The blog has been “dark” since the end of April. It’s been a VERY busy summer for me and my family, and now it’s time to get back to it.

I mentioned in my last post–way back in April–that I had a full left knee replacement on April 5th. Recovery was much more difficult than I expected. The first two weeks were tough and I was in a lot of pain. After three weeks I was able to start working from home, and about that time I got back to the YMCA and was lifting weight to supplement physical therapy. PT went well and after six or seven weeks I was even able to jog a little bit.

Below. The doc worked quite the kitbash job. Guess which parts are Titanium.

During those weeks at home I got a little modeling done. The most significant work accomplished was construction of a new Alcatraz Paint & Varnish Company building for my new Hermitage Road layout. Here’s the story.

I have no photos of the real Alcatraz (the paint company, not the prison) which was a block north of the old Seaboard Air Line Hermitage Yard in Richmond. All I have is a Sanborn drawing which shows track going through a couple of buildings and a small tank farm. Alcatraz is the facility on the left. Apologies for the fuzzy image.

On the old Hermitage Road layout, I scratchbuilt a version of Alcatraz based somewhat on the Sanborn map footprint alone. Here’s that first version still under construction:

I wasn’t happy with this version, and over time I looked for a prototype to use as a pattern for a new structure. Some time later I found this building, below, at the Litchfield (Illinois) Museum. This small factory was on the New York Central in downtown Litchfield. The building is long gone–along with the Big Four–but I like the feel of the building, with lots of windows and doors, an irregular shape, a smokestack and a little water tower.

I bought the Walthers Machine Shop kit, as seen below, and over the course of a week I kitbashed it into a reasonable facsimile of the factory shown above.

Here are the major kit components. The building will be placed between two roads with the back end against the backdrop, in a space fourteen inches long and five inches deep.

Here are the first few cuts. I find it difficult to cut up a fifty-dollar kit, not quite knowing if it’s going to work out or not.

Below. After much time and testing, and measuring and gluing, here’s how the building took shape. Note that the track goes between the buildings. I like this layout as trains will disappear between the buildings for a short time, and cars will be spotted out of sight. Like the previous version of Alcatraz, I also plan to have pipes and wires going overhead between the buildings.

Below. An overhead view of the building layout. The building sits between two roads which are drawn on the subroadbed. The tanks are from the Walthers Cornerstone Industrial Storage Tanks set, kit number 933-3514.

Another view, below. I need to find a small, square smokestack and some good roof vents for the building.

Below. Another view of the new building with a box car spotted in position.

Finally, here’s a view of the layout with the new Alcatraz building in place. The track that serves Alcatraz continues on to serve the Richmond Block Company, at far left, just like the prototype. The large building at right is the grocery warehouse. The black thing at the far right is the traversing table.

Below. Here’s the building with the first coat of paint.

Later in May I presented an online clinic on Hermitage Road 2 for our informal online group, Ron’s Train Club. Ron’s Train Club is hosted by Greg Bueltmann, who is the Superintendent of the NMRA Michiana Division. Greg is a terrific guy and is doing a great service for the hobby, hosting and posting hundreds of online clinics given by the group.

Here’s the link to my layout presentation:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/77593752886?pwd=L2NZV1lRSDJVamlOcEVocmxhZlo2dz09

Here’s a direct link to the presentation hosted on You Tube:

Greg’s complete Michiana Division Video Archive can be found at http://michiana-nmra.org/videoarchive.php. There are hundreds of videos posted of all kinds of different subjects. They’re nice to have going in the background while you’re at the workbench.

I hope you have a wonderful week! – John G