Getting the ice to the Ice House

On this layout, the town of Clovis has an icing facility, which incorporates an ice deck and an Ice Transfer Plant(as the PFE termed them). Rather than an Ice Manufacturing Plant, where ice is both made and stored for use.
So there was need to be able to move ice from Manufacturing Plants to the Transfer Plants.
This was done by using older reefers which were designated for this specific purpose.
For my layout purposes, I took 3 Red Caboose R-30-9-12 kits, built them and used the Microscale decal set which as the "Ice Service:" statement included.
The colour heralds were pillaged from Speedwitch Media's PFE decal offerings.

I weathered them fairly heavily using oils and some overspray.
I think they look pretty sharp.
Running loads of ice into the Transfer Plant in advance of harvest season will make for a nice variation of traffic.
Now to decide if I want to do 3 more.
And here's the Transfer Plant and Ice deck for your viewing pleasure

4'6" of deck, small by PFE standards

I consider it a privilege.

I get to do a promo for my pal Ryan Mendell and his new company, National Scale Car.
Ryan, who has done much of the pattern work for Yarmouth Model Works of late, has branched out and created his own model business creating bits and pieces for those of us who like to build accurate freight car models.
I just finished 2 cars for myself using his new "10′ Height 7 panel Superior Doors with Union Duplex Fixtures" parts.

The door set also includes a very nicely rendered etched door track which is fairly simple to install.

Simply shave the lower track off of a IMWX/Red Caboose boxcar kit, create standoffs from styrene and secure to the back of the etching aligned with the etched holes.

Trim the standoffs flush to the track edges and secure to the car side.
Drill through the holes with a #79 and add short bits of wire and clip them flush and you'll have a very secure attachment that suggests rivet heads.

From there you can detail the car to your hearts delight.
In this case I was modeling SP B-50-20 boxcars.
I tossed the factory brake gear and used Tichy parts, and did a full underbody detail, rods, air lines, etc.
The ladders were replaced with YMW ladders and rungs.
An Apex running board from YMW was used as well as the brake step.
Kadee bracket grabs were added
I managed to find some Detail Associates Equipco hand brakes.
The paint is Scalecoat Boxcar Red 2.
Decals from Speedwitch Media.

My fleet of SP '37 AAR design boxcars grows.

And the ends are now connected!

This is Tarpey. Or what will be Tarpey and the home of the Italian Swiss Colony winery.
A rather busy place, which will see large numbers of multi-compartment tank cars coming and going, as California wines get shipped to points east.
As you can see below, it'll be a neat structure to recreate once I get to that task.

But the real big news is, with the track finished in Tarpey.
All the main line is done. In fact all the track work for the layout is done, with the exception of the Pinedale Branch, which can wait while other tasks get completed. Like wiring, turnout controls, testing, etc.
It's been a year and half since I undertook this layout project and I'm impressed with myself as to how quickly I've gotten to this point.
There's some wiring to do, and some decoders to replace(another story for another day), but soon trains will be running.
Happy, happy, joy , joy

And there it was, gone!

It took a couple of days, mostly waiting for glue and paint to dry, but the track scale in Friant is nicely blended into the landscape now.

 First ties were added and base colour applied over the black styrene base.

 The ties were stained and ballast added. The base texture cover of dirt was sifted over a coat of white glue

 The dirt was airbrushed with Tamiya colours and then static grass was applied.
There will be more refinements and weeds etc, to come, but right now the scale  looks right at home on the layout.
Thanks again Trevor