SCRATCH BUILDING

All of my structures are scratch built; that is, they aren't built from kits.  However, I have made extensive use of commercial materials such as plastic brick sheets, doors, windows, etc.  Grandt Line has (had, anyway) S Scale doors and windows and in 1998 I acquired a supply that has lasted until now.  In fact, I'm down to my last window!

Also, I've done a bit of recycling.  My last three completed layouts have reflected where we lived, in order, Oregon, Idaho and Texas.  Some of the buildings that would be appropriate for one area didn't necessarily work in another, though most have served on all three layouts.  But I've reconfigured some in order to make them appropriate to a layout set on the Texas coast.  My Idaho layout had a feed mill and a grain elevator.  I combined the two buildings and added a dock to produce Southern Maritime Supply.  My power company service center incorporates sections from my Idaho passenger depot.

Trees were reused, too, though I could no longer use the autumn-hued deciduous trees from my Idaho layout, since my layout is set in April 1947 and there isn't much autumn color down here, anyway.  My Northwest fir trees were another casualty.

SOME BUILDINGS ON THE GULF HARBOR TERMINAL RAILWAY

 

Top: This is a model of a theater in Pasco, Washington where my mother worked as a teenager in the 1930s.  The movie billed, "My Favorite Brunette," was released in early April 1947, the exact month and year of the setting for my layout.

 

Second from Top:  The Hillier Hotel (named in honor of one of my sons-in-law) is a model based on a hotel in Lewiston, Idaho.

 

Third from Top:  The Gulf Harbor Methodist Church is based on a Lutheran church in Silverton, Oregon.  Since I happen to be Methodist, I changed the denomination...modeler's license, I guess!

 

Fourth from Top:  I modeled this Texaco station based on photos of a late-1930s station I found in a book on vintage gas stations.  Emily's Fine Fashions, in the background, is named after one of my granddaughters.

 

Bottom:  Another view of the Texaco station.  I fashioned the gas pumps out of balsa wood blocks and styrene.  The figures are from Artistta Associates S Scale offerings.  The Lazy Susan Café is a joke on my wife, Susie, who is most definitely not lazy!

THE POWER COMPANY

Top Photo: Harborland Power & Light west harbor service center.  This represents an aging structure.  The Reddy Kilowatt logo was used by electric utilities across the nation in the 1940s and later.

Middle Photo: Overall view of the Harborland Power & Light service center, including the utility pole storage, seen near the top of the photo.  The chain link fences were made using styrene rods, along with plastic screen purchased from a home improvement store.

Bottom Photo:  The main entrance to the Harborland service center yard is adjacent to the tail track at the far west end of the layout, across the street from the Texas Gulf Cotton Co.  The land side of Pier 2 is on the opposite side of the service center.

POWER COMPANY UPDATE

I'll post photos soon of my power company service center.  I found a Reddy Kilowatt logo and created a sign.  Turns out that I couldn't get away from the use of "harbor" and so "Harborland Power & Light" now exists on the layout, and the name does make sense, given the fictional port I'm modeling.  The chain link fence is done and all that remains is to place a stack of utility poles on the property.

FILLING EMPTY SPACES

There are only a couple of "empty" spaces left on the GHT.  These spaces have completed scenery so they are "empty" only in the sense that they could serve as sites for new structures.  The roundhouse area is one such space, and I plan to use that by adding a water column, a steam loco fuel oil column, and a diesel fuel tank.

The other space is on the west harbor addition, between the Texas Gulf Cotton Co. and the pier shed.  I'm in the process of filling that in by adding an electric utility service center building and "(utility) pole yard."  The building (photos coming soon) is actually cannibalized from the remains of the passenger depot on the layout I had when we lived in Idaho.  I retired from PacifiCorp (Pacific Power/Utah Power) so I figured I'd better have something reminiscent of my corporate employment.  A service center doesn't involve power generation, but is just what the name implies:  it's a center of operations for crews who maintain the power lines.  I've been thinking about what to call the utility.  The words "harbor, "gulf" and "coast" already appear extensively on the layout, so I'd like to come up with something different, as long as it includes the words "Power & Light," which is characteristic of the 1940s.  I also plan to include a Reddy Kilowatt logo, which was used all across the country.

Finally, I'm looking for space to add one more billboard.  I already have one that has Bing Crosby touting Chesterfield cigarettes, but to help reinforce the era concept, I'd also like one advertising a 1947 automobile make.

TRACKWORK ON THE GULF HARBOR TERMINAL RY.

   The track on the Gulf Harbor Terminal Railway is all hand laid.  I use Code 100 rail, which represents medium weight prototype rail in S Scale.  I guess the HO equivalent would be Code 83.  For roadbed I use white pine, which takes spikes well.

 

The ties are 1/8" x 1/8" balsa and are stained with acrylic burnt umber, then fixed to the roadbed with white glue.  The balsa shows grain well and takes stain unevenly, which gives a weathered appearance.  I was spiking the rail to every tie, but found that wasn't necessary, so in later construction I spiked every fourth tie.  The rail sides are painted a combination of rust and brown.

