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 […]

Mock-up Coaling platform

The information on the coaling platform in Pembroke is scant. We have a mention that there was one in the 1908 GTR Bridges and Buildings book, with the note “Shovelled into Ten.” There is a turntable-long rectangle on the Grand Trunk Railway’s 1918 Plan of Pembrok (NMC 145203-1) that indicates its location along the engine […]

716 Mary Street Gets Clad

The plywood core for 716 Mary Street, coupled with accurately-cut siding makes for super square, solid construction. The model is in danger of starting to look like a little Ontario house. I wish I’d thought of curtains before putting all the walls together. They’re going to be nuisance now!

Laser cut bits for 716 Mary St

I always said that the Cricut is a gateway drug for a laser cutter. The more I use my XTool, the more that feels true. With the Cricut, I frequently have to redo parts where the knife has dulled and failed to cut through, or where the adhesive mat has failed and the material dragged […]

A Waste of Time on the Cricut

For June, I’d hoped to finish the house I started for the Cricut clinic back in May. However, the wall technique, with which I’d hoped to replicate something like novelty siding was an utter disaster. At the clinic, I demonstrated a technique that Greg Kenelly thought looked promising for replicating N scale novelty siding. Our […]

The Mary Street bridge disaster

For years, foamcore mockup buildings have helped tell the story of Pembroke; even though they’re plain white, lay visitors can immediately understand that this is a model of a town, and begin to appreciate what I’m aiming for. I’ve used them to understand and modify massing and composition, which should help to avoid waste down […]

Lowering the carriage factory

Rob Kirkham suggested getting a boxcar into the scene to compare with the carriage factory. The cars in the prototype photo look like 36 footers, and I don’t have any that large. I did have a 34′ V&PL car at hand, and dropping it into the scene, we can see that the 80′ factory is […]

Balancing the carriage factory

The temporary massing models have lasted much longer than I expected, and I’ve always felt the carriage factory was too small and the station looked too tall. So, with a little spare time and foam core, I built a new carriage factory, and with my knife I lopped off four feet from the bottom of […]

Widening the Mary Street Bridge

I don’t know what I was thinking when I first mocked up the Mary Street Bridge at the south end of Pembroke. Perhaps I thought it was so lightly built that it could only have been one lane, and I do recall a reference to a foot bridge. At any rate, thanks to Facebook and […]

A little mock rhythm

A few weeks ago, as I was contemplating the composition of Pembroke, I noted that I want to pull the viewer through the space between the Pembroke Milling Company and the CA freight shed. The existing mockups had their roof ridges parallel to the backdrop to simplify hiding the join with the backdrop. However, in […]