NW 58th St., Miami

[Trucklover]

Josh, I did not work on the layout for almost two months. The last thing I did, was putting some greenery in the yard between these two warehouses. Since then I did nothing, I did not even run a train.

Kurt, you didnt work on the layout for 2 months, and you still managed to do some BEAUTIFUL work. I mean dang the backend of that structure looks awesome, and even though its all run down it looks so realistic! Great work my friend

[Trucklover]

Roadman, where did you get the dock bumpers in the picture above?? Beautiful work by the way, you and Kurt sure do some amazing modeling!

[fast car]

Thanks Josh, I appreciate the nice comments. Most of my work is trial and error. The bumpers are nothing more that Plastruct strip plastic cut to size and painted a general dark gray/black color. I haven't weathered this end of the building and nothing is attached to the foam.

I have changed my user name to fast car from Roadman for reasons I won't go into.

Larry

[Steamtrains]

Aaahhh...The beauty of self-employment....
I had my own run at that, and it seemed I had less free time than when I was employed....

[fast car]

Obviously, my post just up the page from here was made after viewing only a page or two of this thread. The "tagging graffite" was realistic enough that somebody should have called the cops!

But I refrained from making any more comments until I had made it all the way through the 23 or 24 pages that currently make up this thread. I had to take it all in before opening my mouth (or dancing my very slow fingers across the keyboard) to say any more. I've sat here and thought about it, trying to digest all the amazing visuals of some rather exraordinary model work. Here are my thoughts ...

Many (or most) of the railroad modelers who frequent this forum are from locations far, far away from the Miami area. Maybe your concept of Miami is colored by the television images projected by "Miami Vice" or "CSI: Miami" or the glamourous club scene that is portrayed in the Art Deco district in South Beach ... BUT ...

Only blocks away from all the glitter and beauty is a place that if you don't speak Spanish, or are at least semi-fearsome looking or drive a white Ford Crown Vicky with a light bar on the roof and are fond of wearing kevlar articles of clothing and are appropriatly armed, you don't want to get lost or have a flat tire and have to get out of the car. hock: A good sized portion of the areas of Miami away from the beaches is rough, dirty and imposingly stark. It is a tribute to Kurt's modeling skills and his attention to detail (like the wiring to exterior lamps or power boxes) that make his switching layout look even more realistic than those who have never seen Miami can even image!

Splendid job, Kurt! The really amazing thing about your layout is that you have been able to generate the visual feel of the area entirely from photographs ... now THAT'S what's amazing! Truely huge kudos are due you!

Camelback is right about Miami. Exploring the seedier areas such as the East Rail warehouse section should be conducted during daylight hours only unless you're packin a Glock 22.

I have included a couple of photos of Lance Mindheim that shows the East Rail section. The large green structure on the left is the Colmar Storage warehouse and the railroad spur that continues on to Archive Americas/Seaboard Warehouse unit. PALS Storage have now moved into the Colmar buillding







This next shows the spur as it reachs the termination point at the Seaboard complex. Notice the perfectly straight rail LOL.




This photo shows the Seaboard/Archive Americas warehouse from 54th Street and the 4 tracks that service this complex. This is looking towards the Colmar warehouse that would be down on the right side of the photo




Notice the highly maintained track in this photo.







For Kurt a few photos of Sentry.

























The "Miami Vice" art deco pastel colors are not confined to the South Beach areas and have made it out to less traveled warehouse districts. Notice the coiled razor wire on the roof.

This picture shows the local making its way down the East Rail spur. The last photo is interesting only because the QGRY freight car is from Quebec Railway. A long way from home.






















I included this sign in case anyone wanted to copy it and reduce it down. I copied mine out on matte photo paper and then cut it out using a razor knife. It was then glued to a thin sheet of .010 or .020 sheet plastic. It makes a nice addition to the Land Shark Beer billboard that was shown by Kurt.







I want to thank Lance Mindheim for graciously allowing me the permission to show these photos.

[Justinmiller171]

We’ll be going on vacation tomorrow and we’ll be back in 3 1/2 weeks. So please, don’t expect me to answer any posts!

....5 weeks later.




Kurt, I have been construction my own layout based on the East-Rail area of Miami and your Layout has been a major inspiration to me, And I have been dieing to see what wonderful addition you will add to your Layout next, and I am sure everyone else here at the Big Blue feels the same.

Anyways, I will be Eagerly awaiting your return

[cnw1961]

Justin, you are right, my maths are lousy ... . I did not think I would be so busy after our vacation, I could not even think of modeling (Hey Gus ... that’s the beauty of self-employment you are talking about ). And I did not expect anyone to post on my thread while I was away.

Josh, biL, Larry, thank you all for you very kind comments, I truly appreciate it .

Larry, thanks for those fantastic pics. With Google street view it is easy to get good pics showing the street side of those warehouses, but a good shot of the trackside and the loading docks is another matter. I’ll have a close look at these pics

[Herc Driver]

You put a cat by the door! Aaarrrgghhh, you think of everything and execute it so well. (Why can't I model things that well ).

Seriously and all joking aside...terrific modeling, really great work, and I sincerely mean that.

And I do enjoy seeing your latest work so keep those pictures coming...(and I pretty much steal your best ideas just so you know )

[Trucklover]

The cat is a terrific detail Kurt!

And im not sure if you are aware of it, but you seem to have a weed growing from the roof! It must have found a crack with just enough dirt and moisture to start growing

[fast car]

Justin, you are right, my maths are lousy ... . I did not think I would be so busy after our vacation, I could not even think of modeling (Hey Gus ... that’s the beauty of self-employment you are talking about ). And I did not expect anyone to post on my thread while I was away.

Josh, biL, Larry, thank you all for you very kind comments, I truly appreciate it .

Larry, thanks for those fantastic pics. With Google street view it is easy to get good pics showing the street side of those warehouses, but a good shot of the trackside and the loading docks is another matter. I’ll have a close look at these pics

Kurt,

Here are some additional photos of East Rail.

I would like to thank Lance Mindheim for the used of his photos.

Larry

[Gary S]

Love those photos... the essence of industrial railroading. Beautiful!

[Justinmiller171]

Thanks for sharing those photos, I will try to add some of these scenes into my East-Rail layout!

[cnw1961]

Love those photos... the essence of industrial railroading. Beautiful!

Gary, I am absolutely with you!

Larry, thank you very much for posting these pics. They are fantastic and they clearly show what is wrong with my layout: It is too clean! I need a lot more trash!

[ocalicreek]

What stands out on that last photo, to me, is the blue pvc weld goop residue on the pvc elbow/pipe joint at the left of the frame coming out of the building. Oh yeah, and the trash.

Bring on the trash, Kurt!

Kurt - I can almost feel the ground rumble and see the tankers swaying like lumbering cattle trailing behind that CSX unit in your photo of the train crossing the street outside VC Ornamental. Very evocative.

Galen

[Russ Bellinis]

IN that last pic posted by Fast Car just above your post, Kurt, you can see the sand that forms the basic earth in Florida when you get past the grass.