The last structure that is part of the "North Menands" layout section is Southworth Tractor & Machinery Company. It is an industry that was still receiving boxcars in 1984, though the condition of the track suggested that it wasn’t a high-volume customer. The track (which still exists today in the undergrowth) came off a switch located just after the one from the main line and broke sharply into a curve that ended at a concrete loading dock. This is a really neat feature and one that usually seems unrealistic when I see them on layouts. A previous blog post discussed how the industry was switched by someone who actually observed it.
Below is a satellite picture of the facility as it looks today, and here is a previous blog post with some additional images. The D&H mainline is still in the background, and just across the tracks is a cemetery. The red line is the spur that came off the mainline and ended at the concrete dock and the yellow line is the parallel track that continued on to Agway and Colony Liquor. It is a relatively large facility and building it will be a lot of fun. But, I wanted to jump into it slowly.
So, inspired by a recent post by Chris Adams on his blog about building a concrete loading dock, I decided focus on that first. While he and I used different materials, I would have gone his route if I had been fortunate enough to have some foam board lying around because its texture sure looks a lot like concrete.
The area where the track was located has become a holding ground for barrels.
Trucks could back up to the concrete dock (where the black rubber protection strip is shown below) and be loaded up with whatever came in on the flatcar. It was a pretty slick set up. Alternately, the tractors could just be rolled down the ramp on the left of the garbage bin.
The pictures I took in 2010 plus the satellite images helped me picture it. Unfortunately, the lack of space on my layout between structures is really hurting me. The blue Agway building was literally only inches away. You can see in this picture the Jeep is on ground that looks near level, but behind it there is a slope from left to right.
Beyond the loading dock, the entire parking lot is slanted to allow trucks to back up and park. Multiple elevations make for a neat looking prototype, but I could not capture all of that on my layout. The flat area to the right of the ramp should be much wider, but there was no room for that. So, the area where the trucks could back up to the dock (marked in red) was essentially eliminated.
To avoid nasty surprises, I made a paper template first to get the final size of the loading dock.
Ideal height of the dock was established using the most scientific method I know... an HO flatcar!
I then took my template and made up a drawing. A NMRA gauge was used to check clearances.
A broken Life Like tractor model (another scientific method) revealed that I made the sloping ramp too narrow, so some whiteout and ink corrected that.
The top of the ramp was made from scraps of 0.060" styrene glued together and braced from below. I cut a line for the ramp with my knife and bent/broke it clean, then scribed another line for the top ("hinge") of the ramp and bent it down. The image below shows everything upside down.
The sides are more strips of styrene I cut out and glued to the edge. It took a while because I had to use every metal block I had to hold it in position while I slipped small styrene brace blocks in the joints. In all, this took about an hour to put together. The sides were left oversize for now. To ensure the top of the ramp (the "hinge") didn't break, I braced it with eight parallel pieces of styrene in an alternating pattern which I think is called a log cabin joint.
Later, I trimmed the oversize pieces and then filled in the remaining spots. I admit I really enjoy this type of work because I can sit at my desk and listen to the radio and relax. I make it up as I go, sort of like a Lego or Erector set where I am building something new. However, using foam like Chris did would have been much simpler and probably have looked better too.
The finished loading dock from the top. I took a diamond pointed scribe and scraped in some expansion joints. The prototype has an odd pattern that was modified in some areas where they took asphalt and patched it over. I chose to just do a regular grid for my model.
My last tube of modeling putty dried out recently so I had to improvise for a large seam. I filled it with gel super glue and then scraped the top surface flush. Perfection wasn't required, or even desired.
I finished off its exterior appearance by using sandpaper and sanding sticks to add surface texture everywhere, to round off and scrape up the edges, and to blend any seams. I intentionally wanted it to look more rough like old concrete than smooth like plastic. It was one of those situations where I was doing the opposite of what I normally had to do.
It looked good but it felt flimsy. So, I mixed up epoxy with some BBs that I had on hand until I had a slurry of sorts and poured it in. The next morning it was rock solid.
I washed it with soap and water in preparation for painting. Then, I sprayed it with some sandy camouflage paint. Normally I like the yellower tones for concrete, but in this case I leaned into the grayish colors to match the prototype pictures. So, after the sand color dried I went over it lightly with gray.
Once dried, I applied a wash of black oil paint and mineral spirits. It didn't look quite right so I blotted it with a paper towel. I then had to let it dry.
The combination of mineral spirits and paper towel blotting caused some of the gray to be removed, revealing the sand color underneath. This color variegation was exactly what I was looking for. I then applied another wash of black oil paint to highlight the cracks.
The loading dock currently has yellow safety curbs and a railing around the edges but I don't know if they existed in 1984. Right now I am leaning towards leaving it off. I did want to add some weeds and other vegetation to the top and sides of the dock though. So, I used a toothpick dipped into some tacky glue and added tiny little spots in some of the cracks. Then, I sprinkled on the finest ground foam I had. I didn't over-do it, as the dock was still occasionally used, but the greenery helped break up the otherwise stark gray.
The loading dock isn't attached to the layout yet. I still need to work on the scenery around the three Agway buildings, and I think I want to build the main Southworth building too. I need to go visit the prototype dock again and see if they had anything reinforcing the area where the coupler would strike.
But, it was a fun little project. Now on to the main building (which I am in the middle of drawing plans for and mocking up).
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