Construction Update #27 - Bowling Green Kentucky, Part 1- Central Kentucky Grain & Reinhart Food Services

 Central Kentucky Grain

 

Work continues on the Central Kentucky Grain elevator at Bowling Green.  Additional details have been added to include dust bins and a protective cover for loading covered hoppers during inclement weather.  The loading chute on the right (uncovered) is for loading 40' boxcars.  By the mid 1970's covered hoppers were the preferred means of shipping grain products.  One covered hopper could carry twice as much as a 40' box car and they were easier to load and unload.  But, due to light rail on some lines and a shortage of covered hoppers during the annual grain rush, box cars still made up about 30% of the fleet in 1975

  

The interior of clean 40' box cars in grain service were lined, about 2/3rds of the way up, with cardboard.  The doors were then closed off, about 2/3rds of the way up, with cardboard "grain doors" or other dunnage. The grain was then loaded to capacity (weight) with a flexible duct.  Many of these box cars were in dedicated grain service and "grain loading only" was stenciled to their sides.   

 

Athearn is scheduled to release a modernized 40' boxcar soon.  Although I haven't been able to find a prototype photo of a L&N 40' boxcar in grain service, I think a couple of these should work. 

Work has also progressed on the liquid fertilizer loading/unloading rack at the far end of elevator spur.  Details include several storage tanks and a pump house. 

After studying a older active elevator in Monroe, WA, I determined there should be a second elevator between the round "Butler" style storage bin and the main elevator.  Although I think the Walthers version is a little crude, I decided to try it out.  Once I had everything in place, I filled in around the complex with my initial layer of ground cover (paving sand).

A view looking east (south) of the completed model.  It still need a few weeds and other details..

Reinhart Food Services

 

One of the things I learned during my recent trip to Kentucky, Tennessee and Northern Georgia is that things are much more spread out than I originally thought.  This was particularly true around the rail yards in Madisonville and Bowling Green.  The yards also tended to be smaller than I originally envisioned and were generally located outside the urban hubs.

 

Reinhart Food Services is the first of several industries designed to represent a more contemporary low rise industrial district southwest of downtown Bowling Green.  The facility handles frozen foods, perishables, and food service related dry goods.

 

As you may recall, from the last post, this part of Preston Miller Yard in Bowling Green was dominated by four story cut stone building with a covered loading dock and a tilt-up style concrete addition.  A portion of  it shows up in the lead photo of the last update.  The structure was actually better suited to a old industrial district in Chicago, Detroit or New York.   It was also one of those rather distinctive Walthers kits that tend to show up on a lot of layouts; structures I try to avoid.  And it had to go!  Here is a photo Preston Miller Yard after I removed it.

 

 

Taken from about the same angle, Reinhart Food Services takes up about 4 linear feet.  It still needs about 8 inches added to the end of the spur, a few details and some signage.  The three tracks closest to the backdrop belong to the L&N.  Preston Miller Yard, in the foreground, now belongs to the Southern/Central of Georgia.  About a month ago, all of my private road equipment went into storage.

 

Reinhardt was kit bashed from a couple of the recent Walthers tilt-up concrete structures; primarily parts from the Modern Printing Plant 933-4079.  Parts from the sides and back were spliced together to more than double the length.  The office portion is about 1/2 inch thick.  The warehouse/cold storage section is about 1 1/2 inch thick.  

I like to switch out each new industry.  L&N 1318 has picked up an empty PFE reefer from Reinhart, run around it, and is now headed west back to the small L&N yard on the west side of Bowling Green.  The PFE is a 57' Athearn car.  At one time I had 6 or 7 Intermontain PFE's.  I decided they were to fragile for an operating layout so I sold them.

 

Here is an overall view of the complex including a second warehouse on the left.  It was also built up using the same Walthers kit.

 

The Locomotive Facility at Preston Miller

 

I have been working my way around the lower level of the layout from east to west.  I skipped over the locomotive servicing facility at Preston Miller while I agonized as to whether I should retain the turntable and roundhouse that were part of the original design,  About a year ago I installed the turntable pit (110') but didn't progress beyond that point.  To the relief of my grandson Adam, I have decided to maintain the turntable and add a roundhouse.  Here is a current view of the complex.  The turntable lead is in the foreground.  The turntable and roundhouse will be just out of the photo on the right.

