I was reviewing the photos I shot at the Havelock yard last Saturday. In one I saw, peeking out from behind a foreground hopper, what looks like a hopper with some sort of space themed graffiti or mural painted on. I've marked the section with the red arrow.
I didn't notice that car when I was there, but it was so far back in the yard I probably wouldn't have gotten a better view anyway. I'll be on the lookout for it just in case it shows up again, and hopefully it'll be on a track close to the parking lot.
The next task was mocking up the passing tracking near the shore. This could be built from a pair of left and right switches, but I wanted something more streetcar-like, which for me meant something like the passing tracks on the Morecambe Tramway.
Let me digress a bit. I'm told my great-grandfather on my mother's side was an inspector on the Morecambe Tramway, but his career came to an abrupt end when he slipped off a tram one day and permanently injured his foot. So, I've been curious about that tramway, and have tried to study its history. This passing track arrangement isn't unique to Morecambe, but it's applied in a few places on its old route, so I thought I'd use something similar on my layout.
I've built mine using a pair of Atlas Custom-Line Mark IV wye switches with short sections of curved track attached to each branch cut from Atlas 18" radius curved Snap-Track such that the passing tracks are parallel. I was concerned that there might be an electrical short in this configuration, but it seems to work just fine. Here's a little snippet of a DC powered streetcar negotiating a pass.
The string of hoppers extended all the way down past the station.
As you can imagine just about all the cars were marked with graffiti. This one, with graffiti covering the entire side, was the most impressive.
But, there were a couple that looked like they were brand new and just driven off the lot. No doubt this one's a new canvas for somebody.
As I sauntered down the line I took some time to glance across the highway to see what I might see. And what I saw was the Wildflower Bakery & Cafe.
There was a steady stream of cars pulling up to this place, so I figured it must be good, and it was very good.
Here I am risking my life in the middle of the road outside the bakery to prove it's just a stone's throw from the yard - you can see the hoppers in the distance - so, if you're in Havelock for a little train watching, do yourself a favour and pop over to the bakery*.
*Fine print: I'm not a shill, just a happy customer.
Ma's Place was the 4th E. L. Moore project to be made into a kit by AHM. I had built 2 Ma's Place kits, and a Billy's Auto Body derivative, a long time ago, and was curious to see how the plastic version compared to the original.
Detail-wise, I didn't build mine completely box-stock. I got rid of the base, added wider front steps, changed the signage, put in lots of support blocks, and added a crooked metal chimney. However, I didn't change the basic size and shape of the building.
Overall, the kit is pretty close to the original, as it should be. And the original seems to have survived the years pretty well - all that's missing is the backdoor. The model was finished on 1 October 1965, Mr. Moore submitted a manuscript describing its construction to Railroad Model Craftsman on 11 September 1966, and it was published in the January 1967 issue.
I must admit the kit's window frame moldings look a little chunky. Even though the original uses the old method of inking on the window mullions, they and the surrounding frames look a bit finer and more to scale.
The roof uses the old method of burning in a shingle pattern with a wood-burning tool. Again, the patterning seems a little more refined than the kit's plastic shingle moldings.
I set to work on the weekend taking apart the Ocean Park module for trash pickup today. It's only been around for a year-and-a-half or so, which made me wonder if it was a waste of time and effort.
Yes and no I guess. Yes, in that it was never scenicked, and didn't get used very much. No, in that I learned a lot about module construction and the use of foam as a base material. In fact, taking it apart wasn't an easy task, and I found the module, and the test track loop, to be quite rigid and strong. This gives me confidence that an all foam layout base will be sufficient for the new layout. Not to mention that this helped me keep my mind off lockdown.
So, getting rid of these pieces is also my way of getting rid of what became my lockdown layout, and getting on with things now that the covid wave seems to be subsiding.
Well, that's that. The pieces have been moved from the garage to the curb awaiting their final ride to the great layout room in the sky - or the dump :-)
I was reviewing the photos I shot at the Havelock yard last Saturday. In one I saw, peeking out from behind a foreground hopper, what looks like a hopper with some sort of space themed graffiti or mural painted on. I've marked the section with the red arrow.
