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Central Alonzo (HO Cuban Sugar Mill)


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On 01/10/2021 at 19:07, doctor quinn said:

How about moving that free standing chimney to the end of the plant, set slightly forward of the back scene 

 

I'd have to wait until the next roll of kitchen foil is used up before getting another chimney....

 

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There probably wouldn't be a chimney there anyway as that is the loading shed (which has gained a corrugated roof and 3d printed louvres), and the chimney should be nearer the boiler house. 

 

I hope to get the buildings painted later in the week while it's still warm before the weather changes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some visible progress with weathering on the mill buildings, slightly overdone to what I originally intended but they seem to fit the perception of a run down Cuba and would make it easier to transition to later eras and the next coating of dust might tone them down a bit more...

 

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Edited by 298
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Having looked at photos from 1950's Cuba Vs my modelling to date, I decided there was some degree of decay setting in and it was too tempting to put a Cuban stamp on the chopped about Walthers Allied Rail Rebuilders structures that form the cane unloading building and company office. The blank space on the lower wall looks ripe for a pro-revolution slogan...

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On 28/05/2020 at 22:53, 298 said:

 

Thanks for the info, I believe I might have spoken to Lorenzo at a show a couple of years ago. It'd be good to see a Cuban Duff, but since I'm now trying not to venture too far from the original plan the appearance of one would be stretching reality a bit too far. 

 

This hasn't stopped friends pranking me at shows in the past when a 4mm scale green Brush Type 4 appeared on one of my Interurban layouts when I had my back turned, like this...

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One of the T975's was on the Hershey for a while. On a siding at least.

 

Edited by stadman
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I have only just seen this layout thread and TBH I haven't yet read every post, but I've just had a wild thought. 

 

If i was rich enough to subsidise it, wouldn't it be nice to have a two day 'foreign only' exhibition with as wide a range of concepts as possible, not just American HO switching layouts but all sorts of 'different' layouts which the average exhibition attendee never sees. 

 

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3 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I have only just seen this layout thread and TBH I haven't yet read every post, but I've just had a wild thought. 

 

If i was rich enough to subsidise it, wouldn't it be nice to have a two day 'foreign only' exhibition with as wide a range of concepts as possible, not just American HO switching layouts but all sorts of 'different' layouts which the average exhibition attendee never sees. 

 

 

"If you book them, they will come" (said the native American in Wayne's World 2).

 

The Derby show obviously used to have a large room that was Continental one year and American the next, but TBH the world has changed alot since then and I'd rather see good non-British layouts at a regular show than run the risk of stepping on the already established specialist shows that seem to be doing ok. Ironically my only two future bookings are these kinds of show, the German Railway Society in Didcot with the US HO layout and this at the Seaboard Southern show in Crawley in September.

 

Conversely though, larger shows that will succeed are the ones sponsored/endorsed by the mainstream magazines, and their content seems to reflect what appears in their own magazines so non-UK layouts are scarse.

 

With all that in mind and the clock ticking I have a resolution for 2022 that I have to do an hour's modelling on Alonzo before getting distracted by other side projects. So yesterday I pottered about down in the garage pondering where to place the structures for the company town. Now it was originally planned to build a small fiddle yard or return loop and I believed the quickest option was to finish this board completely, but there's something that still doesn't pique my mojo and conscious of the space needed I think I might just build a short extension just long enough to enable the 5-car cane train to switch back into the unloading shed without splitting it into two half's.   

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4 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

I have only just seen this layout thread and TBH I haven't yet read every post, but I've just had a wild thought. 

 

If i was rich enough to subsidise it, wouldn't it be nice to have a two day 'foreign only' exhibition with as wide a range of concepts as possible, not just American HO switching layouts but all sorts of 'different' layouts which the average exhibition attendee never sees. 

 

 

Not really a wild thought, Paul. There are enough UK modellers doing non-British prototype modelling that it ought to be able to work. But exhibition finances mostly work on the input from a wider public who probably would not visit an overseas show.

 

Venues have mostly become expensive. But if you could find a venue that was reasonable priced and in a location that is easily accessible, it could probably be done.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some progress over the last few days of isolation after a positive COVID test, with one of the house kits finished as the depot building. The Hershey didn't seem to use a standard style so it's more freelanced but I'm reasonably happy with it. I've also continued with the company houses and hotel, designing a porch for the former and have ordered some Auhagen sheets for the roof after trying various diamond pattern methods for the tar paper tiles (ironically whilst the roof on our own house is being replaced). I've yet to 3d print the porches or balcony for the hotel, the latter being inspired by the derelict hotel in Hershey. 

 

I've also used the time to continue with the artwork for the custom decals, the white Hershey Steeplecab artwork is complete but I need to fill the sheet up with lining and mill names for a few steam locos, and finish the smaller details for a gold sheet for the Interurban cars.

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4 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Well I hope the progress means it’s a mild dose of covid and you’re able to make the most of modelling time. 

 

Unfortunately I almost certainly passed it onto my Mrs 298 and she has seemed worse with it, but she is alot better now and was allowed out of isolation today and I'm back at work tomorrow.

 

I've also been working on other projects but have been sufficiently motivated to crack on with this, although there are little signs of progress elsewhere.

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The three (so far, I don't think I could squeeze a fourth one in) Rix houses with additional 3d printed front doors, and then primed with the first off the press porch styled after photos of the originals on Hershey. I wish I'd made the diamond shaped roof tiles more prominent as they could disappear under paint. 

