Industrial renewal

[Dave V]

I like the addition but I'm wondering how common it would be to have a fancy brick front on a cinder block building addition.

From what I've seen growing up in Maryland and spending a fair amount of time in Pennsylvania, the practice is not uncommon at all. Why waste money on fancy brick on the sides the customers won't see? Use cheaper cinder block instead. I think in it may be a bit more prototypical to have brick on both the storefront and the side facing the street but it's all painted the same color so the customer speeding by is really not gonna notice the difference.

I know the practice is very common for original buildings as there are examples everywhere (although I think the brick would be used more for a street side front).  But to represent an addition to an older structure, I would probably expect an all block building.

It's just something that struck me at first. It's grown on me.


Jason

FWIW, there's a very similar building here in Papiliion, NE with a facade and cinder block rear.  Granted, this is Nebraska and not Pennsylvania, but it didn't strike me as all that odd.  But your point is well taken.  The fact that road-side is cinder block is one of those compromises.  At first I'd have rather stuck the structure 90-degrees from its current orientation, but was constrained by the existing space.  But now I like it because otherwise the facade would not be as visible to a casual viewer, and so the purpose of the structure would be less clear.

But I agree, that the brick facade is probably more of the exception than the rule (violating my usual policy of not modeling the exception).

[wcfn100]

Hey, as fas as I'm concerned, the owner's brother was a bricklayer. 

Looks real nice Dave.  And will look even better when you get some c40 on that siding.  ;D


Jason

[sirenwerks]

But I agree, that the brick facade is probably more of the exception than the rule (violating my usual policy of not modeling the exception).

Dave, FWIW, I was not trying to bash your work at all. I like it. Perhaps one could speak to it as the business's attempt at retrenching itself in a new market. Where before its market was hardcore farmers who didn't care what the building looked like that they were pulling up to, to something like Lee was suggesting, a more heirloom-oriented market share. Hence , the owner has architecturally resituated his facility with a new entryway of brick, more attractive to the new customers, and with a bigger parking lot to handle the expected increase in customers. Maybe some potted flowers out front?

[Dave V]

But I agree, that the brick facade is probably more of the exception than the rule (violating my usual policy of not modeling the exception).

Dave, FWIW, I was not trying to bash your work at all. I like it. Perhaps one could speak to it as the business's attempt at retrenching itself in a new market. Where before its market was hardcore farmers who didn't care what the building looked like that they were pulling up to, to something like Lee was suggesting, a more heirloom-oriented market share. Hence , the owner has architecturally resituated his facility with a new entryway of brick, more attractive to the new customers, and with a bigger parking lot to handle the expected increase in customers. Maybe some potted flowers out front?

No, I know you weren't bashing...  You were making a good point.

However, I'm not a fan of "backstory."  In other words, I don't much care much for making up stories to justify something that's out of the ordinary.  I see way too much of that over at That Forum Run By A Major Hobby Magazine, where there are often fantastic (I mean that in the negative sense) stories to explain away severe anachronisms or violations of physics and railroad practice.  My feeling is that the layout should tell its own story without interpretation by the builder.

This doesn't preclude the larger backstory involved in a freelance...  Few would argue that the V&O doesn't stand on its own despite being a fantasy.  But no part of Allen's "made up" V&O story needs to intercede on behalf of credibility; the layout speaks for itself.

[Dave V]

Okay, I installed the tractor-loading platform.

I know, no dunnage on the flat for those tractors; this was just a quick set-up for the shot:



Here are the platform and coal trestle from the other side...  Yes, the proximity of those tanks to the road is very disconcerting; some sort of barrier will be forthcoming (probably post and cable railing as was common in PA in the 50s).

[asciibaron]

the ramp sells it - very nice.

-Steve

[Dave V]

the ramp sells it - very nice.

-Steve

Thanks, Steve!

[BOK]

Dave:

Very nice scene. It looks good and it all fits.

A suggestion about the oil storage tanks. Why not place them on the ramp/platform side of the tracks in advance of the buildings where a tank car would logically be unloaded and the product stored and then piped (underneath the track) to a truck loading rack nxt to the buildings. I have seen it handled that way a time or two.

Keep up the good work.

Barry

[oakcreekco]

Beautiful job David. Looks very convincing to me.

Last week I was done HW30 from Kearney to Gothenburg, and there's quite a few structures with cinder block sides/back, and either a brick or fancier block front.

Pretty common in several areas.

[up1950s]

Perfect

[asarge]

Excellent!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I hate to say it, but I consider this work par for Dave. This is not so much because it's lacking in any way (which it certainly is not), but because his work is so consistently good.

Very nice, as always, Dr. V.

[wm3798]

I'm with BOK.  Move the tanks and add a storage rack.  That little siding will be mighty busy circa 1956... coal, oil, tractors, grain, feed... in the 1980 version, the coal pier could be fitted to unload covered hoppers...


Looks great!

Lee

[Dave V]

Good idea on the tanks and the trestle/bins!  Something to do this week I guess.

Originally, I had placed the tanks on the road side because I wanted them to also be accessible by the fuel delivery trucks to fill up.  But now that I have a crude grade crossing on the siding, that problem is moot.

Thanks for the inputs, guys!  This is probably by far the most thought I've ever put into a single scene.

OBTW, things will change again when that track is replaced with Atlas c55 this summer.

[John]

OBTW, things will change again when that track is replaced with Atlas c55 this summer.

I think replacing the track would be a mistake. there is no need to ruin the layout