Levi Barry Coal Co.

[Sawdust]

Well here it is by request my Coal Mining project. I started this one last year & quit only to start the Saw Mill project. One of these days I will do something simple so I can finish before starting another project. This one is also scratch built. I like the New River Mine from Walthers but felt it was too common. I took some ideas from this & some others & made some patterns then transfered to foam core poster board. I covered it with styrene corrugated panels. I plan on building this one as a module too & later adding it to the layout. I want to build some camp houses & a company store before I start with the scenery to give me a better idea on how much room I need. I will do the same as the Mill project just keep adding to this thread as part of the Coal Mine project. I have a building I want to kit bash for the company store. There is an interesting story about the name of this but I will share that at the end of the pics.

Again I'm sorry for the deck rail way of viewing my posts. I placed some coal cars & an engine in here to try to make it look a little better.

All the wood you see is from my supply of scaled cut poplar & stained.

The rails & ladders are from Central.

Those roof vents in case you missed the other post are made from the black tapered rubber faucet washers.

All my family are from Eastern Ky,Tenn,& West Virginia. My family moved when I was a baby to the North for that better life as many did back then to escape the Coal Mines. My Dad only worked a little in the Mines but my Grand Pa & many Uncles were killed in the Mines. My Dad always had the name LB just initials, he would tell people he was borned on wash day & they never had time to name him. The BIG secret that my Dad had for many years leaked out when my wife did a geniology study of our familys. Yep you guessed it, she found his birth & Military records that had him listed as Levi Barry. All the family enjoyed this so since a lot of the mines were named after people & since I liked my Dad's name I decided to use it for my Mine. Coal Mining was a very hard way of life. My Mom told me when my Grand Pa was found dead in the mines he only had 70 cents to his name & that was in Script. I am very proud to be part of this heritage so as we all do we capture those things that are dear to our hearts & save them on our Railroads. I hope you enjoy this because there will be a lot more to come. Thank you as always for viewing & your comments & questions are very welcomed.

__________________

 

[S class]

woot! woot! that is one fine looking coal mine.

I almost thought that you had adapted a new river mine for it for a second, but I gotta say those wooden supports actually make it look more realistic than the walthers kit

 

[Bill Nelson]

Once again, very nice work!, and a good design. Tricky of you to spring this on us when everything but the coal dust is done.


A mine this big can keep a switch engine busy moving the hoppers under the loading tracks, and develop a lot of business for the railroad.

Bill Nelson

 

[Mountain Man]

Beautiful work. Looking forward to seeing the whole set-up, company store and all! :thumb:

 

[Sawdust]

Thanks S class, Bill & Mountain Man for the comments. This like a lot of my stuff has been started before I joined the forum. I am working on a company store & will be posting it as I go along with some camp houses also. This did turn out a little larger than I planned but I have always liked seeing a lot of coal cars grouped together full & empty. I'll be posting more soon.

 

[Doctor G]

That is a very beautiful model. Wish we could use it on our club layout. We have a steadily enlarging coal operation.

Once again, love the color selection you use. Very nice!!!
Doc Tom:thumb:

 

[Sawdust]

Thanks Doc Tom. I have started on a company store & will be posting it soon.

 

[Doctor G]

Thanks Doc Tom. I have started on a company store & will be posting it soon.

Looking forward to more great photos!!!

Doc Tom:thumb:

 

[Sawdust]

The Company Store

For the next week or so I will be building the Company Store for the Coal Mine project from a Walthers building called Henry Ford's First Factory. These stores were owned like everything else by the mining company. The miners & their families would often meet & shop at the store along with visiting the Post Office that was often inside of the store. The miners weren't paid with money but with tokens called script that they would exchange for goods at the company store.

Here is a 10 cent piece next to a nickel.

Here is the kit I will be using & making some changes.

I cut the trim off the top of the front wall to extend with a pediment.

Glued the walls together.

I added some foam core poster board to split the floor levels for lighting. I don't like lighting to be the same level in the whole building.

Painted with white & will probably trim with green.

Next I will paint the windows & install. This building has a lot of windows in it. I did some research about company stores & a lot of them had a lot of windows so I think this will be ok. I will have the post office in the back.
Thanks for viewing & keep watching.

 

[Doctor G]

Very good job. Like what you are doing with that building!!! Also loved seeing the company "script" from "Bloody Harlan" county Kentucky. Some incredible tough times were and are in Harlan County Ky. Also some great railroading goes on in Eastern Kentucky.... some very nice coal drags.

Keep up the great work!

Doc Tom:thumb:

 

[Bill Nelson]

That is an interesting company coin. My Dad was a Forrester, as well as a train nut, and that is how I got my interest in logging railroads ( dad had also studied geology, and had an interest in mining, and that rubbed off on me as well). Dad studied law, and completed law school, in order to know his stuff when purchasing tracts of woodland for the companies he worked for, Flintcote, andChampion Paper, Later Champion International.

Working for Champion he was sent to close the offices of Glouchester lumber co. in Rosman NC. , and to retain the paperwork that Champion would need, and to dispose of the rest, Champion got the deeds, contracts and other pertinent paper work, and I got some company script, and a lease agreement for a shay.

Bill Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

The kit I was looking at once for a company store was the kit that represented Edison's laboratory.

I went with a kitbash based on some of the same buildings I used for company houses, and am getting ready to do a very similar building for the J. E Patterson Coal and Lumber company company store, and will . I can't wait to see this building develop, and a railroad get built to service all of these very fine structures,


Bill Nelson

 

[Bill Nelson]

Even if you don't do interior lighting, the interior walls and floor go a long way toward realism, as you don't have that unrealistic see through building effect. I like to do that, as well as spray painting the inside of the building flat black to eliminate any translucent plastic building effect. Also if there isn't any interior detail, the black interior helps hide that fact in the shadows.


