Holland Odessa R.R.

[GPdemayo]

Great progress Jim.....

[Dennis Bourey]

Jim, Just caught up on this build. WOW!!!!!!.....Dennis

[Jim Donovan]

Thanks Curt, Greg and Dennis, glad you enjoyed the story and pictures. I'll be posting the latest work on the layout shortly.

Jim D

[Jim Donovan]

I have been working my way from the left side of the layout to the right. With only 6' x 4' to work with I need to envision beforehand what would be realistic in 1910 while at the same time fun to make. The history of this area is fascinating. Northwest Ohio in 1910 was booming as I mentioned previously. Oil was still king but the future lay with manufacturing. Electricity was being rapidly installed for factories and interurban railroads. Roads were being paved with brick or stone (and soon asphalt) for the benefit of factories and the shopping area (Main Street). Still, outside the primary streets in town most roads were little more than rutted dirt paths. Wagons pulled by large horses, like Belgians, were the simi-trucks of their day. Most goods going long distance moved by train with the days of canals fading. As towns grew into cities (Toledo for NW Ohio) they in turn created opportunities for the surrounding towns like Waterville. Waterville is the town I loosely use as the template for the layouts' village, Mandryville. A quick re-cap of its' history is here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterville,_Ohio

With incredible growth and no real zoning laws it was very common to have industrial buildings next to houses and retail business. For example The City of Toledo mandated sidewalks were to be installed in front of all commercial business and paid for by those businesses. However the law did not specify what the sidewalk needed to be made of and only a general guide in width and elevation above the adjoining road. Therefore, the most common sidewalk was first made out of wood, and not kept up very well. However, business that used heavy equipment or wanted to draw retail customers (Main Street) quickly switched to brink, stone or asphalt. By 1920 much more oversight was happening with more permanent sidewalks of brick, stone and asphalt the norm.

Enough history. With several buildings now complete it is time to 'plant' them and bring Mandryville to life. I am incorporating the wood sidewalks for part of main street and brick or stone for the rest, depends on the business. I was able to buy a quantity of herringbone style road brick from Monster Scale Modeling before they closed. I am using this for Main Street.

So Welcome To Mandryville:


The two main industries in town are Oostra's Supply (grain, feed, vet supplies) and Schwarz Stamping (Metal stamping for ceiling tile, custom sheeting, body parts for the growing auto industry and such). They are located next to each other on a siding of the Holland Odessa R.R.. Originally the Oosta family (founding fathers of the town) fought the opening of the stamping factory. Oostra had been in business for fifty years and received their goods by canal boat. They had no need for a noisy, smoking, belching factory like Schwartz's right next to thema. But old Stomping Tom Schwartz could talk a canary out of a tree while petting a cat. He offered Amanda Gordy (President of Oostra Supply) to pay half the cost of a siding to bring the Holland Odessa R.R. to both their facilities. Tom might have had a glib tongue but he'd met his match with Miss Amanda. She listened, smiled and then laughed. If Tom wanted the siding he would pay 100% of the cost of installing it, which was an unbelievable $20,000 dollars. Furthermore, as the land he wanted included some owned by the Oostra family, he would be responsible for maintenance of the siding for ten years, after which they would split the cost. Tom knew with the siding he would become a primary supplier to a growing firm in Detroit. He knew the gentleman that owned the company, Henry Ford and Henry had told him he had developed a secret method of manufacturing that would make automobiles affordable for everyone. Stomping Tom Schwarz knew the world was changing and he wanted to be part of it. He had half the money he needed and knew a fella that was making waves in the banking industry, Scott Donovan. Scott saw that cars were going to be big, as a matter of fact his father, James Donovan (aka The Professor) owned a red 1905 Ford Motel T convertible. It wasn't till 1912 when Ford made all Model T's black (the paint dried faster).
The deal was struck and as they say, the rest is history.

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[Jim Donovan]

So now you know how history says it all happened, time to talk about how it really happened. I read how best to paint the bricks, mortar and weather the laser cut brick wood from Monster Model Works. The primary paint used was a mix of Cermacoat Dark Cherry, Raw Umber and a little Raw Sierra. I did it in small batches which resulted in the different colorations seen in the road. Next up was getting the mortar right. I tried a lot of different things, most not working. Then I found using a dry speckling compound for dry wall repairs worked fantastic and produced vivid white mortar lines. I will use this compound for future brick walls. Still, white is not really good for dirty brick roads. I wanted the brick to look used and dirty but I wanted to have the herringbone pattern very visible. The answer was a very light wash over the speckling compound made up of ocher. The mix was one part paint, 9 parts water. With the white foundation the yellow ocher really made the brick dirty but kept the brick pattern easily visible. Here is the result:

[Jim Donovan]

With the road ready I put Oostra's in place. I had stone brick put across the length of the building with it being 12 scale feet wide. The Oostra's decided that would be enough stone road to hold the heavy wagons while unloading. I stained it with a couple of gray washes. I then used joint compound to fill the joints. A thinned Mod Podge ( 50/50 water) was used to glue the joint compound in place. As the look was a little too dark with just the joint compound I used a white acrylic India ink wash to lighten the mortar lines. Perhaps 5 percent ink and the rest water.

The balance of the staging area that doubles as a sidewalk was made of laser cut plank wood which was bought from Monster Model Works. It was weathered first using a file brush to distress the wood. Then Hunterline light gray was applied. Next I wore the wood plank edges down as well as pulled some boards up or made a holes in them. Finally Hunterline Cordovan Brown was put down with a sponge in a blotchy pattern to show uneven wear. In between the two coats I used the fine line ponce wheel I bought from Dr. Ben's. I like the fine pattern it puts down for nail holes. They are visible but not highly visible. And here is the result:

[Janbouli]

Great looking road , and the town is coming along fantastic.

[Jim Donovan]

Thanks Jan, I enjoy my time working on the layout. Still rather new to the hobby I probably spend 3 times more researching and learning how to do something then the project itself takes. A bad habit I picked up is experimenting on the project itself rather then practicing on something else. It is something I am trying to stop as I find less is best.

Jim D

[CVSNE]

Jim,


Just  spent an enjoyable (and extended!) lunch reading your progress to date.


Fascinating stuff!


Marty

[Jim Donovan]

Thanks Marty!

I am just in the process of uploading the last of what I have completed. I am enjoying the journey but summer is almost over and come October we head back to Florida so I am trying to get some stuff finished and cleaned up before I put it all under a plastic sheet for the winter.

Jim D

[bparrish]

Jim...

What at great shot.

There is so much going on in that photo.

thanx
bob

[Jim Donovan]

Bob thank you! You guys have again made my day! Next up the journey continues.

Jim D

[Jim Donovan]

Having posting problems again. Will try another time.

Jim D

[Jim Donovan]

Well lets try again.  With the road done I started making the street come alive. I have a new static applicator I made by War World Scenics. https://www.war-world.co.uk/ . It is a small applicator designed to get into tight spots and give you better control were the grass goes. I bought mine at a discount on E-Bay but they are available from Amazon and other places. I suggest checking out their web site, they have a lot of good ideas.

[Jim Donovan]

The applicator worked better then I could ever imagine. I used Mod-Podge as the glue and worked one small area at a time. I was able to use 2mm, 4mm and 6mm. The only issue is the small hopper. I needed to make sure to untangle the static grass so it was loose and not allow it to be in a ball when placed in the applicator. The applicator put out a great good static charge and I did not get any shocks while applying the grass due to the protected cap. I have seen articles and videos talking about the percentage of grass they could get to stand. All I know is this applicator really made the grass stand at attention.