After the kids had left for the day, the HO railroad platform was brought in and setup for Monday. Pictured is a longer shot of the platform showing both the Union Sugar side (right) and portions of the yard side (left). Note the bandanas on the wall that the 3rd grade railroaders will wear when they're at this "center". The "guts" of the Union Sugar plant is at the far end of the platform. The students will be doing the finish work (paint, signage, etc.) on this facility. In fact, all the finishing work is now up to the class...
A 6-car sugarbeet train headed by the SMVRR GP9 sits in the foreground with a SMVRR caboose (yellow) spotted behind it on a siding. On the highline is a 2-car sugarbeet train headed by back-to-back SMVRR GE 70-ton diesels. The large open area will become a farm.
Here are the same trains just described viewed from the other side and from a lower angle. The level of the highline relative to the rest of the platform is clearly visible.
Here's the view of the sugar mill from the other direction. The structures are simply "florist foam" blocks taped together. The tank is 6" diameter PVC pipe. The elevator (far side of the plant in this view) is a series of discs and hand-carved platforms centered on a dowel rod. The students will create and afix facades for these structures.
This is the downtown yard side of the platform viewed from the end of the platform where the power pack is located (the camera is looking east). It's a dual-control power pack, one side of the pack operates the sugar mill side of the platform, and the other the yard. In the foreground, McClelland street crosses the track with the depot located on the east side of the street where the boxcars (one black and one brown roof) are spotted. Beyond the depot is the 3-stall (the real one is 4-stall) enginehouse with the silver water tank to the left. By now anyone familiar with the actual SMVRR trackage will note deviations taken in order to make things fit on a 4x8 platform. For example, the tracks leading out from the enginehouse do not actually go as far as crossing McClelland Street. The depot proportions are also a bit "adjusted".
Now we're looking the other direction along the yard side (west). The rear of the enginehouse is closest to the camera, with Miller Street running just this side of the building. Several sugarbeet gondolas, hopppers, and box cars sit on the tracks in the foreground. The tall white divider running down the middle of the platform will be decorated on both sides to create an appropriate background for the scene on each side. Note the crossbuck standing on the floor at the far end of the platform with the kids' AASRR name badges hanging on it.
Here's a closeup of the enginehouse. A balsa wood roof will be added. The openings along the sides will have lengths of small balsa sticks running vertically and spaced fairly far apart. A clear plastic material of some sort will be placed along these "posts" on the inside to simulate all the windowing on the enginehouse. Also pictured in the foreground is a start on applying the ground texturing.
This closeup shows some detail of the depot with the enginehouse and water tower in the background. The sides (tacked on temporarily by masking tape) will be painted to show doors, windows, etc. and then applied with some corner finishings. Obviously, a roof will be added.Previous  Next[Home] [Synopsis] [Train Layout (HO)] [Schedule: 2002, 2003] [For Teachers] [What's New] [Site Overview] |
