Forfar Dairies Kitbash

Lately I've been working on Forfar Dairies, which at the time was a mile and a half north of the village. That building was destroyed in a fire and rebuilt in the village.

I started with a Bachmann lighted freight station. The chimney stack is just a cardboard tube covered with printed brick from paperbrick.co.uk. The boiler room is a part of another free download of a false front store, the porch roof is part of the same store. The roof vents are pen tip protectors from chart recorders (the old Bailey panels). I then added Tichy Trains milk station, which is 48 scale inches above track level. This meant scratchbuilding a lower platform and ramp. The building cupola is actually a mistake from Delta mill. That building came with a separate powerhouse (with internal detail, but no windows to see it), and the cupola had two different gable ends. I accidently used the wrong pitch. It seems to go quite well here though. Being a boiler man by trade I realized that either they were burning natural gas or had a cold furnace, so I made a little sawbuck and saw with all sorts of odd scraps of wood, twigs, previously enjoyed Xmas tree, shavings and off cuts.

A few more pics

 Westport and the extension of the wye. The red warehouse flat in the background is some of the spare parts from the Delta mill. There are only the four spare windows though. Not a problem as Tichy makes windows just that size.

 This N scale church is all thats left of Crosby and Newboro. The rocks are the bark mentioned earlier. I don't think I said but after all my efforts into making these, my buddy just gave a very light spray with the grey primer and got the same result. They look quite good I think.

 Here's the farmhouse just out of Westport. The ploughed field is dry tea leaves (previously enjoyed).

One last pic of the coal dock.

Currently I'm working on the Athens section and have a control panel made and the beginning of Lyn.

More on that later.

Cheers

Delta and the mill

 Nice little village is Delta. It took its name from the shape of Lower Beverley Lake which is like the Greek letter. First the long view.

 And the mill building, which is interesting in its own right. This is a RDA kit Easton mill. I really didn't like the loading dock that came with it, so made my own. It was quite a build. Forget using a sharp #11 blade to cut from the sprue, a machete worked better. The wall sections had to be sanded down so the edges were a 90 before they could be glued together (the instructions showed a shiplap joint, but they weren't molded that way), It wasn't all bad though. The walls and roof are thick enough that they won't need any liner to prevent light coming through, and the windows were separate pieces to make painting easier. Also it came with spare wall pieces, which are going to get used as a flat in Westport.

The real mill was the most modern building of its kind in Upper Canada when it was first built in 1812. It was fully automated from day one, and was a two man operation. One Lackey, and one Boss to rake in the Coin. By our era the wheel had been replaced by a pair of turbines and the mill was converted to electrical power. There was sufficient to supply all 12 houses in Delta with a light bulb, but if your wanted to pay double you could have two bulbs. The village of Lyn, by comparison, didn't get electricity until 1927. There is a story that the Owner was walking through the village one evening and saw one house brightly lit and knowing they only paid for one light went to see what was going on. He found they had creatively used strategically positioned mirrors, so he charged them as though they had two lights anyway.

Some pics of Forfar

 At last I seem to have the pic situation under control. So, finally an update. It's starting to look more like a town. I've started a veggie garden at the side of Luigi's and a stock pen for the farmers market. Forfar Dairies was a mile and a half north of town then. So far nothing has signage, which is going to change soon.

AMR forum closed

The forum started by Paul Templar (Shamus), All Model Railroading, is now closed. It had been dying for a while, but it is sad to see it go. Without all the help and encouragement from a lot of fine modellers there I don't think I would have got to where I am in my own modelling.

A little ditty

This past summer I was in Westport at the Rideau Lakes Museum and I came across this complaint to the B&W from a farmer, J Knowles, unfortunateky undated.

My razorback (pig) strolled down your track
A week ago today.
Your 29 came down the line
And snuffed his life away.
You can't blame me
The hog, you see, slipped
Through your cattle gate.
So, kindly pen a cheque for ten
The debt to liquidate.

The reply was,

Our 29 (train) came down the line
And killed your hog we know.
Bur razorbacks on railroad tracks
Must surely meet with woe.
Therefore, my friend, we cannot send
The cheque for which you pine.
So, plant the dead, place oe'r his head
Here lies a foolish swine.

It's been a while...

It's not much of an update as I have no pic's yet. The hoops. The camera I bought last year quit right as the warranty expired. Bought my daughter a camera for her birthday (she's lost the charger already), her camcorder doesn't talk to the new computer, so I have resurrected the 35mm.  Now, you might think that would solve the problem, yes? Well, it will once I can find a scanner at work.

However, on the railroad work is underway again after taking summer off.. Track is laid to Athens and ballasted, the Delta mill building is built, and Steve and I have reversed direction and have extended the Westport "Y" with the idea of getting operational. I decided that I wasn't happy with the one leg and will be re-laying that soon.

Pic's soon.

Cheers