When friend and Lexington, KY resident Allan Silverberg sent me a photograph of the RJ Corman engine house built from containers, I knew immediately there had to be one on the Paducah & Lake Erie. I started with eight 40' containers, glued them together two high and two end-to-end, and then set about making the trusses from styrene (top photo at left). I determined from the photo the roof had a 20-degree slant, and I decided I wanted the outside dimension to be 6" wide. This is meant to be a single stall engine house, although the prototype in Lexington is two tracks wide. After gluing the trusses in place on the containers, the next task was to build the base. The prototype has the track set in concrete, and my answer was to make a three-layer "sandwich".
Layers in my "sandwich" start with Woodland Scenics N-gauge 3mm road bed, topped by 2mm scrap plastic (compliments of Ken Heyl's finding it on a rail fan outing) to bring it even with the ties, and finally - yet be completed - topped with .020" styrene painted to look like concrete (paint is drying as I write this). That's the state of the project now (lower photo on left). Still to be completed is the roof, the front and back siding, interior lights, and exterior details that will include electric box, air conditioner(s), soda machines, etc. When finished, it will sit at the end of Attica Yard. This is my first scratch building effort; I have enjoyed it and plan to do more. As part of the project, I am writing a two-part "how-to" article for the National Model Railroad Association's (NMRA) Gateway Division newsletter with Part One having appeared in the Spring 2012 issue. Part Two will appear as soon as the building is done and in place.