Bill Nelson

 

[Sawdust]

Thanks Doc & Bill for your comments. My family was born & raised in Harlan County, there is a lot of history concerning coal, railroad, & hard times especially when the miners were bringing in the unions. I actually bought this building a few years ago at a train swap meet for $5. for just the windows. I looked at so many prototypes for company stores & they were so much a like so I thought I might as well use this one. Bill that info you got from your Dad is interesting & would be nice to hold on to. I thought about steel wooling the inside of the windows to give them an opaque look when illuminated & not be able to see through. I like that look on a commercial building but not sure about this one. Thanks again!

 

[Doctor G]

Thanks Doc & Bill for your comments. My family was born & raised in Harlan County, there is a lot of history concerning coal, railroad, & hard times especially when the miners were bringing in the unions. I actually bought this building a few years ago at a train swap meet for $5. for just the windows. I looked at so many prototypes for company stores & they were so much a like so I thought I might as well use this one. Bill that info you got from your Dad is interesting & would be nice to hold on to. I thought about steel wooling the inside of the windows to give them an opaque look when illuminated & not be able to see through. I like that look on a commercial building but not sure about this one. Thanks again!

Hi Sawdust,

There was an incredible documentary on PBS called "Bloody Harlan" a few years back that described all the pain the miners endured in Harlan County Ky. It was a very moving presentation.

One day a week I work in a free clinic in Todd County Kentucky. Todd County has the distinction of being the 2nd poorest county in Kentucky. The poorest County is Harlan County. Your family has seen a lot!!!!

Doc Tom

 

[S class]

wow thats a moving insight into the socio-economic conditions of the richest country on earth and I hope when you mean poor it isn't like the 3rd world, I know that socialism is really unpopular in the US but you guys do have benifits for the poor and unemployed/disabled to help get them out of the hole right?

just another cultral question a nickel is 10 cents and a dime is 5 cents right, or is it the other way around?

 

[Sawdust]

Hey Doc, I'm not sure if it was the show from PBS or not because I have seen so many but the one I do know a lot about is the one Diane Sawyer showed last year. She & her political cronies only showed the worst of Harlan County. There is a lot of problems there but not much different than anywhere else. My parents along with many others left to the North did well, retired & returned because they still call it home. There is a lot of wealth in that County & very good & respectable people but also many who choose to drain the system & live on drugs. There was a lot of footage & enterviews that were prepared that I saw that were never used because they only wanted the worst to show the public. My parents along with many in their generation did grow up poor but succeeded later in their life. My fascination with this area along with all the Appalachian area are the mountains, RR, coal & the lumber history which gives modelers like ourselves many subjects & areas to capture on our layouts. I wished we could get some more response in these areas than the few of us. From the amount of views that we all get I know there are others out there that enjoy these topics & could offer some more info. Thanks Doc Tom & to others like you for your medical help in these areas.

 

[Sawdust]

wow thats a moving insight into the socio-economic conditions of the richest country on earth and I hope when you mean poor it isn't like the 3rd world, I know that socialism is really unpopular in the US but you guys do have benifits for the poor and unemployed/disabled to help get them out of the hole right?

just another cultral question a nickel is 10 cents and a dime is 5 cents right, or is it the other way around?

Yes S class there is plenty of help & ways to better ones self but the sad thing is the ones that don't want to get better are the ones that get all the attention. It's like the bad apple trying very hard to ruin the whole basket.
No other way around, a nickel is still a nickel & a dime is still a dime. I was just using the nickel for size comparison.

 

[Sawdust]

Here I cut the foundation walls from 1/2" foam board. I have done this a few times with good results. It's not my favorite for any stone or brick wall but I like a challenge.

Here you can see some guide line markings for my mortar joints. I don't know why I do this because I hardly ever stay with them.

Here you can see the cement block carving. I just dragged a tooth pick slightly not too deep because it will pinch the foam & cause a chip. There is a little chip on the bottom of one wall but it will be covered at the ground.

Foundation walls glued together. I used Titebond II wood glue for this & pinned it down to dry. You can't use any solvent glue or silicone because it will eat the foam.

I painted the wall with the mortar color & will highlight the brick with dry brushing of a lighter gray & then maybe some strokes of white. I also knocked one of the outside corners off slightly but it will glue back.

I'm cutting up some more gift cards to make the concrete slab that will be in front of the building.

I used 2 layers & staggered the joints then I also scribed some expansion joints that will be more noticeable when painted.

Stay tuned in there will be a lot more. Thanks for viewing & everyone have a great Thanksgiving.

 

[Sawdust]

I couldn't bring myself to all that window detail yet so I just glued them all in for now. I first scraped all the paint off of the flanges & inside of the window openings. This is very important to get a good glue bond.

The front & rear view with all the windows. Remember the back of this is going to be the Post Office.

I'm not sure on the window treatment yet so I decided to do the hand rails. I have a good selection of rails etc. from Central Valley but I couldn't get anything to work without cutting it all up to make it work. I just can't build out of the box so I scratch built some. Here are the round pieces .040" rod. It looks flat in the pic but it is round.

The 2 sections on the left shows how much better the ends look if they are rounded over where the vertical post meets the horizontal piece.

The ends that are without a post that are just dangling will be attached to the building wall.

Remember my freshly poured concrete slab made from gift cards.

Here are the rails attached to the concrete slab that will be in the front of the building. I had to scrape the paint off of the floor where the posts meet so I get a good glue contact.

Thanks for viewing, keep looking for more.