We have sawmills and mines. How about something different?
A Brewery. This is the Boca Brewery.
Might be an interesting project.
I’d like to find more pics of this or any other turn of the (last) century wooden breweries.
That is a good idea I bet we all have a beer car or three.
Of course a brewery could be as small as a garage or s big as the one pictured.
Good idea.
Interesting. Would be fun to plumb the tank loading facility to a keg then just slide your glass in for a refill :]
Ah! a brewery John, that should go down quite well with a few modelers here.
Okay, after several failed attempts and some help with my problem from the ‘experts’ here, I can finally make a post on breweries.
I’ve always wanted to have a brewery on my RR as a major industry and I’m glad the subject has been raised. I’ve always admired Campbell’s HO model of Brett’s Brewery and thought that would be what I modeled. But as time went by and I researched the subject, I decided to build something that was more representative of turn-of-the-century breweries.
Below, is a picture of my cardboard mockup of my future brewery. I plan to use Gatorboard for the structure and sheath it with Precision Products brick siding. It will have a stone foundation (already built) made from concrete stone castings. It’s going to be the largest structure on my layout to date. Of course it will be my winter project.
Doc Watson
Cool!
You know that the PP brick is not uniform from sheet to sheet. However with all the windows you should be able to mask out the irregularities easily
Hmm…my post disappeared!
Anyway, it does look nice.
I’d be a bit concerned about the Gatorboard though. I tried something similar and it did not hold up at all. Take a look at the foamed PVC…
Too late Bruce, I’ve already got an inventory of 1/4" and 1/2" sheets. I have had good luck with Gatorboard. It is very machineable and stable. The 1/2" stuff is extremely ridgid and doesn’t require additional interior bracing. I will be using mostly 1/4’ stuff though to better approximate scale wall thicknesses. Interior bracing will be used. I have tested Gatorboard in the elements and found that it is pretty much weatherproof and does not delaminate. One secret is to make sure all foam edges are covered and sealed. Another advantage to Gatorboard is that it won’t sag under extreme heat like plastics do.
The kicker to this project is that I will not be leaving this structure outside year round. All my scratch built buildings are stored inside most of the time. I’m unwilling to watch a structure that I spent weeks on slowly deteriorate outside. Just my thing. I’m not a risk taker like some of you guys are. However, as I get older, I may have to rethink that issue. It’s a lot of work to drag out and find enough storage for structures.
David, I’ve been using PP sheathing for years and have dealt with the edge matching issue. As it turns out, this building just happens to be designed to eliminate that problem almost entirely.
Doc Watson
OK, Doc. I must have used something different than Gatorboard; it sure didn’t last at all.
I can’t imagine bringing all my buildings inside; I don’t have the room, or the energy to move them. 
As far as the PP sheathing goes, I think that’s the BEST way to go - design it so you don’t have to worry about edge matching; 15" can cover a nice sized span.
Bruce, you have many more buildings than I do. I can see a time, a ways down the road from now, that I may have to rethink the movement of buildings. I’m just glad I have a walk-in crawl space to store them.
Well, it’s not all bad - I love looking out on them every day.
I look forward to your build - I hope you start a log here.
Bruce, I will make this my first build log on LSC. Looking forward to it but I probably won’t be starting for at least a month.
Doc Watson
John,
Boca Brewery, that’s a good choice of buildings. As you probably know it was located in the Sierras above Truckee, California and beer brewing was only part of their enterprise. They had crews out most of the winter sawing ice blocks from the lakes and storing them in their ice houses for summer use and sales.
Doc,
Very glad to see that your going to share your talents with us here on LSC, as is everyone else I am looking forward to your project.
Back at the turn of the century, maybe that is 2 turns ago now, breweries were as common as gas stations in the 1950’s.
Later
Rick
Rick Marty said:
Doc,
Very glad to see that your going to share your talents with us here on LSC
Rick
I agree!
John
I think that’s a neat idea …I remember Brian Donavan did the Makers Mark distillery a few years ago that was pretty cool. Looking forward to your progress.