716 Mary Street Gets a Roof

Difficult as it may be to believe, I do not have to make everything myself. Once you get started, though, it feels easier to make stuff than it is to look for an appropriate product. So, I was thinking I would be making my own shingles for the little half-a-house that I’m calling 716 Mary […]

Coal Dock Done

The coal piles managed to find their way onto the dock, and on the right side of the dock, too. I’m declaring this model done and ready for installation on the layout. Unlike most of my models, I finished this one before it finished me!

The Pembroke Water Tower

Like the coal dock, we have precious little information about Pembroke’s water tower beyond a mention in the 1908 Grand Trunk Railway Bridges & Buildings book. Here we find that the town waterworks fed a 20,000 gallon tank that measured 13 feet by 12.5 feet in diameter. It had a 6″ drop pipe, a discharge […]

Coal bin almost binned

That was close! I almost made the coal piles on the wrong side of the coal dock.

Fencing the Coal Dock

At what point does a coal dock become a coal bunker? Do the sides have to be higher, or does a bunker imply a less manual approach to moving the coal around? Regardless, these coal docks, at least those I’ve found information about all have at least three raised sides. My primary reference has four, […]

Coal Dock Decked

The sticks to finish the rest of the coal dock decking arrived on Monday, and I wasted no time staining, chopping and gluing them in place. I impressed myself not only by estimating the number of boards exactly, but by doing the arithmetic in my head! The India ink I have used thus far came […]

110 Posts for the Coal Dock

The laser-cut base for the Coal Dock made the alignment of all 110 posts a diddle. I made the holes so that the base held them, but not too snugly. So, each post slipped into its hole with a minimal fuss, and there was a little room to allow for straightening if required, but also […]

Coal Dock Base

For the most part, the coal dock is a simple model. The tricky bit is going to be getting the legs all evenly spaced and plumb. To help with that, I decided to cut a base with the laser. This, in turn necessitated a rough 3D design, which took an evening to put together. I […]

Coaling Two Engines

My last post about the coaling station prompted me to re-examine my sources. I found a second mention in the 1908 Bridges and Buildings book, which gives 92’x12’ as the actual size of the coal dock. There were half a dozen other coal docks on the Canada Atlantic, and they were all a more modest […]

Engine Lead Buildings

Thanks to Marty McGuirk for reminding me to think about the story I want to tell when putting together this scene. I’ve always maintained that the whole layout should build from right to left, getting more and more lively and optimistic as it goes. Here at the right end of the layout, it should be […]