Progress is Brewing

The old adage is true:  any progress is infinitely more than no progress.  As we have discussed before in this blog, one of the constants of model railroading is that you won't ever finish anything if you don't manage to make some progress.  Even with life keeping me hopping on multiple fronts in the last month or two, I force myself to get down into the layout room each night and do something.  Anything!

As you saw last month, the latest project is to finish up the 'permanent' buildings for the Peter Doelger Brewing Company at Euclid.  The next step was adding some lighting.  

I've selected exterior lights to highlight the facility at night, and included some signs with logos from the actual brewery to help set the place.  I found the lights on ebay from a small manufacturer in China, so for about $28 total, I got 15 wall-mount lights, with pre-wired micro LED's mounted in brass fixtures.  They are really nice and just what I needed for this building. They arrived 10 days after I ordered, shipped to New Jersey in a small box.  

As each was installed, I turned the system on to check to make sure that light was working.  Each has its own current-limiting resistor and I think the color of the light is spot-on for my purposes.  It makes for some dynamic night scenes!

I started to envision the concrete sidewalks and concrete apron for the grain tracks as well, since the kit didn't include any pre-molded.  I decided to make these out of styrene sheet, taking a nod from Jason's success with roadway surfaces around the layout.  The areas between the building and the industrial guardrail along the M&E main track would be prime candidates and offer a different texture for the eye of the viewer.

I measured, measured, and measured, then cut.  Then test fit, then final cuts.  It is slow work but the results will be worth it with a well-weathered concrete walkway down the entire facility, including the barley unloading tracks which will be completely 'encased' by the modeled concrete.

Now it's off to trick or treat with the kids!  Happy Halloween!  Plenty more OC progress coming next month!

~RGDave