kamerad47 Wrote:Nice work !!! I have never seen a RR overpass that fancy !!!!

Man power was cheap during the post-1929 Crash and elaborate Art Deco structures at their peak in popularity. The small bunker that houses the drainage pump is even more elaborate. This prototype is somewhat toned down compared to what was build in larger US metropolis at the same time (Walthers did a nice one). Funny to think these designs were considered epured and streamlined when they were built!

Matt

@Steve: Maybe you didn't see the previous reply, but what was your idea for the fence?

Thanks,

Matt

Some work on the overpass central pile.







Only need some sanding down and to make chamfreins on each edge.



Also made the concrete deck out of MDF. We also made V groove to represent the joint between each concrete deck panel per prototype.



Matt

We tried to figure out the Canardière Road scene yesterday. Not that much easy. We only had a very old black and white picture to with. The idea to use a picture may sound nice, but in fact, the big problem is to blend this street in the photographic background of the yard. This area of the city is unforgiving, there was almost no visual block behind Lairet-Station and we definitely need some to get things looking right. Except that, the mock up looks promising.











Matt

That should be a eye catching scene when it's done!

Yesterday, another district got a facelift. For a long time, we had serious doubt about the mountain height with its Rockies' look in Eastern Canada. Also, the trackage was kind of obsolete because we had used a very sharp wye at the junction, which prevented the use of some interesting rolling stock.



It was decided to gradually melt the mountain scenery with the adjacent space once used for a cement plant. That required removing about 8" of mountain and the tunnel portal. The mountain was also extended significantly toward the right side to blend the scene more naturally into the background. The junction track now disappear in a rock cut instead of a tunnel (which is highly unrealistic for the prototype). I think the overall scenery is now much more reminescent of CN trackage running on the north shore of St. Lawrence river.



Finally, a new factory has been set to hide the electrical panel. The building is L-shaped and can be easily removed if access is needed. That wouldn't have been possible with a classic backdrop. No idea about what will be produced their. The building it self, with the power house half-hidden on the hill, is loosely inspired by the old Donnacona Paper Mill near Quebec City. However, space is at premium and it would be hard to handle the traffic generated by a paper mill. We will probably do something like a particule board factory. Chemical, lumbers and finished good will be the key element. There will be also an access road with a control gate and office, and a semi-trailer loading dock.







The new trackage now have 48 inches radius in prevision of running some passenger trains and 89' flatcar.

I must admit the new scenery is largely inspired by Mal's Westbrook layout (how to make a small shelve looking like a real industry) and Mike Confalone's Allagash.

Trees are just mockup! Extremely fragile, they fell into powder when you handle them!

Matt

That big factory looks like a GERN Flux processing plant from here in West Michigan. :mrgreen:

Anybody ever used the Walthers Front Street Warehouse (the brick one from the pier series)? I'd like to know the exact height of the brick walls, excluding the roof structures. I'm planning to merge it with the Middlesex Factory.

Thank you.

Matt

Are you speaking of the one seen here in the background, Matt?



The long walls are 6.75" high, or about 6.875" with the base included.

Wayne

Wayne, it's exactly this one. Thanks for the info. I'll see if it fits my kitbashing project.

Matt

sailormatlac Wrote:Thanks everybody.

Steve Wrote:After looking around, it seems like if you were willing to go with a 2 line rail, you would have more cost effective options. How long is the run?

Mmmm, that could be a decent option, I don't think it would impact the authenticity that much. I need about 48 inches of railing. I'm curious to hear about your proposition.

Matt

Matt sorry for my extremely late reply.
After fully realizing the many stanchion look you want, I don't have any real options that don't cost $$$$$ or make you work like a dog
I found this link:
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/mrh_n...un-2010-p4
which brings you here:
http://www.mrhobby.com/store.php?seller=...pd=3188297
If MRH is correct, that would be about 50" of railing for $30.00.

There are other options in styrene that would probably get the uprights closer together but it would take multiple kits to do that long of a run.

And of course there is this, 2 and 3 line rail:
http://www.traincat2.com/d_lineside.htm

Sorry I could not be of more help.

Steve, thanks for your info. I'll think about it as I continue to develop the model. I'm actually thing about bashing Rix Products overpass railing to make something similar to the actual railing, which isn't 3 tubing bars.

Just for fun, I took the actual benchwork and tried to squeeze CN Murray bay Sub in it, using the part between Limoilou and Beaupré. Honestly, I'm surprised how this fictious layout would be well balanced between operation and scenery. The best thing is that the top 5 industries of the area find seamlessly their place in almost full scale for most of them:

1) Abattoir Legrade (meat packing): in business and rail-served until the early 80s. Think about grease tank cars, stock cars and reefers. I already built a mockup and tried twice to build a layout around this industry. I know Louis-Marie is a fan of this particular plant.

2) St. Lawrence Cement: in business until 1997, one of the largest customer. The building is impressive, large and immediately recongnizable. They had their own switcher, a GE 44-Ton, which we have a model of. Think about gypsum hopper, cement hopper (including slabside and Procor) plus CN and Pennsylvania coal hopper. We already started to build this large plant for the layout... Would be a waste to not complete it.

3) Domion Textile: in business until 1987-89, among the largest cotton mill in Canada until the business collapsed. The Montmorency plant is so iconic it was feature in a short movie! They received cotton from Southern United States, chemicals in tank cars and shipped their goods in boxcars.

4) Beaupré's Seagram Distillery: a large distillery in business until the late 80s. Little is known about rail traffic, but it was rail-served. It was a larger customer and they had iconic buildings too...

5) Abitibi-Price Paper Mill: recently closed and torn down, it was one of the last and largest rail customer. They had their own switcher and a small yard with lots of tracks serving different part of the mill. The yard with the sidings and gates is a classic panorama from the area... I mean for people liking the subtle beauty of industrial wasteland! For the traffic, think about woodchip cars, newsprint boxcars, kaolin slur tank cars, chemical tanks and others.

That would make a peculiar layout, iconic as can be, and easily recognizable.

All this is purely food for thoughts... and I'll probably end up at an asylum sooner than later! I can hear the club members wanting my head!

Here's the new plans. For those who wonder, Montmorency connects with Villeneuve through the furnace closet. That means Montmorency-Beaupré are the left part and Villeneuve-Maizerets are the right part.





Enjoy!

Matt who's playing Reinhard without the high creative output!

Took the afternoon off and decided to make a model of the proposed fictious layout. I was curious to see how all things would work together.

Honestly, I'm rather satisfied. The huge cement plant looks... well, just like the real thing and don't overwhelm the place too much. The yard is also extremely similar to the prototype.

Here's a few shot of the model's model. Those familiar with this thread will recognize many structures I once presented and even tried to model.

















All in all, I think doing small model like that is probably the safest way to check up a design. It's the first time I dare to do it, and I'm quite surprised. What you see is what you would get.

Matt

Maybe you could use 't scale' trackwork just to be sure......

switcher1 Wrote:Maybe you could use 't scale' trackwork just to be sure......

Ah!!! I could!!! I think I used up my sanity a long time ago!

Matt