Bruce-worthy

I said I would post more often, that was back in May and so much has changed since then, seems a little arbitrary to pick on my lack of new articles. Still, I have been very busy in the train room with all the time on my hands and the fact that for a while, we were all stuck in the house. I completed one project after another and after a while, I had completed so many, I realized that I need to keep a list of the updates so I made sure to show Bruce the next time he stopped over the house. A list of updates that were Bruce-worthy. Well, we were able to get together last weekend and I showed him all the changes, we ran a few trains, and now I can share them with everyone else.

Starting in Irwin, the main changes were replacing the cardboard mockups for US Steel and Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) with some real structures that had "some" depth. Both are still partial buildings to give the illusion of more depth than the layout but help make the scene. Notice the details on both loading docks as well as  the lit interior in the PPG building. Eventually, all of the buildings will have detailed and lit interiors. Two things that you don't see in this photo is the overhead crane in the PPG factory with the 10 Ton marking, a shout out to our local Warped Wing Brewery signature fixture and the new oil crane just left of the picture along the engine track. 

US Steel and PPG Buildings

Next, heading east out of Irwin Yard we see Uniontown and some of the new details there. First, McKinney's Liquors, after our son-in-law, finally has a sign - although he still missing the front of his store, interior and roof! Next to that is the new Moose Lodge 73, which actually exists here in Beavercreek OH but I really wanted to have a Moose Lodge in Uniontown. There are more details along the streets - news stand, fire hydrants, mail box and parking meters, people and a couple new cars. Also new is the city park in the center with the town twins, Dan and Don, playing a game of checkers at the picnic table. 

New buildings and details in Uniontown

Along the other side of the peninsula from Uniontown is Herminie PA, home of the Westmoreland Coal Company Mine No. 4. The building finally has a company sign on the back but also signs above the tracks under the coal tipple. The biggest changes here are along the backdrop with a new machine shop, fence, and most importantly, exposed stone wall that shows how deep this strip mine was carved before they converted it into a shaft mine. 

WCC Mine No. 4 in Herminie

New rock wall backdrop along the mine tracks

Our last stop is the hillside just east of Herminie that is the scenery break before the Youghiogheny River and East McKeesport scenes. Originally, I had envisioned a company store here but as I suggested in my last post, I decided to make this a tree covered hillside, reminiscent of the woods behind my house growing up. If you look closely on the left, you'll see a young boy on the left running to catch up with his friends, a girl leaning against the tree at the top of the rise counting and several kids hiding in the woods. There's even a raven in one of the trees - yeah, it's tiny!

Hillside between Herminie & Youghiogheny River

So that's not all the changes but most of the big ones. Halloween was great this year, with mild weather, that I opened the garage and back door and ran the trains for anyone who wanted to check out the model railroad in the neighborhood. The trains ran, non-stop and no issue, for over 3-1/2 hours! Very happy with that. With the temperature dropping outside, I will begin moving some projects indoors. I have several car kits to building, want to build the interiors and lights for Isley's, McKinney's and Dailey's in Uniontown and then probably the coal mine, Westinghouse and L.A.S. Fabrics. I am working on a special project now ... but more on that later! 

Happy November!