As is the usual, GFLUG will have a laid back multi-loop train display at Plant City, as has been for about 10 years now. Where has the time gone?
The HBPRRHS has had train shows for a long time now, 21 years now and counting. I have been to three shows, the 2007, 2008, and 2010 ones. 2007 was more of a bad try at a day outing; the weather sucked, I was tired out, and everyone wasn't in the best of moods. 2008 was a much happier event and I got to enjoy it to its fullest, also getting my second CSX video. In 2010, things were a carbon copy of 2008 except I got a rarer-than-ever S604 in Lakeland on tape; as usual I got to run the trains and have camaraderie with many railfans and people my age (more so people my age), except the train pickings were awfully low and Paul Mathis of the SFRM said so. 2012 is here, around the corner, and I expect a blast out of it.
Why you ask? I am going for it. I have just sent a proposal asking to make the GFLUG the first ever operating layout to display a model of the historic Plant City Depot! N-scale diorama? Nope. HO-scale diorama? Wrong area. LEGO? Can do... and I will hopefully make it happen.
In my end the trip is in the planning stages, but it was promised. My folk said either this or Railwatch, and for this I will be honored to do this.
This thing can do it... it can make the papers again! The big icon of Plant City is indeed the station downtown and I am sure the staff will go bananas seeing it in the brick. It'll even be a cooler touch installing this section right up on a curve, just like the real deal.
Hopefully I get a yes, and for this continuous publicity, I believe there is no reason for them to say no. If I can do whatever is needed to get this done, I should be all set.
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Should this get approved, the trip will be carried out in two days;
Friday we rent the car in the early A.M. (7 am), depart 9 am, arrive at the setup 2:20 pm. (2007 I left 8:30 am and arrived 1:30 pm). I believe setup is until 6(?) so I can deviate for one train or two.
I'd probably railfan Lakeland-Plant City from 4-7 and move up to Orlando and sleep well for the night.
Saturday, be up 7:30 am and leave for the show 9:00 am, as always, hopefully unlike 2011 no big jam that holds me up well. Perhaps this time we'll scout a Mickey D's in Haines City to save time.
We'd arrive around 11 am and hang around until 3, catching any necessary and proper train (ie. T081 or the like) in this frame, leave the show at 4 after tearing down, and head to the LEGO store after some railfanning.
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The section being proposed is the depot as seen in Flickr. 3x1.5 BP.
Should I have to fill a half a baseplate, it will be for parking. Should it be 4 and a half, to fit a 6x3 area, it will be parking on the south/north and Reynolds St. on the north. Perhaps I'll begin adding the old cars for the big old car convention every 3rd Saturday (mentioned on the article).
Funny how Biz said that I am recreating a Firestone Pizza, I only mean that I am building the very not-so-flattering Firestone Complete Car Care!
Showing posts with label plant city. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plant city. Show all posts
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Monday, July 11, 2011
Plant City Depot MOC Phase One - Completed!
It has finally happened - The depot is built!
The Plant City Depot was built at Drane and Collins in the namesake city around 1909... It served ACL and Plant System railroads until the SCL took over. Station duty was removed though the depot was preserved as a member of the National Register of Historic Places, namely in 1974.
The depot is now the City's Welcome Center and provides tourist info plus guides, magazines, timetables, and ATCS displays and model railroads for railbuffs who visit.
My replication project, for future inclusion in GFLUG and FLUG displays especially when Plant City gets to happen, was started on May 22, 2011 with the bare bones and has been halted days later, especially when I felt stumped with what are now the pneumatic elements you see on the facade. I reinstated work around the middle of June, with a faithful commitment date of June 30 for completion. Soon I learned and quickly realized that I did not have enough roof elements (slope bricks) to finish, in neither the prototype color (gray), the close to proto (dark gray), nor my best fit due to corner and end pieces, black. To maintain focal quality on the model black was primarily chosen because of the strength of the color, though at any time I can change it though such a move is costly. On July 7 filling the Pick-A-Brick cups at Orlando, I found two gracious pieces that told me "here you go, Tolga, now finish it"... the LIC, unlike the Miami store, boasted black 2x2 and 2x4 45ยบ slopes, essential for this. Picking up 47 2x4s, and 295 2x2s (eyeballed, and unfortunately unneeded 2x2 bricks went in the cup), among many other interesting parts, it was finally seen phase one would be complete. Well, what is phase one? Let me show you...
