Phillips
Phillips was the home of the main yard and offices of the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad, located northwest of Strong on the way to Rangeley, Phillips yard contained a ten stall roundhouse, turntable, workshop and car shop, as well as the depot and freight house. Along with the main yard, there was an upper yard, which consisted of more coal storage and a paint shop that were leftovers from the days of the Phillips and Rangeley Railroad. Revenue for the railroad in Phillips was generated by five different mills manufacturing wood products, as well as various sources of LCL (Less than Carload) freight.
Above is a shot of the diagram of the Phillips on my master planning sheet, taken from the book Ride the Sandy River. It shows the main yard, upper yard, the covered bridge, and the International mill to the east of the main yard. All of these design elements will be modeled on the Phillips module.
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The above left photo is Reeds. The mainline heads 'south' off the right of Reeds, and will curve around the corner of the wall onto the next wall to the right. If you look at the above right photo, Reeds is down at the lower left of the diagram, and Phillips is on the wall on the left of the diagram. The mainline will come around that corner from Reeds, go through the covered bridge over the Sandy River, and cross Main Street heading into the yard. I won't be able to do any of the upper yard or the old P&R yard. As soon as you go through the bridge and cross Main Street, you'll pass the Phillips Depot, the shops, the roundhouse and the turntable. You'll then cross Pleasant Street, pass the International Mill, cross the Salmon Hole Bridge, and then go around the room corner again onto the next wall. So I have that whole 12-5" wall for Phillips. I've already got the covered bridge 90% done, the Phillips Depot done, some of the buildings for Main Street, and all the buildings for Pleasant Street done. I've got the freight shed for Strong done, and that will sit in Phillips in place of the Phillips freight shed until I get around to building that. I've got the ball signal kit for Phillips on hand, drawings of the semaphore signal from Gary, and the Central Models kit for the Salmon Hole bridge. I've already got the International Mill about 50% done with a scratch build.
The buildings for Pleasant Street are all N scale, so I'll be using forced perspective to make Phillips look deeper than it really is. I've settled on 33" deep for the deepest part of the module, which will be where you see the round house on the third photo diagram. I'm using the diagram out of Ride the Sandy River for the track plan and general layout of everything on the module. The thing that I haven't decided on yet is how exactly I'm going to do the Beal Block. It was a very long building, I have to scratch it however I do it, and I'm thinking of doing it at about something like 1/110 scale on the left/west end of it, tapering it to something like 1/140 scale on the right/east end of it, transitioning from the 1/87 scale structures along the aisle to the 1/160 N structures at the back along Pleasant Street. Depending on how well, or not well, it comes out, depends on how much foliage and other 'camouflage' I use to blend it into the scenery to help the effect of the transition. I'll get to use my drafting equipment from school again for that one. Foliage will transition the right/south end of Pleasant Street between the N structures and the RR crossing on the way to the International Mill.
The foliage will transition from early Fall on the left side of module to full-blown colors in the middle, to late Fall with bare trees by the time you get to Salmon Hole. The backdrop will be 1/8" masonite blended into the end of the masonite behind Reeds, bent around the corner like I did behind the RLH House and the Langtown module, extending all the way down the wall behind Phillips, and then curving around the corner on the right heading for Strong. I'm not happy with the blisters that have formed in the photo backdrop sky behind Rangeley, so I'll be hand painting the sky the way I did on the Sluice Hill module, getting an Autumn photo backdrop from Trainjunkies, cutting the sky off of it, and then gluing the photo terrain onto the sky-painted masonite. I tried it as an experiment on that little stretch of photo hill that you see behind the Abomination Pass spot I'm finishing up now, and I like it better than the full sky photo backdrop.
So that's the plan anyway. I'll have to scratch build the roundhouse and shops, haven't decided on the turntable yet, will scratch the coal shed, have the water crane kit, the vehicles and figures will be no later than 1925. I will have the gas pump next to the depot for the rail cars, since I have Dave Hoffman's Railbus #3 kit and the Sango Railbus #4 kit on the shelf.
Below is the future home of the Phillips module. After the shelving is ripped out, the track will be extended from the Reeds Station module (covered in protective plastic in the left of the left photo) along the wall to the right. Phillips will include most of everything in the above diagram and take up most of the wall.
The buildings for Pleasant Street are all N scale, so I'll be using forced perspective to make Phillips look deeper than it really is. I've settled on 33" deep for the deepest part of the module, which will be where you see the round house on the third photo diagram. I'm using the diagram out of Ride the Sandy River for the track plan and general layout of everything on the module. The thing that I haven't decided on yet is how exactly I'm going to do the Beal Block. It was a very long building, I have to scratch it however I do it, and I'm thinking of doing it at about something like 1/110 scale on the left/west end of it, tapering it to something like 1/140 scale on the right/east end of it, transitioning from the 1/87 scale structures along the aisle to the 1/160 N structures at the back along Pleasant Street. Depending on how well, or not well, it comes out, depends on how much foliage and other 'camouflage' I use to blend it into the scenery to help the effect of the transition. I'll get to use my drafting equipment from school again for that one. Foliage will transition the right/south end of Pleasant Street between the N structures and the RR crossing on the way to the International Mill.
