Model Railroads

Page 7

Housing the Little People Continues

The Maintenance Shed

The fourth building is a Garden Textures Maintenance of Way building kit that I won on GoMotorBids.com (about $39 with shipping for a $79 list building – not everything good comes from eBay).

Above – June 17, 2009 – Well, why not start with a bundle of sticks and see if a building happens?

Above – June 17, 2009 – Excellent instructions…..

Above – June 17, 2009 –  …..which, of course, I didn’t always follow.

Above – June 17, 2009 – The basic structure was both glued and nailed. The wood is over scale but it should be sturdy in the outdoor world with grandkids running around.

Above – June 26, 2009 – Eventually, a building appeared and it was time to apply 400 shingles. Clear silicone was the recommended attaching medium.

Above – June 26, 2009 – Note the free-lanced roof over the office door.

Above – June 30, 2009 – Making the foundation form as well as the combined reinforcing screen and mounting block. The lag screws will be on the bottom to anchor the screen and the building mounting block in the concrete.

Above – July 12, 2009 – The foundation form in place.

Above – July 12, 2009 – The important tools, including the old guy knee pad.

Above – July 12, 2009 – The pour is finished, you can see the floating, treated wood mounting piece across the middle. 

Above – July 12, 2009 – The Maintenance Building foundation pour was done at the same time as the farm house foundation to reduce the number of separate mortar mixes. The actual building was not quite finished. (Because my brother, the consulting engineer, had noted the possible consequences of working without OSHA-approved safety equipment, I rectified the problem during this heavy construction phase.)

Above – July 30, 2009 – Details and paint added. The office end.

Above – July 30, 2009 – The shop end.

Above – August 1, 2009 – A second wood mounting piece was screwed down into the piece buried in the concrete. The building was then screwed to the second piece with stainless steel screws.

Above – August 1, 2009 – The “mud pie foundation retention” routine completed……

Above – August 1, 2009 – …….and the access road laid down.

Above – August 3, 2009 – The local drops off some supplies and some cars for needed maintenance.

Future – More plants, people and details are next.

And here they are:

Above – August 22, 2011 – The looming Club open house, and two years growing time, means the maintenance shed is finally lookin’ pretty good.

Above – August 22, 2011 – The natural weathering gives it that ‘lived in’ look.

Above – March 26, 2020 – After 11 years of 24/7/365 weathering, it looks authentically neglected. The cedar shingles have almost completely disintegrated on the south side of the roof, the north side fared a bit better.

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