I’ve done an absolutely terrible job of building structures that were indicative of those found along the Chili Line. The vast majority of the structures in the three New Mexico counties in which the Chili Line traversed were constructed of adobe or stucco. The D&RGW being a major exception as most of their structures were wood frame wood sided. Or, in many cases, old box cars. Even though I call my RR the Chile Verde Line, it was my original intent to at least model my “what if” RR to capture the essence of the Chili Line. Well, the model builder in me just didn’t want a railroad with predominately adobe and stucco structures. Oh, and yes, there were no stucco/adobe kits available and for the sake of expediency, and other considerations, I wanted to build as many kits as possible as they tend to be less time consuming than scratch building. More than half the buildings on my layout are either scratch built or kit bashed.

 

If you look at the towns in Northern New Mexico along the original AT&SF RR, such as Raton, Los Vegas and Lamy, and many towns in between them, much of their building

construction did not follow what we typically think of New Mexico Southwester style of construction. They were railroad towns. They were wood frame wood sided, brick or cut stone buildings. They call Santa Fe “the city different” for a reason.

 

I wonder how many of you have been influenced by Mic Greenberg. In a different lifetime (mid 1970s to late 1980s) I was a member of the NMRA, Pacific Coast Region, Coast Division. I attended most of the Coast Division quarterly meetings, a few of the annual Pacific Coast Regions conventions and one NMRA annual convention which was held in San Mateo in 1981. Back then I modeled in HO scale. I entered at least one model in every meeting/convention that I attended. I tended to focus on structures and dioramas. I thought that I was a decent modeler as I almost always took first place. My bubble was shattered, and reality set in when I entered a large HO scratch-built diorama of a California style sawmill in the NMRA 1981 National Convention. It took second place. It would have taken third place if Mic Greenberg’s boat works had not taken best of show. My diorama paled in comparison to his. I had the opportunity to meet with him and discuss his diorama and how I could improve mine. Mic had a tremendous impact on how I modeled between 1981 and 2010. In 2012 I started modeling in Fn3 (1:20.3). Unfortunately, many of the techniques that I had honed in HO scale did not seem to transfer to a scale that is four times larger. On my latest project I decided to take a step back into my past. My L7 furniture wood shop is an example of me attempting to use a technique that I learned from Mic Greenberg in the 1980s.

 

Several weeks ago, I started a building by preparing the scale boards for the siding as well as the windows. The boards and windows were going to use on a yet to be determined 1:20.3 F scale building. The boards were all distressed and stained gray. The windows were also stained. Rubber cement was individually applied to each board and window then spray painted. After the paint dried the boards were rubbed with a cork randomly exposing the gray stained wood.  The building is now about 99% done. It has yet to be permanently planted on the layout. To finish the building, I need to add the doorknobs, and at least 8 corbels. The building is called Carlos’s L7 Colonial and Santa Fe Style Furniture. Based on my story line, the building predates the railroad siding. It was built in the early 1900s. It’s intended to be a whitewashed building that was not maintained. The deck was added after the track was installed and long after the building was constructed. The deck is intentionally lower that a normal boxcar or flatcar unloading height. If you could look through the windows you would see that the floor is lower than the deck. There is a ramp just inside the door. After the building is permanently “planted” in its intended location I will add a reasonable amount of clutter. It is highly unlikely that I will add a building interior.

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The sawdust collector on the side of the building was made by glueing stir sticks to an empty dog food can. More to come.