After looking at all the alternatives, including scratch or kit bashing, I decided to order a 4-stall version of the American Model Builders laser cut wood version to represent a roundhouse well past its prime.  Brick is probably more typical of roundhouses in this part of the country but I really like the AMB model.  I think it is a Missouri Pacific standard design.  It should be here in about a week and I can't wait to get started on it.  I will take pictures as I go through the building process and share them on a future post.  Here is picture, from the AMB website, of the 2-stall version.

Your comments and/or suggestions are always welcome.  Email me at sdepolo@outlook.com

The Grain Elevator at Bowling Green - Railfanning Kentucky & Tennessee

 Central Kentucky Grain - Bowling Green

 

After spending about week in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Northern Georgia I came home with a different perspective in how the layout should progress.  One thing was really apparent; the structures along backdrop behind Preston Miller Yard were totally out of character.  As a result, I have removed all of the existing mock-ups or partially built structures and started over.

 

The old configuration.

 

And here is a photo of the current configuration looking east (south).  Parts of  Kentucky are well suited for the growth of corn, wheat and soybeans.  While this structure is not based on a specific prototype, it is typical of smaller elevators that shipped wheat, corn and soybeans prior to the advent of  large terminal elevators and unit grain trains.

Four different Walthers kits and two different Rix Products kits were used to make up the complex.  Starting on the left, the storage building came from Walthers kit 933-3036, the Farmers Cooperative Rural Grain Elevator.  Since I only had about 2" between the spur and the backdrop, I cut the side walls in half and used the extra parts to double the length.  The parts were painted with "rattle cans" from Ace Hardware and the assembled building was weathered with Bragdon powdered pigments.  Two of the doors were left partially open revealing a few inside details to add depth.

 

 

The elevator warehouse came from Walthers kit 933-2911, Clayton County Lumber. It is one of four similar structures included with the kit.  This heavily weathered building came off my old Sn3 layout. I gave it a light overcoat of light gray and placed it next to the main elevator building without any further modifications.

 

The main elevator building was built using the parts from 2 Walthers 933-3096, Valley Growers Association.  This structure isn't currently available from Walthers so I bought 3 of them off ebay.  As it turned out, I substituted some plain stryrene for some of the backside components and only needed two of the kits.  This was a easy kitbash taking less than a day to build.  The ladders that came with the kit were a bit course so I changed these out with ones made by Central Valley.  Again, the building was painted with "rattle cans" and weathered with Bragdon powedered pigments.  The grain bin to the right came from Rix products.  It still needs some additional detailing.

Each of the Valley Growers kits includes one of the storage bins..  I assembled two of them per the kit's instructions.  The grain elevator is Rix Products 628-407.  I had a Walthers version on hand, but the Rix kit, although somewhat difficult to assemble, is a much nicer model.  I originally painted it "equipment" green but as a result it disappeared against the backdrop.  Having spent a lot of time, putting it together, I painted it a "sand" color to make it show up better.  To avoid flexing, I installed the elevator and storage bins on a piece of sealed high grade  plywood.

A tank car loading/unloading rack is located at the far end of the elevator spur.  The rack is a Walthers kit 933-4037  I still need to paint the rack, add details and, add a couple of  tanks.  All the structures shown in this view are printed on the backdrop.

And, here is a view of  the complex looking west (north)

Overall, I am really happy with the way this scene is working out.  It is much more in character with southern Kentucky and should add a lot of operating interest.

Railfanning in Kentucky, Tennessee & Northern Kentucky

 

The Chattooga & Chickamauga Railroad

One of the high points of my trip was stumbling across the Chattooga & Chickamauga Railroad.  This shortlinge runs from Chattanooga south over about 55 miles of old Central of Georgia trackage.  I found three freshly painted EMD's at Holiman Yard in rural Lafayette, GA.

 

The yard office at Lafayette.  The American flag is flying everywhere in the south and there are hundreds of "Trump" signs still planted in lawns all across Tennessee and Kentucky. 

Three locomotives were at the Holiman Yard.  A GP-38 and 2 GP-9/10's.  Based upon what I could dig up, one of the GP-9's is a ex Milwaukee unit and the other is a ex ICG Paducah rebuild.

North of Lafayette is a large manufacturer of plastic products.  There were about 40 of these covered hoppers in various stages of  being unloaded.

 

The Pacucah & Louisville

 

The Paducah & Louisville is one of my favorite railroads.  Pam and I spent an entire day following the line from just outside Louisville to Paducah.  We caught this train going through Madisonville, KY.  It was lead by two P&L master/slave sets along with a unit from CSX.

