right now, I really like this shot, even though I still need to pull the pins out now that the track is ballasted.
Thanks Hemi! In the interest of keeping on topic, I went ahead and did a post in my build thread: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine...0-The-Blue-Ridge-Mainline&p=933794#post933794 Hope this helps!
From my past as I remember, the trailers are bringing the picked cotton from the fields. After it is processed to remove the husk and seed, then it will be pressed into a bale.
That's a very nice scene with lots of activity going on. Just needs a few ginned bales on the loading dock with some workmen and a handcart loading same into a boxcar.
Yes, the buildings are all scratch built. After WWII, mechanically picked cotton became quite common replacing the hand picked product. Machines were not so discriminating as human hands so a lot of debris ended up in the wagons along with the cotton fibers attached to the cotton seeds. The dried husks that enclosed the cotton boll, sticks, leaves and rocks were common. After the loose cotton was sucked out of the wagon by a large rectangular nozzle, the cotton had to be cleaned of all the debris before it went to the gin to remove the seeds and then pressed into bales. The debris was blown into the cyclone bins that are shown in the model to be hauled away in a truck. Now days the cotton is pressed into huge 10 ton "modules" right in the field. The modules are trucked to the gin where they are dumped onto a rack, broken up and ginned.
I agree Hornwrecker, the trees, the rock strata, and the field (I believe static grass)....you really nailed that scene. It looks great.