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.
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