 

 

When we finally got to Paducah, late in the afternoon, I found three eastbound trains staged in the Paducah yard.  Paducah is also home to one of the best train stores I have ever been in; Classic Trains & Ferrari's.

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More L&N equipment

 

I found a bunch of interesting models at Classic Trains & Ferrari's in Paducah.  L&N cabooses are hard to find but I came out of there with three, including a transfer caboose. While these cabooses may not be perfect prototypes, painting and lettering locomotives and rolling stock is not really my thing so they will have to do.  I also managed to pick up 6 Tangent L&N coal hoppers in two different paint schemes

 

 

And, right after Pam and I got back from our trip, this "Beast" arrived; a Bowser Executive Line L&N Alco C-630 factory equipped with DCC and sound.  Some paint schemes look better than others on a model and I think the L&N gray and yellow is one of those.

 

 

Construction Update #26 - The Louiseville & Nashville, More details for Westmoreland

 

 The Louisville & Nashville

Prior to the Family Lines/Seaboard System merger, the Louisville & Nashville was the major player in Bowling Green.  The L&N mainline, between Memphis and Louisville passed through Chattanooga from the southwest.  My current backdate, to around 1975, created the need for some L&N power.  

The prototype #1318 came to the L&N via the Monon.  The L&N merged with the Monon in March of 1968.  The #1318 was one of two high hood examples, equipped with steam generators for passenger service, that the Monon owned.  It is a Atlas Master Series locomotives equipped with a Tsunami2 sound decoder and a TCS KA1 keep alive.  Upon receipt, via a ebay auction, the existing weathering was stripped with alcohol and new weathering was applied.

The trailing unit is a Walthers Proto U-28B L&N #2504.  The prototype was built for the L&N in 1966 and later upgraded to a U-30B.  It is also equipped with a Tsunami2 and TCS Keep alive.  Both units were weathered using a combination of Mig panel line wash and Bragdon's powdered pigments.  The train is eastbound at State Line passing through "new" scenery.

 

 Westmoreland

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been on a big push to get the lower level peninsula presentable.  Several new structures, additional scenery, and some details have been added to Westmoreland.  

 

The hill in the background between the Cumberland River at State Line and Westmoreland has finally been finished off with Super Tress and static grass.

 

The Westmoreland Post Office is a Woodland Scenics "Built & Ready" structure.  This addition to the line was a pIeasant surprise.  Generally, I find these structure to be a little "cutesy" for my taste.  I pretty much pulled it out of the box, drilled a hole in the scenry base for the lighting, plopped it down on the layout, created a parking lot out front and planted a couple of trees around it..

 

 

Westmoreland Building Materials, Hardware and Lumber is also a recent addition.  The main structure was kit bashed from a Walthers kit.  The small shed on the left was scratch built.  There is also a storefront and warehouse directly behind the shed.  Each of the lumber stacks was built up from individual scale boards.  So far I have built up about 16 stacks with still another 10 or so to go.

 

The store and warehouse behind the storage sheds was kit bashed from parts left over from cutting down the storage shed on the left.  Like all the structure fronts along the base of the backdrop, it still lacks some roof detail.

 

Additional details have also been added to the CEMEX redi-mix concrete plant

 

The flag pole is a Woodland Scenics item.  The cement trucks are also from Walthers.  They are obviously a bit modern for 1975 so they will need a bit of kit bashing to backdate the front ends.

 

 

And landscaping for the two houses

 

 

The LPG facility in Westmoreland is located along the outside of main line curve at the end of the peninsula.  This project got stalled when I realized  the Woodland Scenics chain link fencing wouldn't work.  I ordered and received some etched metal chain link fencing but have not had a chance to try it out. 

L&N #1318 eastbound through Westmoreland

 

 

During the mid 1970's an upsurge in traffic, primarily coal, left the L&N chronically short of power.  Power was leased from who ever had a surplus including the Canadian National.  Here, a CN GP-40 leads an westbound past the company houses outside tunnel 2 and into Westmoreland.  I have also seen pictures of Penn Central, Southern Pacific, and Seaboard leased units operating on the L&N during the mid 1970's.

 As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome.  You can use the "comments" section above or better yet my email:  sdepolo@outlook.com  And, please feel free to forward my blog address to anyone who you think may be interested

madisonvillesub.blogspot.com

 

 

 

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