Weyand Food Dist.

One more industry for the modules of the future. This one comes from East Tampa on the Clearwater Subdivision just south of the Sulphur Springs Junction connecting to the Brooksville Subdivision. This industry is known as Weyand Food Distributors. I see their trucks shuttling food products to my local Applebee's every once in a while. Again, depending on the google maps version you use, there will be different cars on the tracks. I actually took this particular shot of Weyand using Apple Maps. This particular one included shows a single 57' ARMN reefer. A year ago, the clearer zoomable imagery for this area showed this car, but now it is just empty when you zoom in that far. I have purchased a 60' Exactrail ARMN reefer, as well as an Intermountain 57' reefer for this industry. both of these cars were to be used for Bama Freeze on the Southside Spur, which unfortunately I can't find pictures it being switched anywhere.

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East Rail N Scale

Here's my take on the East Rail spur, along with a 2001 track chart. Obviously, I drew this plan from Google Maps instead of finding a track chart first. i'll probably revisit this track plan later and make a better version. (Is it sad that I can tell that those two little boxcars on the Archive Americas spur in the Google Maps photo are TBOX's?)

Sweet, Sweet, Prototype

One of my favorite feelings in the world is exactly mimicking the correct rolling stock for industries. I found Florida Silica Sand Co. in Plant City, FL on Google Maps, and decided it was something I might like to model in a module for my switching layout. I did some searching on eBay and found the exact cars and loads I needed. Depending on the version of google maps you use (I prefer the classic version), there are different cars on the spur, because the photos were taken at different times. One view shows a black CSX ortner with a BN 100 ton hopper, the other, a white CSX ortner. I also purchased a Missouri Pacific 3 bay covered hopper for use on this spur. They are frequently used (along with Cotton Belt versions of the 3 bay covered) to deliver the red landscaping lava rock in the BN hopper around Central Florida. All the cars I found are Micro-Trains, which makes it even better! Obviously, I'll need some more ortners for larger deliveries. Probably a 100 ton CSX 4-bay hopper too, as one of the map photos show, but the Trainworx one is a bad stand-in model. No detail under that load.

Blank Slate

More Google Maps adventures! I cannot stress how good of a modeling tool this is. Today I found this gem on the Brooksville Sub. It's a industrial rail park that never got developed, or only halfway so. Depending on the maps viewer you use, there will be two industries or no industries active, which tells you the age of their imaging. 84 Lumber and the small plastics manufacturer (not in photo) packed up shop. This spur sits abandoned, practically brand new, waiting for the economy to turn around. Personally, it seems like a great modelling project. 10 scale feet in N scale with 6 industries! Plus, any industries you'd like can be placed on the empty spurs. Proto-freelancing at its finest! I'll probably draw a track plan or to of this area. this spur is just north of Masaryktown on the line and outside of Springhill, about an hour from my home. I may make a trip to go photograph it, but street view does it justice!

Two For One

I was poking around google maps the other day, and I found this neat little industry on the Brooksville Sub. of CSX out of Tampa. I think I'd like to include this one on a module I build one day! Not only does it receive centerbeams, and the occasional boxcar of lumber, but several scrap gons as well. Space saving with lots of operations in about 4 scale feet. This industry is known as Tibbetts Lumber in Land O' Lakes, FL, about an hour from my home.

Longterm Goals

The Southside Spur is obviously going to be a longterm project for me. I have absolutely no space or time to build it right now (considering I'm going to be in college soon). I think to build up my skills I'm going to focus on building a few modules I can snap together in my dorm room to make a long switching layout, similar to the numerous modelable spurs in Plant City, FL (see below).