The foliage will transition from early Fall on the left side of module to full-blown colors in the middle, to late Fall with bare trees by the time you get to Salmon Hole. The backdrop will be 1/8" masonite blended into the end of the masonite behind Reeds, bent around the corner like I did behind the RLH House and the Langtown module, extending all the way down the wall behind Phillips, and then curving around the corner on the right heading for Strong. I'm not happy with the blisters that have formed in the photo backdrop sky behind Rangeley, so I'll be hand painting the sky the way I did on the Sluice Hill module, getting an Autumn photo backdrop from Trainjunkies, cutting the sky off of it, and then gluing the photo terrain onto the sky-painted masonite. I tried it as an experiment on that little stretch of photo hill that you see behind the Abomination Pass spot I'm finishing up now, and I like it better than the full sky photo backdrop.
So that's the plan anyway. I'll have to scratch build the roundhouse and shops, haven't decided on the turntable yet, will scratch the coal shed, have the water crane kit, the vehicles and figures will be no later than 1925. I will have the gas pump next to the depot for the rail cars, since I have Dave Hoffman's Railbus #3 kit and the Sango Railbus #4 kit on the shelf.
Below is the future home of the Phillips module. After the shelving is ripped out, the track will be extended from the Reeds Station module (covered in protective plastic in the left of the left photo) along the wall to the right. Phillips will include most of everything in the above diagram and take up most of the wall.
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Below left, the shelving now removed from the wall, and the wall painted white. Below center, the plank natural wood ceiling painted white to help reflect light onto the layout. You can see the difference it makes in the photo below right. It's like doubling the amount of lighting in the room.
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Constructing the Banta Model Works Phillips Depot. The Depot and railroad's facilities at Phillips will be the focal point of the whole Phillips module. This is a wood and card stock kit. I almost had a heart attack when I put the gray wash on it to weather it, and the walls started curling. Luckily, when it dried, they straightened back up.
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To the left is the covered rail bridge that crosses the Sandy River above the Phillips yard - in progress.
To the right is a cyclone, the first step in modeling the International Mill on the east side of Phillips between the Phillips Yard and Salmon hole bridge. |
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Left: Starting up the construction of houses to populate the town.
Right: Starting the cardboard mock-up that will also serve as templates for making the International Mill serviced by the railroad. |
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Left: A period photo of the International Mill. Over time, the mill was expanded, owned by different owners, and produced various products from clothespins to toothpicks to matches, etc.
To the right is the completed mock-up of the mill, selectively compressed to fit the available space on the layout. |
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The International Mill on the layout will be undergoing construction of the added-on warehouse, just barely visible on the extreme right of the upper left-hand photo. Some of the construction equipment on the layout will be the steam powered cement mixer and dump trucks seen to the left and right.
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With the Reeds module in place, the masonite backdrop with the sky painted on it in place, and the photo backdrop on hand, construction on the Phillips module can now begin. The three masonite panels that bring the sky from behind Reeds, across the back of Phillips, and then around the next corner of the room toward Avon, are each 2' tall by 8' long. They are butted end to end and screwed straight into the wall, with the masonite curving around the corners of the room. The ends have a bit of glue to hold them flush to each other, then sanded and painted to blend them. The screws are painted into the sky with enough paint to blend them so they become nearly invisible.
The sky is done with a base coat of light blue, then starting at the top and working my way to the bottom, darker shades of blue fading to light are blended onto the base coat with a sea sponge. After the blue has dried, clouds are applied with a sea sponge as well, with the undersides of the clouds getting a very light blending of light gray.
The photo backdrop will have the sky cut off of it, and it will then be glued into place when I determine where it needs to be positioned on the sky-painted masonite.
The sky is done with a base coat of light blue, then starting at the top and working my way to the bottom, darker shades of blue fading to light are blended onto the base coat with a sea sponge. After the blue has dried, clouds are applied with a sea sponge as well, with the undersides of the clouds getting a very light blending of light gray.
The photo backdrop will have the sky cut off of it, and it will then be glued into place when I determine where it needs to be positioned on the sky-painted masonite.
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Below left and right, the bench work has been installed, the gray sky has been trimmed off the photo backdrop, and it has been permanently been attached to the masonite sky. This photo backdrop has a self-adhesive glue back, and is much better to work with (to me anyway) than those that aren't self-adhesive. If you notice the left top corners of the horizon in the above and below left photos, the corner of the backdrop has been trimmed to give it a downward sloping taper. The top right corner got the same treatment. This will help blend it with the 3D scenery, and the trimmed off material won't go to waste.
The bench work lower shelving is framed with 2x4's for sturdiness, and the shelves made with 5/8" plywood, to suppor my weight while working on the underside of the layout, and so heavy items can be stored there later. I left an open space under the right side so that I can store the shop vac, short broom with tall dustpan, etc. under there when not in use.
The bench work lower shelving is framed with 2x4's for sturdiness, and the shelves made with 5/8" plywood, to suppor my weight while working on the underside of the layout, and so heavy items can be stored there later. I left an open space under the right side so that I can store the shop vac, short broom with tall dustpan, etc. under there when not in use.
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Below left are the corners that were trimmed off of the photo backdrop. I used them to 'build' a hilltop rising above the original flat-ish horizon of the photo backdrop, as you can see in the lower right photo. Even with close inspection, the overlap of the photos isn't easy to spot.
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With the backdrop now done, and 1/4" plywood and 1/2" foam board in place, the railroad and 3D scenery can be plotted out to begin construction of the module itself.
