S FRONT STREET DIVISION

[The black knight]

Hello,

the is my First S scale layout, front street. I’ve only recently go into american railroads(no thanks to Plymouth mental)so my knowledge is small, so this one Is simple and focused on street running, with the help from Plymouth mental. Started this last December, I’m making all this up as I go. using Photos that I can find to get an idea. The setting is somewhere in the mid west (possible outskirt of Kansas city) Mid to late 70s ROCK ISLAND with there vibrant bankruptcy blues. The scenic is 8ft long with a bakery(possibly) at the rear and an exchange + team track at the front. My idea with this is ever changing and learning new terminolog to better find information

The track plan is the same but the buildings as mentioned have changed

the track is code 87FB with copper clad and trimmed coffee sticks in between currently I’m the process of adding the road in between the rails using balsa wood.

TBK

 

[ChrisBr]

Nice "Jordan" wobble on the front line in that last picture

 

[Jordan or Plymouth Mad]

Nice "Jordan" wobble on the front line in that last picture

...and it wasn't even on purpose!! the loft got a bit hot recently, apparently. But it's effective.

 

[Jordan or Plymouth Mad]

Plymouth mental

Who...??!!

 

[The black knight]

One of the main reasons i chose S scale was to do something different and away from the mainstream, while I wanted to do O scale , I didn’t have the space. But I wanted something bigger than OO scale, S fits perfectly, my Main intention was to concentrate on scratchbuilding and 3d printing(was originally doing British). So having a few locos and couple of dozen wagons. Within months was A roaring start.

 

[The black knight]

...and it wasn't even on purpose!! the loft got a bit hot recently, apparently. But it's effective.

And that was after I had corrected the gauge for stock to run over.

 

[The black knight]

I decide with the rolling stock I would like all the bells and lights, I bought this geep from a member here and set about making it into RI 4489. I was a bit limited on which loco I could model with the large cooling fans but found one photo and After annoying Jordan several times on discussing the differences between a 7 and 9 and their rebuilds. I had a go and trimmed the Side valance and printed new fuel filler, fuel gauge And added pipes to the air tanks. The brass handrails where also made but left removable for easier painting and I’m glad I did.
also printed the handbrake and MU connections, and set about drilling and cutting for the NB, classlights, ground light, step light and made the couplings body mounted and stripped the body paint.


and this week primed and recently decided to add OO scale etch checker plate to the walkways (this is why I was glad I didn’t glue the hand rails) I’m also testing clear resin for printing the class light and number boards.

and Have fitted sound to the stock. Loksound with a passive radiator and they sound sooooo good. Now at the stage where Im adding smaller details and need to add another layer of primer before painting.

 

[Jordan or Plymouth Mad]

After annoying Jordan several times on discussing the differences between a 7 and 9

Wasn't annoying at all..!! It was very interesting, as the differences between GP7s & 9s are subtle & varied, plus the various differences added by individual Railroads.
What is annoying is that you get a lot more modelling time than me....

 

[The black knight]

I have been doing more progress on the layout over the weeks, but have been doing it slowly as i haven’t done this much burried track, but thankfully i yesterday and have tested the geep up and down, and it has run 95% without fault , got to check one of the points but other than that it’s works reliably enough. Plus the heat in the loft hasn’t re warped my rails, looks like they stuck from the first accident.

i wonder if you all could help me, I’m having problems figuring out a building for the bakery. I have been struggling to find photos, currently I’ve mocked up left side is boxcars and refers? and right side grains/syrup.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

i wonder if you all could help me, I’m having problems figuring out a building for the bakery. I have been struggling to find photos, currently I’ve mocked up left side is boxcars and refers? and right side grains/syrup.

There's this website In Praise of Bakeries, Part I which leads on to part ii In Praise of Bakeries, Part II

And some photos on Flickr of the Alpha Bakery on the Cragin lead (CNW) to illustrate. They all have a number in their respective collections and it's just a question of scrolling through. Copyright is with the respective owners as noted.

https://flic.kr/p/2hYr9Dx

https://flic.kr/p/2iUfrud

https://flic.kr/p/2kGEBaz

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Wasn't annoying at all..!! It was very interesting, as the differences between GP7s & 9s are subtle & varied, plus the various differences added by individual Railroads.

In essence - no two GP9s or GP7s were identical - even on the same Railroad .

As I found out with my O scale SSW version.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

I decide with the rolling stock I would like all the bells and lights, I bought this geep from a member here and set about making it into RI 4489. I was a bit limited on which loco I could model with the large cooling fans but found one photo and After annoying Jordan several times on discussing the differences between a 7 and 9 and their rebuilds. I had a go and trimmed the Side valance and printed new fuel filler, fuel gauge And added pipes to the air tanks. The brass handrails where also made but left removable for easier painting and I’m glad I did.

There is a thread here on this forum regarding the Red Caboose GP9 kits as a few of us have built them (albeit O scale) Red Caboose GP9 kits - ALL builders/Models/Info/References welcome

I built a SSW GP9 (O scale) but with all the same details you are applying to your S scale version and the thread starts here P48 for Cotton Belt: Roster addition SW1200

 

[The black knight]

There's this website In Praise of Bakeries, Part I which leads on to part ii In Praise of Bakeries, Part II

Looking through that site, I think a better plan is to make it simpler and model just the grains and oil, but still have a sizeable suggested presence of the bakery.

 

[The black knight]

There is a thread here on this forum regarding the Red Caboose GP9 kits as a few of us have built them (albeit O scale) Red Caboose GP9 kits - ALL builders/Models/Info/References welcome

I’ve read through this and thank you very much Dave. It has been most informative with some other details I want sure of.

 

[Jordan or Plymouth Mad]

I saw Dave's GP9 for real a few years ago (Telford Guildex?) & took a few photos of an awe inspiring model....

 

[Osgood]

How manky - in a strictly complimentary sense.

 

[Joe's Garage]

That is some beast....I think the arm in the background gives a good idea of scale too.
Lovely subtle weathering.

 

[Jordan or Plymouth Mad]

Front Street was at the Bournville one day Show today as a 'work in progress' layout.
It's already got some great atmosphere, and drew quite a bit of interest - some viewers had never even heard of S Scale..!!




And finally - how to nail the late 1970s time period without a train in sight....

 

[Stephen]

Looks like good progress, and indeed a decent choice of automobile to grace the streets/sidewalk.

Cheers,

Stephen

 

[Joe's Garage]

This is coming on nicely are there any more photos?
Yes the "car" really sets the date!! There was a guy at college who had an Avenger with the stripe assimilating this icon.
Cheers Julian