Footprints for Buildings
06/08/17 08:01 Filed in: Nelson County | Soapstone in Virginia
Marked up, cut and folded, my plans for the Railroad Display were modified to match the framing for the layout. I needed to be sure the plans accurately portrayed the space available.
Plans were spread out on the floor of my shop and measured to compare with measurements I made at the Quarry Gardens.
I trimmed out the footprint of every building on the full sized plan and packed them up along with reference photos and a scale plan of the entire Railroad Display.
I loaded up the car and headed up to the Lycoming Meet, where talented O scale modelers display their latest projects and exchange ideas.
Plans were spread out on the floor of my shop and measured to compare with measurements I made at the Quarry Gardens.
I trimmed out the footprint of every building on the full sized plan and packed them up along with reference photos and a scale plan of the entire Railroad Display.
I loaded up the car and headed up to the Lycoming Meet, where talented O scale modelers display their latest projects and exchange ideas.
Framing for Shadowboxes
08/07/17 08:28 Filed in: Nelson County | Soapstone in Virginia
Framing progressed on the Visitor Center quickly. The benchwork for the Railroad Display was incorporated into shadowboxes.
The length of the front of the Display was divided into four scenes. As the shadowboxes took shape, I updated my plans to keep them accurate.
This particular shadowbox contains the mill scene. It will portray a portion of the Alberene Stone campus in Schuyler.
The Rockfish River will run diagonally across this shadowbox from back to front.
The length of the front of the Display was divided into four scenes. As the shadowboxes took shape, I updated my plans to keep them accurate.
This particular shadowbox contains the mill scene. It will portray a portion of the Alberene Stone campus in Schuyler.
The Rockfish River will run diagonally across this shadowbox from back to front.
Framing for Display
26/06/17 10:44 Filed in: Nelson County | Soapstone in Virginia
As the Visitor Center at the Quarry Gardens was taking shape, work began on the Railroad Display. I printed out the track plan for the O scale 2 rail layout full sized.
At over 30 feet long and 10 feet deep, the Railroad Display is enormous, requiring a big pile of plans.
I trimmed and taped the plan tiles into four large sections; one for each of the four scenes represented on the Display.
The plans were laid out at the Visitor Center to guide the construction of the framework.
Benchwork was built with drop sections to accommodate creeks, rivers, and a quarry.
At over 30 feet long and 10 feet deep, the Railroad Display is enormous, requiring a big pile of plans.
I trimmed and taped the plan tiles into four large sections; one for each of the four scenes represented on the Display.
The plans were laid out at the Visitor Center to guide the construction of the framework.
Benchwork was built with drop sections to accommodate creeks, rivers, and a quarry.
Space for a Railroad
23/04/17 12:31 Filed in: Nelson County
There is a large barn-like Quonset building on the grounds of the Quarry Gardens at Schuyler. Plans were made to convert it into a Visitor Center, and to make space inside for an O scale 2 rail model railroad.
I was surprised at how large an area the quarry folks were willing to allocate to the railroad display. About 30 feet along one wall, from the planned entry foyer all the way to the back wall, and about 10 feet deep.
Concept sketches and conversations with the architect designing the Visitor Center yielded a line of "shadowbox" style dioramas with a long, narrow utility closet behind the displays along the arching exterior wall.
There will be four displays, each a different season of the year, depicting scenes along the Nelson & Albemarle Railway. The right of way will wind through each of the scenes, then return to the beginning on a long shelf along the back of the closet.
During the early months of 2017 the Visitor Center began to take shape, changing from a cavernous utility building to a multi-use information center.
The framing of the Railroad Display is very substantial, making it the sturdiest model railroad benchwork I have ever seen.
I was surprised at how large an area the quarry folks were willing to allocate to the railroad display. About 30 feet along one wall, from the planned entry foyer all the way to the back wall, and about 10 feet deep.
Concept sketches and conversations with the architect designing the Visitor Center yielded a line of "shadowbox" style dioramas with a long, narrow utility closet behind the displays along the arching exterior wall.
There will be four displays, each a different season of the year, depicting scenes along the Nelson & Albemarle Railway. The right of way will wind through each of the scenes, then return to the beginning on a long shelf along the back of the closet.
During the early months of 2017 the Visitor Center began to take shape, changing from a cavernous utility building to a multi-use information center.
The framing of the Railroad Display is very substantial, making it the sturdiest model railroad benchwork I have ever seen.
The Quarry Gardens at Schuyler
21/02/16 15:22 Filed in: Soapstone in Virginia | Nelson County
My home On30 model railroad depicts a fictional quarry operation based on several that existed in central Virginia. Since the 1980s, I have been making road trips to southern Albemarle, Nelson, and Amherst Counties to hike through the woods to old quarry and mill sites. Back then, steel derricks still rose high above the treetops around Schuyler and outside Alberene. The stone cutting mill campus in Schuyler was still essentially complete, with a full blacksmith shop in the old engine house, and World War I era flatcars rusting away in the weeds. The architectural and mechanical details of the old facility were amazing to me. They struck me as being very "model-genic," but it took about 20 years for me to gain the experience and confidence I needed to rip out the model railroad I was working on and start building a soapstone operation.
Quarry 27 is full of interesting visual compositions and view lines.
In the woods across the river from the town of Schuyler is a line of quarries known collectively as "Number 27." Quarry 27 will be the centerpiece of a new botanical garden that is scheduled to open in the Spring of 2017.
Rough stone stairway built for the new gardens.
When I heard about the garden, it attracted me like a moth to a flame, and now I am working with the builders. They have enlisted me to build an industrial history exhibit depicting the era when the garden site was an active quarry.
Scale mock up of proposed industrial heritage displays.
I somewhat inadvertently talked them into building a model railroad as an exhibit inside the Visitor Center for the Garden. I am going with a very simple O scale 2 rail layout with 4 shadowbox display scenes. The model railroad is based on the Nelson & Albemarle Railroad that once served the area.
Quarry 27 is full of interesting visual compositions and view lines.
In the woods across the river from the town of Schuyler is a line of quarries known collectively as "Number 27." Quarry 27 will be the centerpiece of a new botanical garden that is scheduled to open in the Spring of 2017.
Rough stone stairway built for the new gardens.
When I heard about the garden, it attracted me like a moth to a flame, and now I am working with the builders. They have enlisted me to build an industrial history exhibit depicting the era when the garden site was an active quarry.
Scale mock up of proposed industrial heritage displays.
I somewhat inadvertently talked them into building a model railroad as an exhibit inside the Visitor Center for the Garden. I am going with a very simple O scale 2 rail layout with 4 shadowbox display scenes. The model railroad is based on the Nelson & Albemarle Railroad that once served the area.