Model Railroading > Hold My Beer

...and ho scale citizens near and far from Euclid, NY, can now enjoy that beer they are holding as the Doelger Brewing Co. at Euclid, NY on the Onondaga Cutoff is now complete.  (Never finished, of course, but 'substantially complete'.)

The 'real' Peter Doelger Brewery was located in midtown Manhattan, in New York City.  It started in the mid-1800's and continued until Prohibition which shut down that and many other traditional American breweries, a loss of an industry that is only now getting back to the variety of local beers that used to be available.  In my alternate history, they built a second brewery in Euclid NY near Syracuse before Prohibition, and reopened that more modern facility once our nation came to its senses.  

It so happens that Peter Doelger is my wife's Great Great Grandfather, and so I thought in addition to a fun anchor for one of the branch lines on the Onondaga Cutoff it would be a nice tribute to my wife's family history too.  Even better, thanks to my father-in-law we have a nice collection of the artwork that was used by the brewery on their bottles and tap handles, etc.  So, I had some nice fodder for signage!

The basic kit is the old Heljan Brewery kit, a gift my wife gave to me years ago.  With some modifications it fits the bill well.  Once it was lit, weathered and installed, it was time to finally add the ballast and shortline grub to the trackage and surrounds.  That is all buttoned up, and here's a few images of the results.

1.  An overview of the 'Barley Track', the spur that is used to unload the dried barley, oats, wheat, etc from covered hoppers.  The company modernized the unloading area with a modern structure to give the employees (and the product) some protection from Central New York weather.  The grains go to the malt house for roasting, then are stored in the silos until needed for the next batch.  

2.  Moving through the process we have the brew house, to which I added an interior suggesting the brew kettles and settling tanks.  Further down the line are the offices and the bottling house, with doors for loading boxcars (behind the facility) and also trucks for local delivery.  

3.  Finally I could move ahead to 'finish' the scenery where the brewery trackage comes off the yard track.  In typical shortline fashion it works, but staying ahead of weeds comes second to providing rail service and replacing ties.  

This was a fun diversion from mechanical maintenance, which has stacked up a bit now.  I've got a workbench full of normal running repairs to cars and power ahead of the arrival of several of Rapido's beautiful B36-7's, which will keep me busy going forward.  What a great hobby!

As always thanks for looking!  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

~RGDave
https://onondagacutoff.blogspot.com/

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Outstanding work there Dave.  Looks great. 

Jim

The detail in those scenes is mesmerizing.

The next time I visit, I'm dragging you back to Toledo to help me get started on my future layout.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/19 09:06 by toledopatch.

You don't miss a beat Dave, porta pottie, flood lights, culvert etc.

BTW, is that a Spring Mill Depot Canstock car?   And I see an ATSF beer RBL box car as well.

I'm into modeling beer traffic as the D&RGW hauled Rocky Mtn spring water Coors from Golden CO up the Front Range and to points west.

Cheers, Jim (formerly of Lake Effect country)

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
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> BTW, is that a Spring Mill Depot Canstock car? 
>  And I see an ATSF beer RBL box car as well.

That sure looks like one of Spring Mill's cars to me....

I presume he's got the ATSF car doing backhaul duty after bringing fine Gallo wine (or maybe DelMonte canned goods?) to destinations elsewhere on Conrail.

 

The ATSF PC&F RBL by Exactrail hauled Coors beer as well.

Posted from Android

Amazing work!

Posted from iPhone

I also agree fantastic work and scenery.
 

Stanley Jackowski
Valrico, FL

Thanks, all!

Yes indeed, that's a Spring Mills Depot 'canstock' car, which came through Central New York now and again through the 1990's.  I loved the car as produced and figure cans of beer would fit nicely inside.  

Toledopatch, thanks for your kind words and support, they mean a great deal to me.  Santa Fe car is indeed for loading at Doelger after making a run east with loads from the West coast, and it adds an unusual splash of color to the traffic into and out of Doelger.  

Next up is to finish a few pond/swamp scenes around the layout, while dealing with some weathering and programming of the new arrivals:  Rapido's beautiful B36-7.  It is going to be a fun fall on the Onondaga Cutoff!

~Dave

The Canstock box cars are really cool and unique.  What kinda through me off was I didn't see the panel in the roof with the translucent white plastic, there to let a little light into the end of the box car away from the off-set doors.  IIRC those panels were painted over later in the 70's and blended in.
Your scenes have a lot of detail that bring them alive!