Today I was able to get most of the core assembled and, of more importance, braced. A Gatorboard panel is inset as the base to keep things square. I also used a piece of it in the middle. After yesterday’s post I found some pieces of 3/4″ C channel in the shop so used that […]
Category: CSX Downtown Spur
Miami Jai-Alai Dec. 11
Sometimes the hardest part of a project is simply launching and making those first few pieces. I found a new source for large slabs of .060″ styrene sheet on Amazon. With materials in hand, I’m able to start. For larger structure projects like this I prefer to have a large, clean, work surface to spread […]
The Lowly Shuttle
My first encounter with The Downtown Spur was in February of 2006 where I caught GP38-2 #2639 (above) heading light back to Hialeah Yard. Clearly it was a shuttle of some sort, the details of which I have no clue. I think it’s safe to assume he had a car (or several) that needed to […]
Directing the Eye
This older view of the layout is a classic example of visual chaos. The eye dances around a sea of pastel cubes and struggles to make sense of the mess. Some of the most enjoyable, and useful classes, I took at The Smithsonian were on artistic composition and visual literacy. The applications to model railroading […]
Miami Jai-Alai 21 Nov.
As I mentioned in my last post, the last thing anybody wants to do is spend hours and hours on a structure only to find that, after putting it on the layout, it doesn’t fit in the way you expected. It’s not something that can be worked out on paper either. Mock ups are a […]