 

 

All turnouts are No. 6 which will accommodate any length car.  I'd have preferred to use No. 8s but they require too much space to use on an 8' x 12' layout.  The very minimum radius is 25", though most curves are in the 32" to 45" range.  Track is ballasted using a white glue/water 50/50 mix.

 

 

On a couple of the tighter curves I use guard rails on the inside rail, per prototype practice.  Above is a track approaching a turnout leading to a wharf.

 

 

The GHT, as its name implies, is a port-area industrial switching line, which means track in streets.  The streets are created using patching plaster, which I sand when dry and then paint a light gray color, with a little black added.  I then rub the surface with light-colored dirt (found in our area) and, for "oil drippings" I rub a little graphite obtained from pencil lead.  It's not apparent in this photo, but the flangeways are protected by L-shaped styrene strips, just as prototype flangeways use metal guards.  The street track is laid directly on the white pine roadbed and flangeway guards are attached with white glue, then the plaster is added.  The pavement must be a fraction lower than the top of the rail.

 

 

To accurately model turnouts in streets, I studied photos of New York's Bush Terminal trackage.  I think the website is entitled "New York's Crosstown Railroad" or something like that.  Anyway, the photos on that site were very helpful.  By the way, the camera's flash made this pavement appear lighter in color in the photos than it actually is.

 

 

A turnout completely in the street means, of course, switch points in pavement, along with special guards for the points, for which I used Code 70 rail.  To throw the switch, the prototype often uses a lever that's covered by a metal plate between the points.  I depicted the metal plate by using a styrene strip appropriately painted;  hidden under this "plate" is a brass strip connecting the switch points.  The brass strip is lined with spikes which keep the points from rising.  The stock rails have metal tabs that the points must ride over and this arrangement makes the points fit snugly and securely against the stock rails.  It also ensures positive electrical contact.  To throw the turnout, I simply push the points over with a small screwdriver;  I got the idea for that when I read about a street turnout being thrown using a crowbar!

 

 

The Texas Gulf Cotton Co.'s sidings have lighter rail, represented by Code 83.

 

I enjoy laying track, though since my layout is complete and this is our retirement home, it's not likely I'll be constructing any more trackwork.  I plan to concentrate on adding rolling stock and maybe a few more structures...and also to get that old 0-6-0 back into running shape!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LAYOUT PHOTOS

1. North end of layout before addition was built.  This is a general merchandise pier.  Wholesale grocery warehouse is on right and track "exiting" layout to fictitious main line of the Texas Coast Railroad (also fictitious) passed behind pier shed.
2.  
3. 

 2.  West end of layout, part of new addition.  General merchandise pier is in foreground, with rail spur behind.  Building in back is Texas Gulf Cotton Co. warehouse.

3.  This is how the north end of the layout looks now, since construction of the west end addition.  There is now a smaller pier shed and the former "main line connection" is now the branch to the addition.

4.  The Gulf Harbor Terminal Railway's NW-2 on the turntable at the layout's south end.  The loco is painted to resemble an NW-2 I saw on the Heber Valley Railroad tourist line south of Park City, Utah.

5.  The south end of the layout.  The roundhouse is at left.  The track on the far right is the new "main line connection" that runs past the depot, which is modeled after the former Santa Rosa, California depot.  The business district of the town of Gulf Harbor is in the background.

6.  Looking south from the layout's mid-point.  The Gulf Harbor business district and a couple of residences are at left.  Gulf Harbor Fuel's spur heads off to the upper right, along with a spur to Southern Maritime Supply.  The track at lower right leads to the original general merchandise pier.

7.  The view, looking east, from the end of the new west end addition.  To the left is the Texas Gulf Cotton Co. warehouse and to the right, the truck and rail loading side of the new general merchandise pier.

ALL ABOARD IS REALLY BACK!!

After a two-year absence I have decided to get this blog going again.  I'm still modeling in S Scale and my layout is completed.  Well, "completed" is always a flexible term when it comes to model railroading.  The track and scenery are finished, including a six-foot extension not in the original plan.  The layout operates well and I've added some cars...now up to a total of 20, with more in the works.  Motive power is an NW-2 switcher.  I also have my 25-year-old Rex 0-6-0, but it needs a major overhaul and resides in the roundhouse until I have time to work on it.

Photos will be forthcoming...honest! 

Here's a brief synopsis of my layout.  It's a switching pike, set in the fictional Texas coastal town of Gulf Harbor, somewhere west of Galveston and east of Corpus Christi.  It's April of 1947 (the month and year of my birth). Industry sidings include two rail-served merchandise piers with warehouses, a rail-served coastal barge company dock, a cotton warehouse, lumber company, wholesale grocery warehouse, an oil dealer, maritime supply company, freight house, and team track.