The Atlantic and Southern Build Thread Continued, Part 4

[ReadingBob]

For instance, Three Fingers Freddy got a variance to put his fireworks business next to a gas station because he had a relative on the County Commission.

I think that happened back when he was still known as Four Finger's Freddy.    

I suspect a few of these variances were worked out over a beer or two at the Trackside Tavern. 

[deemery]

Well, small town corruption is not limited to Florida.  About 30 years ago when we lived in Derry NH, the town assessor was caught registering his house in his mother's name so he could take the senior citizen property tax deduction.  (Property tax is the only tax we have in NH, so it's A Big Deal.)  This is the same guy who routinely broke state law by arbitrarily deciding to re-assess properties because he felt like it.  (NH law requires re-assessments be based on a region, with strong preference for the full town, or on a hands-off sale of the property.)  We were caught in one of those willy-nilly re-assessments and fought it. 

But then, Derry had other problems of growing too fast.  A couple of times Hells Angels rode through town, and the police chief asked the town to authorize the purchase of automatic weapons.  (Frankly, I think I'd trust the Hells Angels more with auto weapons, probably more experience with them. :-) )

dave

[GPdemayo]

I understand Bill, but I think the crooks in politics and the bureaucracy in Pegi's old home town of Miami (and Dade County) makes the good ole' boys in Tahope look like a bunch of Mormons. 

[BandOGuy]

Greg - There is no doubt about the existence of graft and corruption in the City of Tahope.  For instance, Three Fingers Freddy got a variance to put his fireworks business next to a gas station because he had a relative on the County Commission.  And some of Tahope's more idle residents simply 'tied in" to the Tahope County Power Company's line.  They don't pay for the electricity because the power company doesn't know they are customers. (See page 8 of the Saturday Report.)  The new City Hall, jail, and courthouse was built with only token bidding before the Mayor's brother got the construction job.  And somebody, maybe the sheriff, is looking the other way when the "white smoke is arisin'" from the still in Piney Woods.  The Tahope County tax collector has been indicted for embezzlement of public funds, but his brother-in-law is the local prosecutor so the case has languished on the docket for months.  Finally, there is no comprehensive zoning ordinance in the City of Tahope so developers take advantage and construct buildings that would be conflicting uses anywhere else.

I hope that gives you a little idea of the financial problems in Tahope.

Looks to me like Tahope could use a good law enforcement officer and an incorruptible court officer. Wonder where they could find two such upstanding citizens?

[ACL1504]

Hey Tom:

I just love the street with the trolley tracks in it. Keep the pics A flowing.

Karl

Karl,

Thank you, the street tracks are a few sections of Walthers Industrial roadway complex. I see the Judge mentioned the trolley part.

Tom 

[ACL1504]

Hello Tom, for various reasons I haven't been posting lately, but I have been keeping up with the happenings on the forum. I love what you are doing in the thriving city of Tahope. Shelf layout building at it's best.    Jeff

Jeff,

Thank you for following along on the adventure. It has been fun bringing Tahope to life. This shelf layout is certainly the best part of the A&S RR. Actually, I think this one is definitely better than my other four.

Tom 

[ACL1504]

I've been busy but haven't posted in a few weeks. It seems when I get going some 1:1 stuff pops up and requires my attention. Such is life. I swear, I have no idea how I found time to go to work. 

I finished the slab work on the east side of Main Street in Tahope. I still need to draw in the joints and curb.




I noticed one "high" spot but to late to change/fix it. You can see the cardboard is "humped". This won't be a problem as I'll park a vehicle next to the curb.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

I started to work on the west side of Main Street.



This section of the block needs to be trimmed to fit the space between the brick street and the railroad tracks.

To ensure I got the 2 ply cardboard cut to fit, here is what I did. I laid the cardboard in position and using palm pressure, pressed the cardboard down onto the track. This will leave and impression on the bottom side of the cardboard.



Continued -

[ACL1504]

When the cardboard is turned over, you can see the outside rail impressed into the cardboard. See photo below.



Okay, I did play a little trick on ya'll. You actually can't see "nuttin".

During my 5 year stent as a CSI supervisor, we used the "shadow" method to photograph foot prints and car tracks in the dark at crime scenes.

We used a flash light and lit the area to be photographed by shinning the light at an angle to capture the image. This is what I'm showing in the next photo.



Continued -

[ACL1504]

I drew in the impression with a pencil as shown.

[ACL1504]

I used scissors to cut along the line. This turned out to be difficult as the cardboard is so thick. I then finished using a Stanley box cutter.

[ACL1504]

Next, I needed to get the cardboard up against the current cross road. This road is yet to be named.

You can see in the photo below the fit is off a bit.



This is due to the glue oozing out on the bottom of the road.



More in a few. Need to get a cold one, Diet Pepsi of course.

[ACL1504]

I flipped the cardboard over and sanded, at an angle, the edge that fits up against the road.



Now I have the proper fit. I still need to cut the top cardboard and I'll use this one as a pattern for the other.



Continued -

[ACL1504]

Using the cardboard as a guide, I used a sharp #11 blade and cut the excess pink foam.



This will give me a nice little ditch next to the tracks.



Continued -

[ACL1504]

For the structures in Tahope, I can't have all FOS structures. This is Tahope and not Fossville. 

I have the three Magnuson Merchant's Row buildings. I may use some of these or a combination of wood and brick structures. DPM structures will be another great source for town buildings.

I've done a few test fits with the Magnuson kits and I'll need to make some adjustments and placements for them to fit.

I've had these under the layout for the past 35+ years.