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+--- Thread: Freelance 2012 (/showthread.php?tid=4637)
Re: Freelance 2012 - faraway - 03-28-2012
Gary S Wrote:Are you sure this isn't a GERN facility?
To be frankly it is even worse.... I do not know what it is at all!
The decals are a leftover from an older kit. I understood "mutual" in the sense of "having the same relation each toward the other". I assumed "mutual grain service" is something similar to a farmers coop.
But it might be also the grain service company in Mutual, Ok. Look at their most prominent point. The intersection of Main St and Broadway http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mutual+usa&hl=en&ll=36.231352,-99.168455&spn=107.69118,157.675781&sll=43.352694,-98.285542&sspn=53.704259,78.837891&t=w&hnear=Mutual,+Woodward,+Oklahoma&z=3&layer=c&panoid=Tju2d5dpS_FiL0-J58Gj4A&cbll=36.231352,-99.168455&cbp=13,106.68474145335905,,0,7.276563998161549
Re: Freelance 2012 - bnsffan - 03-28-2012
Really impressive
Re: Freelance 2012 - faraway - 03-29-2012
A bunch of RIX small town USA kits arrived today intended to be used as a commercial strip in the right foreground. The rear of that buildings will be barely visible. That made me think if I could use the valuable rear walls of the buildings.
I put them on adhesive tape and put them in the background replacing two "shoe boxes". That backyard scenery looks nice to me. The gap at the right end (behind the two brown boxcars) could be filled with a last building of the mill.
That string of brick buildings and the mill dominated by pitched roofs changes the overall impression of the layout very much.
![[Image: IMG_1332b.jpg?t=1333026089]](http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149/faraway52/FL2012/IMG_1332b.jpg?t=1333026089)
Some time later:
The implementation means to replace two shoe boxes by 13 cigarette boxes but I do not smoke ... :?
![[Image: IMG_1333.jpg?t=1333035058]](http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149/faraway52/FL2012/IMG_1333.jpg?t=1333035058)
Again some time later are the raw boxes completed. That's it for today.
![[Image: IMG_1334a.jpg?t=1333046488]](http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149/faraway52/FL2012/IMG_1334a.jpg?t=1333046488)
Re: Freelance 2012 - faraway - 03-30-2012
Today was a painters day
I have got some questions:
1. How would the fences be in the time frame 1960 - 1980 in an area hit by the recession?
a. between the backyards of the shops?
Did each owner have and maintain his fence "against" his neighbor?
b. between the backyards and the track?
Is it up to the owners to build a fence to the tracks side or would the railroad build one uniform fence?
2. What would be at the backyards?
I assume old stuff, boxes etc. However nothing cute or nice like flowers etc.
3. How would be the ground covered?
I guess flint, concrete and tarmac
![[Image: IMG_1335.jpg?t=1333132066]](http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149/faraway52/FL2012/IMG_1335.jpg?t=1333132066)
Re: Freelance 2012 - jwb - 03-30-2012
There are always exceptions, but fences are generally built and maintained by property owners. Here are some fence-area and backyard-area photos from industries.
There are several things that I think are interesting here. One is that the open areas are mostly just plain dirt, sometimes with sagebrush or grass tufts. Another is that old pallets are a very common item in backyard areas. A third is that old house trailers and motor homes are also pretty common, as offices, security offices, or even living quarters for the security guard. And don't forget the cars for the workers.
Re: Freelance 2012 - faraway - 03-30-2012
jwb Wrote:There are always exceptions, but fences....Thank you for the photos and the explanation. In my special case the backyards do not belong to industries but to small buildings each housing a shop (commercial area). None of the small backyards has any road access for trailers etc.
I do ask for fences between the small backyards because I assume it is question of social behavior of small shop neighbors. Do (did 1960 - 1980?) they fence or trust?
Re: Freelance 2012 - radivil - 03-30-2012
a. between the backyards of the shops?
Did each owner have and maintain his fence "against" his neighbor?
In all the areas I'm familiar with, there'd be no fencing because the alley behind the shops is where employees park, trash is disposed of, deliveries are made, etc. Sometimes even entrances to businesses. Bars and eateries do this often.
2. What would be at the backyards?
I assume old stuff, boxes etc. However nothing cute or nice like flowers etc.
And there's often flowers back there, in window planters. More often than not, the upper floors are housing. I know of a place with some rather elaborate vining plants in an alley like that.
Re: Freelance 2012 - jwb - 03-31-2012
Oh, wait, I see what you're getting at, now that I look at the store backs you have set up there. In part, I was assuming you were continuing with a theme of sun-belt industrial areas, which is what the photos I posted above would cover. The most recent post is referring to Virginia, which is a different matter. Small downtown brick storefronts like Rix, DPM, etc, are in fact different.
In many ways, you're talking about a different socioeconomic situation. From 1960-80, railroads were pulling out of urban and suburban areas that would have the environments most like these (notice, for instance, that the two photos I have here just happen to be taken near tourist lines).
