Russ, thanks for taking the time to give me that info. One of these days I will narrow down my time scale and then decide what to do with locomotives.

Gary, you can change time periods by 20 years just by changing the motive power if you are careful about the cars. Cars had an AAR life of 40 years in your general period, Cabooses stayed active here on Conrail until 1986, and a few were on trains into 88. They stayed longer on CSX, and the P&LE had them until the end ('92). What I'm asking is "Why not be a little flexible"?
Charlie

I understood since 1966 no boxcars have been build with running boards and long ladders anymore. From that date on a grace period until 1974 (got extended) started where the RR had to update the existing cars to meet that requirement.
For me is 1970 a "logical" break point. If the layout is prior to 1970 the running boards are used later on I use cars without running boards only. That give the flexibility to go with running boards from 194X - 1970 and without from 1970 -199X if there are no other very prominent accents like wellcar, wooden box car etc.

I'm definitely flexible on the era, just wondering what a rough percentage of 40s versus 50s would be for each decade. Right now, my era is the late 70s. How often would I see a 40 footer? If I pushed it back to 1985, would there be any 40 footers left at all? Don't need any exact estimate, just need an overall rough guess.

Reinhard, my cars with roofwalks have them removed just like the prototype did. The ladders also get cut down and brake wheels lowered.

Time to get back to work on the layout. Haven't made any significant progress in two weeks. I started on the area around the south Wayside bridge last night. Here is a repost of what I am attempting to do.

[attachment=19938]

And dimensions of the two buildings which will go against the backdrop:

[attachment=19937]

[attachment=19936]

And some images of the two buildings:

[attachment=19935]

[attachment=19934]

[attachment=19933]

[attachment=19932]

And the little bit of work done so far. Basically just cut the foam down to the proper level to match the height of the terrain at the bridge, and measured the areas for the parking lots. Hope to accomplish alot over the holidays.

[attachment=19931]

Oh... I am going back over to the location today to take more detailed photos of the buildings. This oughta be good when the police show up and ask why I am taking photos of these banks.... :?

So far so good there Gary....
I like the plan and the buildings seem to fir in there nicely
Let us know where we can send bail money

Well, on Thursday, I took a bunch more photos of both banks, happy to say that I wasn't hassled by anyone, and the police didn't question me either. Greg, no bail money needed!

I decided to use wood as the insides of the two buildings against the backdrop, as they are mostly just simple brick structures with few windows. I'll use Walther's plastic brick sheet as the outer skin.

First, the wood pieces for the brown building:

[attachment=19942]

Assembled:

[attachment=19941]

Also built the core of the white building. I cut oversized openings in the wood where the windows will be. Then set the cores in place on the layout.

[attachment=19940]

And a bing image of what I am shooting for:

[attachment=19939]

The core of the brown building feels like it is too tall for its length as compared to the real thing. I scaled the height from a "straight-on" photo of the side of the building. I intuitively want to cut it down shorter, but my reason and logic tell me that it is technically correct. :?

Gary,
You really can't believe how much this post has helped me. I have one wall on my backdrop that will only be building fronts and I didn't want to just stick them to the backdrop. by using some thicker plywood I'll be able to actually have some relief for them. Thanks for the great solution....Keep posting and Merry Christmas.
Charlie

, Charlie! That plywood trick is a real relief!

Gary, If you're going to continue to "build from Nature," you should build yourself a Measuring Stick just so you can do some accurate scaling off your photos! It shouldn't take more that an hour or so of "building time," and you can be "workin' on the Railroad" while you wait for paint to dry between colors!

BTW, I like your approach, truncating those buildings a bit ... it makes for interesting buildings, they will have character!

It's looking real good there ... is that area to be near the "residential at the end of the peninsula" location that you were referring to as backyards and alleys and such? (I'm living through you vicariously right now!)

Charlie, glad to be of help.

biL, not sure I would have been brave enough to be walking on bank property, propping the measuring stick up against the bank wall, then backing up and taking photos. :?

I have a "square on" photo of the back of the brown building, printed it out, then measured the width and height with a ruler, then used the width dimension from google earth to compute the height using ratios. On the photo, the building measured 7.5" wide and 2.2" tall. On google earth, the building measured 120 feet wide. So, 2.2 times 120 equals 264, divide that by 7.5 and we get 35.2 for the height of the building. Still, the model "feels" too tall. But I'll go with the calculated dimensions as i don't see how they can be incorrect.

Gary, print out a couple of photos of the bridge you built and take the stick and go do your thing. I realize that I wasn't photographing buildings in "terrorist times," but I did have the occasional person ask me what the hell I was doing. But I had the stick, my Pentax 35mm SLR and usually a model railroad magazine. Those things got me by and usually the people thought it was "different," but kind of interesting that I was going to build a model of "their" building. Offer to give them a photo when it's complete. I don't think you should have any problem.

[In a recent issue of Model Railroader, Rod Stewart claims he has an issue of the magazine with the first article about his railroad in it that sits on top of everything else in the large model-building-tools-and-supplies crate that he takes with him on tour to convince the customs people that's what all the Xacto knives and stuff are for. ]

I carried that stick into downtown Philly on the Paoli Local one time and photographed a few small structures (a bar, a hardware store, etc.) and never really had more than a few questions asked, answered and that was it. The explanation of the markings on the stick and a couple wallet-sized photos did the trick. But it was in a big city where no one pays much attention to anyone else ... "never make actual eye-to-eye contact with anyone when in the City." 8-)

After I was questioned under the 69th Street bridge, I've always carried a couple of MR mags and some photos of my layout when on photo outings. But to be jaunting around a bank taking measurements and photos is a bit too suspicious, regardless of what explanation and evidence I might have!

One day, I was checking out the area where the real Ore Hill Station sat. The station was gone and the area had become residential. I was taking pictures when a state cop pulled up and asked what I was doing(This area is out in the country). I told him I was researching for a model railroad project, and pulled my old railroad maps, books and pictures of the area out during the time Ore Hill was around. My saving grace was, he was a model railroader also!(Small world) Understood what I was doing, but that I was scaring the residents in the area and asked if I could move along.

O.K. .... admittedly I last used my measuring stick twenty-some years ago in Scranton, PA ... and I understand that things are a lot different today.

However, if I REALLY wanted to use the stick in my research photos, I would go into the bank and ask to speak to a branch officer, explain my project and see what he/she says. (And no, I'm not inferring that the Branch Officer is somehow trans-gender!)

But of course, I can be quite bold and pushy if the situation calls for "city aggressive." I'm not at all shy!