I’m in the middle of creating my ice house. Actually, I have the track laid and the area designated for my ice house. Do any of you have some nice pictures of what you have on the layout? Mine is set on the backdrop and will only be around 3" deep or so. Giving the feeling of depth. I was thinking about kitbashing the Walthers ice house using the platform, and building a new structure. The Ice House on my layout will be very large, The Fresh Pond Ice Co. in NH was at one time the largest in the area. So it will be around 3’ long! I plan to have five to ten 36 and 40 foot reefers at any time in front of the building and platform.
I think I’m reading this right–you’ve got a 3" depth for the platforms and the ice house itself? If so, I’m thinking that if you’re dealing with a 3" depth for the platform and the ice house, you might consider using two of the Walthers platforms against the backdrop and perhaps kit-bashing the ice house itself to fit as a shallow ‘front’ building with them. By using just the front and back portions of the ice-house, cut about 1" deep or so, you can double the length of the building–which is pretty big to begin with.
Just a thought.
Tom [:)]
Here’s a picture of my Walther’s ice house:
Due to a miscalculation, I was forced to trim the back edge of the roof to get it to fit between the track and the backdrop. This is what happens when you ignore the old adage of measure twice, cut once.
You could also use the JV models icing kit and “cut it in half”; by this, I mean build the one side for the icing and use the back somewhere else on your narrow portion as another “industry”… just a thought…it builds a nice kit.
Brian
Just out of curiosity, how are blocks of ice modeled?
Wayne
Clear acrylic plastic - Walthers sells them.[:)]
Thanks, I shoulda known, feel silly now. [swg]
Wayne
Did you use an extra set of ice platforms for this one? It looks great.
How wide is the platform? It looks fantastic. I’m assuming you are using more than the platform that comes with the Walthers kit? Probably an extention kit?
So how did it work? The ice is moved on the platform and loaded into the reefers from above? I though it went in the doors of the reefers?
Plexiglass also works.[2c]
Thanks guys for the tips on making a block of ice. I wanted a couple for a mini scene under construction near a river bank/loading dock. My wife suggested I break up an ice cube from the freezer until she realized it wouldn’t last very long. [:-^]
Wayne
Nice looking scene, John. Even at the angle at which the photo was taken, the backdrop blends in really well.
Here’s one of mine, a Walthers kit with some add-on platforms. I modified the roof, and added platforms for delivery of ice in ice service reefers. I also added chains to the drop-down platforms.
This one, in the backgound, is mainly for ice storage, with the ice being cut nearby. There is provision to ice one car at a time, but most goes out, to the other icehouses shown here, in ice service reefers. The door in the near end of the building and the small office, partially shown, are for commercial and residential ice sales.
This small ice house receives block ice from the storage facility in ice service reefers, for distribution by truck or wagon to commercial and residential users. There are several of these scratchbuilt structures around the layout. Obviously, no car icing done here.
For moving ice from storage to the various icehouses around the layout, these older 36’ reefers, with sealed hatches and the ice bunkers removed, are used.
Wayne
I built/kitbashed the Walthers Ice House a few months ago.
It comes with some clear plastic ice but it doesn’t look real.
Haven’t done it yet, but I plan to “chip them up” with the judicious use of an X-acto knife and then hit them with some random light blasts of thinned white paint and Dullcote.
It will take some experimenting, but I think it will give me the “translucent fog” look that is typical of ice blocks.
I sanded mine, which not only fogged them, it also got rid of the casting “dimples”. [swg]
Wayne
How about semi-gloss or dul-cote? Has anyone tried that?
I have a book that says to use clear silicone caulk. Must need to build a form to “pour” in the caulk, but it sounded right to me!
The blocks are large, about 500 pounds, so they are pushed down the platform and across the ramps. Some reefers that needed to be colder have tanks with salt brine. That is how BAR shipped potatos out of nothern Maine back when. The cleanout track for reefers has a lot of salt brine dumped on the ground, so not much vegitation grows.
The Walthers platforms have a moulded-in conveyor chain in the top non-track side of the platforms - the conveyor moved the blocks along the length of the platform, where workers maneuvered it to the car using hand tools.
Potatoes do not require refrigeration, although when shipped in the winter, the reefers were often equipped with charcoal heaters placed in the empty ice bunkers to prevent the potatoes from freezing. In fact, in 1940, it was determined that only 1/3 of all reefer loads actually required refrigeration at all.
Most lading that used brine cooling used crushed ice mixed with salt - this provided colder and more stable temperatures, especially important for meats, and of course for frozen foods, or for shipping long distances. The CNR developed overhead bunker cars specifically for this purpose. I built a model of one using an Athearn reefer as a starting point. The roof was scratchbuilt to accomodate the eight hatches, as was the underslung charcoal heater, and the door was widened. The black and white gizmo near the door is a Liquidometer, meant to monitor the car’s interior temperature.
While some height was lost in the prototype car’s interior, more floor space was gained with no end bunkers, although the cars were limited in capacity by their rather high light weight.
Wayne
It’s been about 4 years since I built it, but I believe I did use the platforms from multiple kits. This was the result of a brain cramp rather than a plan. I bought a second ice house forgetting that I already had one so I decided to use the platforms from both kits and save the second icehouse for a kitbash. This is not the only time I have done that. I have bought duplicate kits at least a half dozen times, not realizing I already had one. This is what happens when senioritis combines with a disorganized train room. Keeping track of what I have becomes quite a challenge.
I’m not sure but I think Walthers offers add on platforms so it shouldn’t be necessary to buy multiple ice houses to get a long platform.
You’re right: Walthers offers add-on platforms. I used two add-on platform kits (two lengths in each kit) along with the platforms that came with the icehouse. You get a package of plastic ice blocks with each kit, too. [swg]
Wayne