicles up and down the high cliffs surrounding the city.  You can see the point near the top of this incline where cars going up can pass cars going down.

And last here is a view of the miners residences (shacks?) in a roughly cleared area.

Factory model started

The factory model is almost half way complete.  This post should give some idea of what I am trying to do.  As I mentioned before, my main goal with this model is to have a detailed alley between the parts of the factory and some elevated walkways between the factory buildings.  Here is the first part.

The "wing" on the left side is to separate this factory from the Platform Scale Company.  This building is sort of the shape of the Flat Iron Building.  The reason is to allow viewing of the alley on the right side of this building.  My original layout draft had the left and right buildings about the same size with all walls vertical to the room wall and parallel.  What I found with my card stock mockup was that the alley was not easily viewed as the factory model is at an inside corner of the layout, thus I modified the design to allow a straight view down the alley, which then turns to the right. The left wall of this building was made using a leftover wall from a Magnuson kit.  The Magnuson kits were made using resin and were not always good quality parts. This one needed a lot of "fixing".  The rest of the walls in this factory are and will be made using plastic brick sheet with a solid backing.  The roof above is partially completed.

Below is the rough ground layout drawing.

I have completed the left side building, not including the alley wall that turns to the right leading to where the chimney will be located.  The main purpose of the large and tall chimney is to disguise the corner of the room wall.

Below is a view of the other side of this building.

The gap between the 2nd and 4th floor windows on the right is where one of the elevated walkways will be located.  The wall extension on the right side will bend to the right.  The alley to the right will be out of view due to the second building.

I have not decided what this factory produces.  The billboard on the wall has nothing to do with what the factory produces.

Two HO vehicles

While working on my structures over the last week I also assembled a car and a truck just for variety. The car is a 1930s style Sylvan kit I bought some years ago.  They are relatively easy to build.  I painted the car gray and weathered it a little.  The truck was built from parts of an incomplete SS Ltd truck kit.  The parts were all in a plastic box I got from an estate.  The parts were a jumble and not all from the same kit.  There were duplicate type parts.  I added parts to complete it and made some from wood, plastic and card stock.  It is fairly heavily weathered.

I will eventually add a load to the truck when I decide what it will be used for.   There are lots of vehicles on my layout and I have two boxes of old style kits yet to build.  

I am still working on the factory.   It is more complex than I thought.   It is being built as two structures connected by elevated walkways.