Rainbows in the Lehigh Valley Gorge

[TMo]

Thanks for the compliments, Tom!  Turn that jealousy into industriousness (eat that elephant one bite at a time)!  Speaking of elephants...

So, I've been focusing on ideas for my coal breaker.  There are some pictures out there, but not much from my model timeframe (a lot of early 1900's stuff, some at abandonment).  I've decided to wing it and design my own breaker. 

My available height is 28" at that point of my layout, which would allow for a breaker of roughly 200' in height.  Most of the big ones didn't typically exceed 150 ft (a view of the St. Nicholas breaker is here... https://www.vagabondish.com/wp-content/u...00x600.jpg), so I don't have to go all the way to the ceiling.  I'm also doing one side in full facade and angling away from the track as it makes it's way down to the storage level, so there's going to be a short side wall and a long side wall off of the facade.  The structure itself will be concrete posts for the first floor, and then steel posts with corrugated sheet metal skinning the structure.  There will also be walls with a bunch of dirty windows that would have allowed some light to get inside for the sorting.  I'll also make the upper floors with a smaller footprint than the base, so, some sloped roofs (corrugated steel again) at various points upward along the structure.  After placing the finished structure, I think I'll be doing some painting on the backdrop to extend the depth of the breaker (which is going to be a challenge because the backdrop has a substantial curve!).

I'll want to anchor the structure to the backdrop, so I'm thinking that the "floors" in the structure will be curved just like the curve of the backdrop and progress to square at the face of the breaker - I'm thinking painted foamboard for those.

That's the basic idea.  I'm thinking the clutter and low ceiling of the ground floor should discourage viewers from too much view of the entry into the storage level.  All of this is just in my head at this point.  I think I'd already thought about developing a quick and dirty cardboard mockup, and I may still do that...  or, just wing it.

I took a peek at some models I don't yet have from Clever Models Inc, and I think there are a few that I'm going to purchase and adapt for this project:

1) Corrugated sheet metal sides, roof and windows - The Small Steel Mill Building is ideal for those http://clevermodels.squarespace.com/catalog-pg-08x/.  Although there's also a Large Steel Mill on the same page, the small one is more weathered and worn and has better windows.  It also has some nice doors that I'd like to use somehow.

2)  First floor posts, (and maybe also an overhead crane outside the breaker!) - the Electric Overhead Traveling Crane kit http://clevermodels.squarespace.com/catalog-pg-26x/