I’ve seperated this part out of my other layout post for easier response and follow up…
here was my original post on the this subject:
Well, I went by the Virginia Inland Port today…here’s a background…
Operated as an intermodal container transfer facility, the Virginia Inland Port (VIP) provides an interface between truck and rail for the transport of ocean-going containers to and from The Port of Virginia. Containers are transported by truck to the VIP for immediate loading upon a rail car or for short-term storage prior to loading. Containers arriving from Hampton Roads terminals are unloaded from the train and dispatched by truck to inland destinations. Land is available to steamship lines for container storage and ancillary service companies.
I wanted to see if I wanted to model part of this intermodal facility instead of a roundhouse in the lower left corner. I then thought that it would mean that I’d have to buy about 100 model trucks, so I decided against it.
On the way back to the highway I went the wrong way and had to turn around in the driveway of a Virginia department of corrections minimum security prison.
Not 1 minute later, what should happen but the ipod shuufled over to “Folsum Prison” by Johnny Cash.
Well that was it…1) I was thinking about modeling on my new layout
2.) I just saw a prison
3,) the man in black sealed the deal.
I’m going to add a prison yard somewhere on my layout. I’ll think about where tomorrow…
I figure a couple buildings, a work yard, and a lot of stone walls and voila, Fulsom Prison in O gauge.
whadya think?
The Plastic Lizard
I took some pictures of Levenworth, KS last August.
Model the big coal yard there too. Man, that is a monster. Use to almost wreck trying to look at it when I was going and coming from Hampton BPS. Now I go the backway [258] across the James River Bridge [look at the big carriers] as it turns into Mercury Blvd.
it’s a noble thought, but unless your layout is huge, doesn’t seem practical. I was going to model a drive in movie and realized how many suare inches were required to put up a lot that would hold a belieevable number of cars and decided against it.
Well, I think I should be more clear. I’m not going to model Folsom, or Levenworth or any of the giant prisons. I think I’m just going to make a smaller “Folsom light”. more like the camp I saw Monday or the one in “Cool hand Luke”
Some of the switch towers out there by MTH and others look like they would make good prison towers if they were painted grey. There are plenty of ways to make a couple bunk houses. I haven’t decided if I’ll make a stone wall or a fence wall.
BTW, what is an inexpensive way to make stone walls?
Cast the wall in plaster,simple flat forms,and scribe the stones with
an ex-acto ?
Well what ever you do,it looks like you will have a ‘captive’ audience.
Where exactly is that compound located ? I’ve been in that area
several times in years past and am not familiar with it.
I had two military schools at Ft. Eustis,and was able to explore the
peninsula fairly well.
Just an FYI,and you may know about it,but Micro-Mark has
some real nice sheets of stone,brick,concrete block,etc.
The surfaces are slightly raised above the mortar lines to
give a more realistic look to them.
I’ve gotten several different ones,but haven’t used them for
a project yet;but they do look,and feel a lot better than the
old flat sheets of same.
I’ve been pondering the same question. I’m going to try scribing some smooth styrofoam with an awl, then painting it. Cheap and quick! Also, Plasticville’s Airport Terminal (45985) has a great control tower that looks very much like a guard tower. See Bachmann’s web site for images.
already thought of the chain gang…I’ve seen a Lionel track set that would look good with the guys wearing orange jumpsuits…
Regarding the towers, with a little paint and if I cover Lionel with Dept. of Corrections I think this Lionel switch tower would make a nice guard tower. I could give the moving people little rifles to carry.
Interesting idea! You might consider modeling a portion of a prison at a corner of your layout to give the impression of a larger facility. Maybe have someone escaping ala Tim Robbins “The Shawshank Redemption” or Clint Eastwood in “Alcatraz”.
You could look into modeling Ossining Prison AKA Sing-Sing just north of NY city. It straddels the old New York Central Hudson river Mainline with fortiffyed bridges crossing the tracks. Now Metro North commeter trains use the tracks and many of the people on the “reverse commuting” trains in the morning are visiting husbands and fathers and get off at that stop.
Now I’ve found a source for walls, and I’ve found a good way to make chain link and razor wire. I’ve started tracking down a guard tower, and I think I’ve got my buildings situated.
But anyone know how tall the walls of the prison should be? Would prison walls be 20 feet high, 30?
Michigan’s max security state prison in Newberry just has Stalag 17-type dorms behind several layers of chain link and razor wire fencing - using silver mesh could be interesting. These days, everything seems to be behind chain link and razor wire…I’m thinking of enclosing a tank farm…
