In preparation for my upcoming open house for the Mid-Atlantic RPM, I put on a little push to finish up the scene between 13th and 14th Avenues on The Downtown Spur/Miami layout. In the shot above you’re looking west/northwest. 22nd Street is in the foreground. Right to left we have: Global Snacks, Dade Tomato, and South Appliances (aka the “Jesus Saves” building. The right of way runs behind these buildings.
Here’s the same block looking east. 14th Avenue is on the left.
Three layouts in one house is too many! In an attempt to free up space I’d like to sell my N scale Brooklyn Terminal, N scale, layout if I can. It was the cover story in the October 2021 issue of MR. Please, only contact me if you would be willing to pick it up. I’m in the Washington, DC area.
Cost: I’ll be considering any offers over $6,500 and will make a decision at the end of the month. Note, this is a very delicate, “fine scale”, model railroad that will require ongoing tuning and maintenance. Many of the turnouts are hand laid and are code 40. It is best suited for somebody with above average modeling skills or somebody that wants a visual art piece.
-Minimum radius: 7 inches in street running zone. 14 inches elsewhere. Note that even average length four axle diesels will not negotiate a 7 inch curve. You’re looking at short wheelbase switchers only.
-Control system: NOT INCLUDED. You’ll need to tap your own dcc system into the bus.
-Turnout Throws: Manual
-Structures: Total of twenty, eight of which are totally scratch built or kitbashed.
The thing that can be maddening about web searching is that it’s all in the specific phrase we look under. A less-than-obvious search word can often turn up gems. For example, instead of searching for “Los Angeles Junction Railway” I went to one of the rail picture sites and searched by location, “Vernon, California” to be exact. (The LAJ operates largely in Vernon). One of the first images to jump up was a gem taken by Mark MacDougall of an LAJ switch job passing Reliance Steel and Aluminum (not rail served). I loved the color and textures but I couldn’t really see a way to incorporate it into what I’d done.
Then, a blinding glimpse of the obvious. All of the structures on my LAJ area easily removable. Why not just build the footprint to the same size as one of the other non-rail industries and plop it in place. Done! Look for a photo of this on the layout sometime in the future.
The above shot is an experiment in playing around with a 1960’s look. The figures are from ModelU’s upcoming North American figure line. The vehicle is by Oxford Diecast.
The final remaining structure on the block between 13th and 14th Avenues was Global Snacks. There is very little to it, just a stucco covered cube of cinder blocks.
