Another installment on the Minster Branch project has arrived from Dave Campbell. Here’s his report.
With the benchwork in place, it was time to get serious about developing the first scene on my new layout. It’s the section of Saint Marys, Ohio, up to the wye that marks the beginning of the Minster Branch. The lead photo above was how this section appeared in the last update.
This section will be home to the Auglaize Box Board Company, the Saint Marys Foundry and warehouse, the Deisel Wemmer Cigar Manufacturing Company, the Refiners Oil Company, and the Nickel Plate (NKP) passenger and freight depots. It will also feature the NKP crossing of the Miami-Erie Canal.
Here’s the modified schematic that will guide track layout and building placement. The tracks lead to the wye at the left.
With 24-inch deep benchwork, I knew I would not be able to represent the buildings in full size. Second, even with serious compression structures still require more benchwork depth than I had. I purchased structure kits from Walthers and Rail Scale Models which could work for the box board factory and foundry. Those kits provided the footprint dimensions in order to locate track and turnouts.
The cigar factory building still exists, so the basic location and shape were known. The cigar factory and the oil dealer would be scratchbuilding projects. I made cardboard mockups to locate and size a benchwork extension for the oil dealer.
I had leftover material to build the benchwork extensions. I glued a layer of foam to a ceiling tile and secured the extension.
I plotted final locations for the buildings, the canal, track, and turnouts. With those elements located, I began to shape basic contours.
The photos above document my work on the track, landform contouring, early track ballasting, and basic ground cover.
At this point I decided to build all the structures for this area. Each building was placed on a sceniced base for easy removal when additional scenery and track work move forward. I used Rail Models and Walthers kits to bash the Saint Marys Foundry.
The warehouse will be right next door. My model still needs to be weathered.
The Auglaize Box Board Company has two structures: a large factory building with freight doors on one side and a coal delivery track on the other.
A warehouse was added for the second building.
The cigar factory was a long, narrow brick structure near the Miami-Erie Canal. The building still stands at this writing. I asked my cousin who lives nearby to snap some photos for me. It’s built on an embankment sloping away from the track, which added considerable interest to the model.
The oil dealer was near the start of the wye. I scratchbuilt the warehouse and office building. The tanks were liberated from a Walthers kit.
The start of the wye happens to be positioned on a removable or drop-down section across the doorway into our house. I decided to construct a drop-down section.
I built it on a light wooden frame and added only one layer each of foam and ceiling tile to reduce weight.
There’s much left to do on this section of Saint Marys but here’s what things look like today.
I hope to share this entire section as completed in my next update. I may also discuss my decision to abandon a DCC system and adopt Dead Rail. (Spoiler alert – It was a GREAT decision).
Dr. Dave Campbell
That’s another step forward on the Minster Branch. Thank you, Dave Campbell, for sharing your layout progress. This Dead Rail thing sounds interesting. Maybe we will hear more about it in the next installment! In case you missed the previous three chapters on the Minster Branch, here are the links.
Update 1
Update 2
Update 3
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