The Project is divided into three phases:
The Plant City Depot was built at Drane and Collins in the namesake city around 1909... It served ACL and Plant System railroads until the SCL took over. Station duty was removed though the depot was preserved as a member of the National Register of Historic Places, namely in 1974.
The depot is now the City's Welcome Center and provides tourist info plus guides, magazines, timetables, and ATCS displays and model railroads for railbuffs who visit.
My replication project, for future inclusion in GFLUG and FLUG displays especially when Plant City gets to happen, was started on May 22, 2011 with the bare bones and has been halted days later, especially when I felt stumped with what are now the pneumatic elements you see on the facade. I reinstated work around the middle of June, with a faithful commitment date of June 30 for completion. Soon I learned and quickly realized that I did not have enough roof elements (slope bricks) to finish, in neither the prototype color (gray), the close to proto (dark gray), nor my best fit due to corner and end pieces, black. To maintain focal quality on the model black was primarily chosen because of the strength of the color, though at any time I can change it though such a move is costly. On July 7 filling the Pick-A-Brick cups at Orlando, I found two gracious pieces that told me "here you go, Tolga, now finish it"... the LIC, unlike the Miami store, boasted black 2x2 and 2x4 45ยบ slopes, essential for this. Picking up 47 2x4s, and 295 2x2s (eyeballed, and unfortunately unneeded 2x2 bricks went in the cup), among many other interesting parts, it was finally seen phase one would be complete. Well, what is phase one? Let me show you...
The Project is divided into three phases:
- Phase one is simply maintaining that there is a building. External detail is not the priority here except for the dark red fence.
- Phase two is the inception of interior detail into the MOC. This is much simpler to do but I wanted to keep focusing on the first phase's roofing. I expect to finish this in about a week.
- Phase three is the exterior platform style roof that will box in the US&S signal that I did do (though it's hard to design a tricolor). It also includes landscaping and any other Depot structure that may be needed. This may be a laggy phase, with no commitment, but I know I'll be done by November at the latest.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
A MOC... and an Impending Series...
My coins into the bucket this time around include a few things:
- I am currently in the making of the Plant City Depot, a train artifact that was preserved. Look for my video on Friday, which is the day after which I am committing to finish the MOC. Right now I am doing the outer walls and I will be working like crazy wrapping this bad boy up. The building will be the emphasized epicenter of the Plant City diorama which will appear on Florida LEGO User Group and Greater Florida LEGO User Group (longer term) displays in the future.
The Plant City Depot was built in the late 1800s as a connector station for the Plant System and the Atlantic Coast Line. In 1974 after trimming and discontinuation when SCL service dwelled into Amtrak, the depot, what was left, got entered into the National Register of Historic Places. Now people are trying to turn Plant City into Folkston, but that is not happening so easy. Today, railfans gather inside the lobby to watch ATCS at the ticket desk, read magazines, check out memorabilia, or enjoy the layout in HO Scale (1:87).
My LEGO rendition will be done in three phases. Phase one is the building and the outer walkway. Phase two is the interior; due to time, I may not have this by Friday. Phase three is the North side patio-ish walls/walkways. Due to my LEGO "palette", the roof will be black and not gray, but the black gives color and emphasis on the model. It is being constructed with dark red elements for walls and standard green windows. Watch me describe the true difficulty in the video. - Semi- or entirely prototypical city and town buildings will be developed as a series. I am willing to create a LEGO show for YouTube which is a How-To conduit of making an all-inclusive LEGO City. Instances will be descriptive, variable length episodes from 4 to 10 minutes describing the model, its role in the city, and segments of the interior details that can be mirrored when the viewer would, hopefully ;), feel inspired. Look for this to begin surfacing with the Plant City Depot, followed probably by a bank. This series will "air" new episodes to YouTube weekly until August 19, with the exceptions of July 5-9, and when I go to Folkston. After August 19 look for bi-weekly airings.
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