There are several other things to think about: the tenants who run the shops are mostly renters, not owners, so their standards of upkeep might not be as high. And the closer to 1980 you get from 1960, the more of these storefronts or backs are going to be abandoned.
I would say that the areas behind stores, especially where you have these modeled, are going to be alleyways, which are usually asphalt paved. There will be dumpers and collections of crates and possibly other junk, also pallets, but random. You correctly have utility transformers -- you can do with several more utility poles here. From 1960-80, the storefronts with apartments above will have TV antennas (but not anymore, since now there's cable).
Here are two shots of DPM building sides and rear on my layout:
Re: Freelance 2012 - faraway - 03-31-2012
jwb Wrote:Oh, wait, I see what you're getting at, now that I look at the store backs you have set up there. ...Yes, that is it what I am looking for. I am somewhat surprised you exclude SOCAL and Texas. I think this older lines of simple stores in brick buildings are found everywhere in the US and they are not typical for any area. An example might be Raton NM. The block between 1st St, 2nd. St, Cook Ave and Park Ave has rear walls made of brick similar to RIX or DPM. Also many old rear walls of small brick buildings in the LA warehouse district have a lot in common with RIX and DPM rear walls.
Your remarks about the change from 1960 to 1980 are so important for all the details. I will try to find a compromise of well maintained and run down buildings to be flexible in time definitions.
Thank you for helping!
Re: Freelance 2012 - jwb - 03-31-2012
Keep in mind that Raton, NM now has only one pair of Amtrak trains per day, plus occasional baretable transfers to the ex-York Canyon branch -- and this has been going on since before 1980. Same applies to the LA Warehouse District, almost all track is gone now and was in the process of removal between 1960 and 80! In other words, yes, the backs of brick storefronts are interesting, yes, they still exist, but close to rail operations -- less and less.
Re: Freelance 2012 - faraway - 03-31-2012
jwb Wrote:... yes, they still exist, but close to rail operations -- less and less.That is one of the reasons I went back on the time line "somewhere" between 1960 and 1980. I try to explain the railroad existence with the "Mutual Grain Service" and the "General Mill" industries. There is nothing like a "main line" or even "branch line" on my layout. Just the tracks necessary to support that two survived customers. The origin of the in and outbound cuts is not on the layout (staging yard at the other side of the room).
The other reason are the engines used today for trivial industry switching. Mostly run at least in pairs and sometimes as long as Gensets. That is to much for my small layout. My tracks appear much longer if I stay with SW1500, GP9 etc. (but I still love my Genset!.... in the cabinet only
)I see gas meters at some of your buildings. Is there a rule of the thumb where gas is used and where not? I would guess gas is a preferred used for heating and therefor not common used in the south (TX- CA) because only little heating is required and can be done with electric ovens?
Re: Freelance 2012 - faraway - 03-31-2012
The tenth building has been added to the Mutual Grain Service replacing a more modern shoe boxes and closing the gap to the string of commercial back sides. The building with loading gates is the reason why boxcars are placed on that track behind the hoppers unloaded in front. I want the mix of boxcars and hoppers on that track for a more versatile operation.
![[Image: IMG_1336.jpg?t=1333214574]](http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae149/faraway52/FL2012/IMG_1336.jpg?t=1333214574)
Re: Freelance 2012 - jwb - 03-31-2012
Gas is common all over the US. Much of it comes from Texas, but there are pipelines to California and the Northeastern US.
Re: Freelance 2012 - radivil - 03-31-2012
jwb Wrote:The most recent post is referring to Virginia, which is a different matter.
I was referring to all sorts of places. Everywhere from Boston to Chicago to San Antonio to Miami. Businesses taking their trash out the back door and the delivery trucks not blocking the customer entrance is pretty universal.
Re: Freelance 2012 - jwb - 03-31-2012
But remember that in many areas, the old-style main street with brick storefronts has given way to big boxes and strip malls on the edge of town. In places like California, the old-style downtown main street stopped growing by the 1920s. Pasadena is a good example: the Santa Fe Second District main line -- the route of the El Capitan, Super Chief, and Chief -- passed through downtown back alleys through the 1960s. That area, now called Old Pasadena (for good reason) deteriorated after that; the Santa Fe line was rerouted in the late 1960s and abandoned for good in the 1990s. In California especially, earthquake codes have simply resulted in the demolition of many brick downtowns, but WalMart takes care of others all over the country. A gentrified brick downtown is the result of urban renewal, like Old Pasadena, where the yuppies now go for latte, but there would be several bad decades in between.
And remember that passenger stations started to be relocated out of downtowns in the 1950s. I don't think it's coincidence that you often now find tourist lines -- Napa Valley Wine Train, Arcade & Attica, Durango & Silverton -- going through the brick main street downtowns.