A portion of the Sun Gas compound is walled off with a cinderblock wall behind which is a small service structure. In anticipation of eventually modeling the scene, I took photos back in 2012 to eventually use as photo wallpaper. Okay, so it took me nine years to get around to it!
Back in 2012 the wall had more of a grayish hue. Since I had the best imagery from that time period, I went with that color scheme (as opposed to the faded white it is now). In the foreground you can see how I’m slowly bringing the soil and ballast base up using N scale ballast.
My buddy Brad Trenkamp scratch built these exquisite lpg loading platforms for his own use last year. In an act of great generosity he granted me a long term lease to use them for Sun Gas. They really add a lot to the scene. Thanks Brad!
Standing on the edge of 30th Avenue, facing east, Tolga Erbora catches the local working Sun Gas, an LPG dealer. This is the scene I’m currently working on.
Here’s where Sun Gas, CBI, and 30th Avenue are in relation to the layout as a whole.
One of the more challenging aspects of this scene is working in the 30th Avenue grade crossing as it cuts across the CBI spur (front), main (middle), and Sun Gas lead (back) . Dealing with all of this in the middle of a turnout made it all the more difficult. In situations like this it’s important to keep the flangeways open and to make sure nothing rises above the railhead.
In this view I’ve done a quick and dirty test backdrop using a photo I took a few years ago looking north up 30th Avenue. Although 30th is called an “Avenue” that’s a bit of a stretch! My driveway is wider and in better shape than this narrow, battered, pothole laden, roadway.
30th Avenue in Miami looking north. Sun Gas is in the upper right.
Work begins on the 30th Avenue scene starting with the road and grade crossing itself. It’s a little tricky to model effectively because of the fairly distressed look of the pavement. In addition, the street goes right over a turnout.
To model the complex patterns of the pavement, I’m going to laminate a photo of an actual street onto styrene. The image above is a composite of a street photo from my own file (which I lightened) along with the edging from the prototype. I’ve uploaded a full size version of this image in the photo wallpaper section of the help section (scroll down to the last image).
There are seven pieces involved with the crossing and I now have the first two done. The timbers are from Blair Line. I heavily distressed them with a thick wire brush.
View of Sun Gas on The Downtown Spur taken from 30th Avenue and facing east.
It’s been a busy few years on the modeling front. As I wrote previously, with the Brooklyn Terminal layout now fully complete, I do find myself feeling a bit of “what now”? There are really no other themes or scales that are pulling me towards them at this point.
If anything has arisen lately it’s been the increasing and excellent documentation of the Miami rail scene I model by Tolga Erbora, both on Flickr and YouTube. Tolga has recently created a separate playlist tab on his YouTube site focusing on East Rail and The Downtown Spur. The imagery has reminded me of how fascinated I still am with the area and, despite the cutbacks all lines are facing, how vibrant it continues to be.
For the near future at least, I’m going to forget about new horizons and resume my Miami modeling. An East Rail reboot has much appeal and is something I am strongly considering. However, the Downtown Spur layout isn’t done so, for the short term at least, I’m going to go back to puttering with that.
Here’s the Downtown Spur track plan. The Sun Gas area I’m working on now is in the upper left.
First up will be finishing the Sun Gas/CBI area as this is one of the largest customers on the line.
In the past week I went back and removed all of the temporary Atlas rail I originally placed in the area and replaced it with permanent, painted and detailed, Micro Engineering code 70 track. I also added frog juicers to all three turnouts. Next up will be the 30th Avenue street itself, a tricky project in that it runs right over a turnout.
Tolga recent produced the video above showing the local working Sun Gas (starting at the :24 mark).
Trying to put myself in my readers shoes I couldn’t blame them for thinking, “This guy is all over the place. What’s he up to? Where do things stand?” In summary we have:
-Los Angeles Junction: 100 per cent complete.
-Brooklyn Terminal: 100 per cent complete.
-Downtown Spur: 70 per cent complete. Working on now.
-East Rail Reboot: Seriously considering building but haven’t started
I’ve been trying to think of a way to organize this site to improve clarity for the reader but no decisions as of yet as to how to do that. I’m open to ideas.
For the Miami rail fans and modelers in the group, Tolga Erbora has just produced a new video. Among other places he highlights East Rail and the Downtown Spur. He really does a great job of laying things out A to Z. You can watch the video HERE.
