Hey Fella’s I am modeling a car shop and engine house (modern 1970-current)I want to throw in some inerior detail more so than what the mfg provides. Any tips, ideas, articles, pictures?
Thanks
Andrew Rose
N-scale… Be Nice!!
Barrals, build tool boxes and benches, add people and just plain non-discript junk. RR car trucks and wheels etc…
I believe Faller, Campbell, and other specialized model detail manufactorers make a variety of detailing parts for your shop…you can do a search and find things like scale locomotive diesels, crane hoists, and machine shop equipment (lathes, milling machines, ect…), for sale on such items…Chuck
Detail Associates makes N scale machine tools in white metal (lathes, mills, bench presses, etc)
Also a must on all industial sites,“a bunch of 55 gallon drums”.
I’d go easy on the junk inside the shop. Remember that the inhabitants are Machinists! And that’s capitalized for a reason. Machinists rightly think of themselves as professionals and craftsmen of the highest order. Measurements are accurate to the nearest 0.001" and everything is stored in its proper place when not in use.
Outside the shop is another story. There you would probably find all sorts of parts that just might come in handy some time.
Thinking back to when I was employed as a Machinist. Lets see, saftey was paramount and signs such as Wear Saftey Glasses, Authorized personel only, Be alert dont get hurt, stay clear of overhead loads, 142 days since last accident. ect.
Air impact hoses, welding (electric and oxy acl tanks), someone cleaning up an oil spill and another employee getting reamed by his forman for making the mess. Fork lifts carrying loaded palets or even wheel sets. Pallet stack, dont get carried away with to many barrels, most oil and such is piped as an engine crankcase can hold 300 to 450 gals.
Shop floors were kept reasonably free of tripping, slipping, falling hazards.
Various crafts wore different colored hard hats, Machinist, electricians, pipefitters, boilermakers, laborers, and of course white hatted formen and supervisors. Visitors wore a red hat so we could be alert for them.
Theres a mulitude of items in the Walters cat. Traction motors, journal boxes, tools, EMD engines and wheels. Waste bins marked trash, BO (bad order) parts, steel shavings only, rags, wood only.
The main thing I have in mind when ever I get to building mine, is telling a story. Try to show why your railroad hired them or even perhaps why there about to get chewed out or even fired.
Perhaps a bit of humor. When I was hired as a laboror more decades ago then I care to count. I was taking a bucket of oil to dispose of. The forman greated me with a bit of sarcasam. Low and behold as he made me look behind, a trail of oil the lenght of the shop. That was an immpreeeesssive first day on the job.
Good luck on your shop, cant wait to do mine…John
Hey Guys as always you’ve been a big help! thanks abunch.
Andrew
I built a loco shop from dpm parts, I included an overhead crane, built an inspection pit scratch built cnc machines for the shop. I don’t have a site but a bad picture of it is on dpm’s web site. put in a formans office with furniture on a mezzanine, interior air and water piping, [:I] to go any farther.
http://www.dpmkits.com/ contest info, Gerald Applegate picture down the page
Just be sure to be OSHA compliant. You will want to do your best to keep the EPA and the greenies off your back too.
This is link to my new website, it’s bad, the layout is bad , but it’s mine, there are shots of my SP service shop on it, just for fun.
http://mypeoplepc.com/members/gapplegate/jerryslayout/
[8)][#welcome]
[8)][#welcome]
Jerry, You’ve got to be kidding! What is bad about your layout? The pictures show a busy industrial area in a mid-sized town! Bad?..this was built by someone that did some thinking and is very creative. Nice weathering on the buildings in photo! [:)][:D][8D][;)]
If this scene were mine, the only thing I would add is a bit of weathering to your trucks in photo #1. In photo #2, I would add a thin layer of ballast on the track bypassing the shop, and I would change out the Atlas turnout on the 2nd photo and replace it with a Peco turnout.
Don’t ever think of your railroad as bad! Keep us updated as you continue to add to your layout.
Thanks for sharing [8D][;)]
I think your layout is quite nice. No reason to look down on your hard work. At least you have one. That is more than a lot of folks can say. I do like the whole shop area pictured.
Yes, lots to be done yet, Being an old timer in a way, I had all those Atlas turnouts, read snap switches, At some point the will go under table with better switches. Long way yet to get all the ballasting done.
Locomotive Service Facilities are one of the coolest buildings to model on a layout, [8D]especially if careful modelers make a section of the building a removable “Cut-Away”.
In addition to the tools and equipment mentioned, include the bright yellow safety lines painted next to “Hazardous” areas like inspection pits, drill presses, machine lathes, and other stationery equipment. Create a storage-cage area for 55 gallon drums of gear grease on pallets. One or two heavily weathered forklift trucks would also be appropriate. There should be metal shop tables with tools on them is the norm.
If modeling post 1970. figures would include shop personnel wearing hard hats.
Re: Welding.
Consider welding equipment. There is a neat electronics kit available (sorry, I forgot who makes it) that imitates Arc-Welding taking place with a tiny white light at the end of a wire sputtering and glowing brightly on and off quickly, just like what you would see when a welder is working.
Offices for the Maintenance Superintendent.
On a typical 2 story high Diesel Facility, the rear upper area can be sectioned and a floor added for office space. There are companies now that make pre-molded items like book cases, shelves, and office furniture that only require painting.
Shop Foreman.
Usually has his desk or office on the bottom floor. Small and cramped with a cluttered desk and older “hand me down” furniture. Microphone may be nearby that leads to a PA speaker out in the shop.
Adding functional LIGHTS to a shop is a big plus. Except for short lines, locomotive shops run day and night, so shop lights are on continuously. You can add standard hobby bulbs OR get creative and consider ceiling mounting at one or two 4" flourescent light kits from Miller (12 volt). Even “back in the day” flourescents became popular in industrial shops, including railroads. http://www.microstru.com
With some shops t
Holy cow! Not the shop I worked in , between high school and the Marines. Crap laying everywhere, except right around the machines. But it was all government work, maybe that’s why. Lol.
I was just the new kid, given the most filthy jobs there, until I started at a milling machine. I was then lucky enough to be picked to help out in testing a new automatic fire extinguishing system for gas stations that my company (PemAll) was developing.
Aaahhhh, setting junk cars on fire on the banks of the Passaic River in Newark, New Jersey on summer days. Best job I ever had! It doesn’t do any good on my resume, though.
And, you do have a great layout!
Jim
How many tracks in the car shop and how many in the engine house?
Greenway has a nice assortment of machine shop tools:
http://www.greenwayproducts.com/a_machine.shtml
I bought a few of them at Springfield last winter, and they look great. This is the interior of my own roundhouse, before I put any of those inside:
The cinder block walls are printed on the computer (from a downloaded image) on card stock, and then cut to shape and glued to the inside walls. The floor is made from coffee stirrers. There are shelves and workbenches, also made from coffee stirrers and scrap wood pieces. The “steam pipe” on the left wall is a piece of sprue, cut and painted. Above the workbench you will see Miss August of 1967, again downloaded and printed on the computer. A few assorted barrels and some Woodland Scenics figures round out the scene.
MisterBeasley,
Thanks for that website link!
Just the type of equipment to put into any industrial shop or garage. Excellent. The drill presses, band saws, milling machine, pedestal grinder, shop buffing machine, skid boxes, and welding unit, would be right at home in a diesel shop
The working men figure set towards the bottom of the page are dressed similar to many of the locomotive crews I see nowadays.
BTW: Does Walthers carry this company’s products?
Jwar: Now that’s funny.