West Bottoms-Another Version

Discussion in 'Divisions' started by Boomer John, Jun 12, 2011.

  1. Boomer John

    Boomer John Member

    After viewing Mike's West Bottoms I'm thinking of starting over.
    But on second thought, I don't have his ambition, or skill.
    Here is my progress. I only concentrate on Frisco operations. The layout is shaped like an F pointing the wrong way. Up the vertical is Santa Fe St. The top of the F (turning left through the "curved building") is Henning Street yard and switching the Armour Plant. The lower stem of the F is the alley track

    At the base of the F is a fiddle yard, the lead is "off site" and breaks onto the scenic part coming under a KC transit bridge.
    The tracks on the fiddle yard are actually in the scenic portion camouflaged as tracks serving the GM&O freighthouse.

    For those thinking of an urban layout it will surprise you how much money you can go through with DPM and Walther's modules. A couple of hundred bucks for a loco seems OK.
    $100 for a bag of building parts makes you want to model desert. Even scratchbuilding is expensive with brick sheet and window castings.

    A couple questions for Mike. What era are you modeling? I'm early diesel using FM engines, although they were not used in KC. Secondly, how are you going to handle the streets? I am told they were brick, this is causing me some issues.

    By the way Mike, great job.

    John
     

    Attached Files:

  2. Rancho Bob

    Rancho Bob Member

    Boomer....great start to your effort as well. I'm finding that the "common denominator" in all these WB layouts is the Rudy Patrick Seed Company. One of the "industries" I don't usually see; however, is the Kansas City Bolt Nut & Screw Company. The response I have to your "street" question is not only brick, but concrete and, of course, overlayed asphalt. I see the KCPS PCC car on the "tunnel bridge". Good detail to add. It's too bad that nobody actually makes a KCPS PCC that's prototypical...that is KC cars were somewhat unique because they did not have standee windows.

    Best wishes and keep working and posting...I think you have a great layout started.

    Buck Dean
    JAX, FL
     
  3. mbowline

    mbowline Mike Bowline bottomslover

    John, I really like your layout plan and how it is geographically pure. Santa Fe St, the alley track, and the line west to Armour are all in the correct relationship to each other. Very nice work.

    Regarding your two questions: I plan on modeling 1964. This model-year was originally set by the year the KCT received their delivery of SW1200s, which can be modeled with DCC and sound using a Walthers P2K NYC SW1200 as a starting point. I wanted to include running boards (roofwalks), tranfer cabooses, and ATSF zebra-stripe and the year 1964 satisfied this short list of requirements.

    Street trackage? I haven't gotten that far, but modeling street running is something I am really looking forward to. I will no doubt use John Pryke's book on modeling urban scenes as a guideline. Probably brick sheet showing though in a few places, overlain with styrene for street concrete/asphalt.
     
  4. yardmaster

    yardmaster Administrator Staff Member Administrator Frisco.org Supporter

    John, good to haer from you and see an update. I love the way the Frisco freight house is shaping up!

    I also like the idea of disguising the fiddle yard with the GM&O freight house. I'm going to have to keep this in mind as I move toward sketching out how we're going to represent the West Bottoms in our new space.

    The aesthetic of the overall layout and room is superb. Good lighting, good backdrop, great valance and fascia: it really puts the focus on the action and the modeling!

    Best Regards,
     

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