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No trip to Stokenchurch today unfortunately so I've been playing with the building positions prior to mapping the area and cutting foam core board to size for the terraforming. The shop fronts are reused from a Merchants row and will get an arched balcony at the front and render, the Hotel towards the back has been glued back together and I'll reprint the balcony file once it has been modified for the full width.

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  • 1 month later...

No updates for a while because of a couple of reasons, firstly it's still too cold to work on the layout in the garage, and also because I've been working on lots of different jobs and haven't really finished anything. But t he ere have been a few developments with the stock, firstly I've lettered a Boxcar using K4 decals....

 

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...and secondly I've finished the boxcar sheets and had them printed, big thanks to John at Precision Labels for the excellent service- yesterday afternoon I was still working on the image file and less than 24 hours later had a boxcar lettered for the Hershey (they haven't been varnished yet):

 

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Still some refinements to make if I'm having to use more 10xx series single sheathed over Hershey's 9xx double sheathed that have been difficult to find in model form. 

 

I filled up the space on the decal sheet with a trial for a still unknown blurry tank car that is visible in the Trains Jan 1959 article and probably carried Molasses. The Hershey only had a handful of tank cars and may have been a carrier for this company. The model is a P2k with some of the lettering removed with my Badger air eraser:

 

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This week's cornundrum after the boost of lettering a boxcar is exactly what is the colour used for them at various times? The first photo with Steeplecab 28 looks like an overexposed and faded red oxide that comes back as more like a Raw Umber on a colour checker. No problem, says me, I'll just use Halfords primer and fade it afterwards. 

 

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But then there are the works photos of the AC&F cars with this being the last of the 1000-1049 series, why else would they have taken a photo of it....? Despite being b/w I tell myself it looks darker and spray a candidate with Tamiya Hull Red that looks nice and is similar to other alleged cars from this era. 

 

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But then I realise this photo shows both large and small logos with the same shade, at a relatively new looking Hershey Mill (note the curved covers on the Gons)....

 

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Could the "H" logo be from new and not a local repaint as I was assuming, or is it all nothing to worry about and the film emulsions of the time made red colours appear darker..? But converting the top image to b/w shows a greater difference in shade. 

 

Or should I stop worrying about it and just go with what looks nice because it's just six months until the debut and anyways I'm working with crappy Accurail and Walthers boxcars because nobody does a decent all-wood USRA Boxcar with separate grabs and these will have to do as a cheap place filler until that time....

 

 

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Hi Andy, 

 

I’ve just been into my stash of primer and painted these samples on black styrene, left to right Tamiya Halfords and Simoniz. The red in the Simoniz one is richer, I think it may be a better start point. (Mine came from eBay)

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Whilst waiting to see if the old photos will reappear I thought I'd show some progress of the decalling efforts, basically as a trial to see what we else I need to produce and to give me a chance to fill in the missing gaps in the roster before September.

 

The layout itself saw some terraforming over the warmer days recently but the main ground cover can wait until the weather picks up.

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@298,

 

At last I'm able to see some of your photographs, some neat rolling stock there. Regarding tank cars, I have images in a magazine of a solid train of TEXACO "armpit-drier" (high handrail) tank cars being hauled by a pair of Hershey locos - it would make for a very interesting operation. Funaro & Camerlengo makes kits for the very same cars if you wish: http://www.fandckits.com/HOFreight/8180.html

 

Cheers Nicholas

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7 hours ago, Nick_Burman said:

@298,

 

At last I'm able to see some of your photographs, some neat rolling stock there. Regarding tank cars, I have images in a magazine of a solid train of TEXACO "armpit-drier" (high handrail) tank cars being hauled by a pair of Hershey locos - it would make for a very interesting operation. Funaro & Camerlengo makes kits for the very same cars if you wish: http://www.fandckits.com/HOFreight/8180.html

 

Cheers Nicholas

 

Thanks for the info, I don't suppose they were credited to Earl Clark as he took alot of colour photos of the Hershey in the 1950s like this...?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-slide-rbk-hershey-rr-cuba-2064233289

 

I have trialled Texaco lettering on one of three Athearn single dome Santa Fe tank cars brought cheaply for their Kadee trucks but they are obviously the wrong type so thanks for the link to the F&C type 7. All that remains now is to confirm whether the lettering was in English or Spanish. 

 

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These aren't really a priority because I seem to have enough tank cars with a few better quality silver and white Conoco and Texaco tanks plus the Molasses ones and the layout isn't currently set up to handle such a block train, but if it's a success and I build the balloon loop on one end then it's certainly something I'd like to model.

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2 hours ago, 298 said:

Thanks for the info, I don't suppose they were credited to Earl Clark as he took alot of colour photos of the Hershey in the 1950s like this...?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-slide-rbk-hershey-rr-cuba-2064233289

 

Yes, that's the photo.

 

2 hours ago, 298 said:

All that remains now is to confirm whether the lettering was in English or Spanish. 

 

I'll check the magazine tomorrow, but I'm almost sure they kept their English data. By the time they were photographed these tank cars were already life-expired in the US (I believe they were pre-WW1 vintage), their transfer to Cuba being a way of extracting some last mileage without having to answer to the Interstate Commerce Commission. Because of this I believe that TEXACO didn't even bother to reletter them.

 

Cheers Nicholas

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