First route tour
#11
Posted 28 August 2012 - 04:32 PM
#12
Posted 28 August 2012 - 04:57 PM
rfranzosa, on 27 August 2012 - 04:23 PM, said:
One could easily get lost in that route. I'd be happy to prove that when the time comes :D
Excellent work.
RGF
Oh, it's not so bad really... if you ignore the industrial track it's just a tall (2-3 mile), narrow X with a very short entrance/exit path occurring right at the center.
#13
Posted 28 August 2012 - 06:57 PM
Looks great though.
#14
Posted 29 August 2012 - 11:17 AM
#15
Posted 11 September 2012 - 07:48 PM
What I'm trying to accomplish at this stage is put in very preliminary models of the structures... no need for details at this point in time.
This is looking southeast from the National Tea warehouse -- same location I had previously had a 2-8-2 steam locomotive (see pictures above). It's about here that the height of the buildings goes up 5, 6, 7 stories, sometimes 8. That's in the 60-100 foot range. You start to get that "in the concrete canyon" feeling.
A couple hundred meters southeast of the previous picture the tracks take a tight curve around the end of a very large warehouse and head due south. The huge building in the distance is the Mechandise Mart (more below).
Another turn back to the southeast, with the tracks ending in 5 or 6 streets. On the left are numerous warehouses, lofts, & manufacturing facilities. Rail service is usually in a 18-20 wide alley between these buildings.
Aerial view from about the same spot as the previous shot.
Looking SE to the Merchandise Mart. The Mart was built at the worst of the Great Depression by one of Chicago's leading business families and at the time (and for several decades afterwards) was the largest building in the world as measured by floor space. It's purpose was to lease floor space to all sorts of manufactures of retail goods where they could show off -- and sell -- their product lines to retailers. This years furniture line. This years household appliances. This years automobiles. Anything and everything.
It was built above the CNW tracks that pre-dated it and so there were 4 long spurs in the basement for deliveries as well as a couple of tracks that simply passed thru on their way to businesses further east.
A view looking NW from the top of the Merchandise Mart.
Last shot is about details. I've noticed not too many building models include a foundation. I always add them because I think it looks right and sure helps when the terrain isn't level. Second, I dunno about other cities but one thing I do remember about Chicago is how they'd lay expensive good looking brick facing the street and switch to the cheap, ugly stuff as soon as they could get around a corner (in Chicago it's most often that really dirty looking yellowish-brown brick on the right). The image is just an example of how that looks, something I think is essential for an older city scene.
#16
Posted 12 September 2012 - 04:17 AM
As a structural engineer by profession I work with architects that often access Sanborn Maps for historic information related to specific sites. I think creating a route from this information is really cool. :cool3:
Looking forward to further updates.
Best Regards,
Paul G
#17
Posted 12 September 2012 - 08:31 AM
Anyway, I needed a break from the Cal-P and this Goose Island project should be relatively quick (if I keep at it).
Here's something for you:
See brownish-brick in the center of the image, runs down the alley wall... that says old Chicago to me. You know how hard it is to make a texture for that??? Multiple variants? I've got one so far that looks almost right. What I'm curious about is how much of the black grunge is just sitting on the brick vs. baked in. Any idea?
#18
Posted 12 September 2012 - 09:35 AM
#19
Posted 12 September 2012 - 10:56 AM
#20
Posted 12 September 2012 - 03:52 PM
Compared to the face brick used on the main street face of the building common brick is more pourous with a dull finish. As a result of the pourous nature of the surface of the common brick the pollutants are more prone to permeate the brick. In that regard, the pourousity of the surface will vary, hence the variation in color and staining.
It is always a kick to watch a building being restored, having the face brick washed down to remove the pollutant stains. Due to the hard fired surface, the face brick will clean up quite nicely and it's often a pleasant surpise to see the original color and detail that has been hidden by the grime. In some instances after being cleaned you can see that the architectural details of the facade included the use of more than one color of face brick which has been hidden by the grime. We have many old masonry buildings in Chicago that I think are real gems in that regard and it's good to see some of them being restored.