A few changes at Elfrida...

[doctorwayne]

Some time ago, a good friend gave me this simple IHC kit for the Novelty Iron Works:




It took me some time to decide where it should be situated (long enough that he was probably wondering if I was ever going to use it    ), but I finally decided that a little shuffling of the existing structures in Elfrida could create enough room for it.  Here's an older view of the town (courtesy of Secord Air Services) a place long unfinished and for which I had few ideas:



While the grain elevator in the distance had been moved since that photo was taken, many of the remaining industries were too small to merit rail service, and the downtown area itself was virtually non-existant.  With that in mind, I decided to build the new structure with both of its long walls facing the viewer.  This would require that some smaller shippers be (re)moved, and another larger one be moved.  That prospect inspired me enough to resolve to also work on the business district (which is mostly in the background) and to perhaps add a little interest to the backdrop, too.
First up, though, was re-routing the industrial tracks to serve a larger industry.  
This mainly involved moving a turnout (shown at lower left in the photo below), then re-aligning the three tracks to which it's connected.  As you can see, the large industry previously close to the camera has already been moved down the now-lengthened siding and the smaller industries previously there are gone.  The grain elevator, moved some time ago in another thread, is now situated on the other side of the mainline:



Here's the turnout:



...and after a generous spray of "wet" water:



...and a little clean-up and the ends of the existing track already re-aligned, it's ready for the track to be re-layed.  :



With the new track in place, ballast and weeds are added, plus a generous application of wet water and diluted white glue



...and the partially-built factory can be test-fitted to the site:



Because of the winter weather, there was some delay with painting, but I was eventually able to build most of the low-relief structures for downtown and at least get a coat of paint on their brickwork.  These are left-over parts from DPM kits, almost all purchased over the years as miscellaneous bits in clear plastic bags at my LHS.  The three more-fully-modelled orange structures are also from these bargain finds, and consist of rear walls with partial sidewalls (already hacked-up when I bought them).  The roofs and front walls are plain .060" sheet styrene (the fronts aren't viewable from the aisle).  
As you can see, the new factory has acquired a roof (more .060" sheet styrene) and a coat of grey automotive primer from a spray can.  The pieces of grey-painted styrene sitting on the tracks are floors for the new factory, but they won't be installed until the building is almost completed:



Here are a few views of the area, this one taken from the main road into town:



...and as seen from near the station:



...and an over-all view:



There's no telling how long this re-building of Elfrida will take - it's certainly not Rome, but it'll be more than a day or two, as I'm also working on locomotives and...wait for it......more freight cars.    

Next installment soon.

Wayne