I have not added a chain
along the deck for moving
ice, as the deck is probably
too small to justify such an
installation. Some small
decks did have a sheet-steel
track for sliding ice blocks,
but again, not in any case I
know of where the deck was
this small.
I wanted to have workmen
on the deck, and with con-
ventional plastic figures,
these are easily chosen.
I made their ice tools, a bi-
dent and a pickaroon from
brass wire (36).
This ice deck is freelanced
and not based exactly on
any prototype, but the
bents supporting the deck,
the size and shape of the building, and other features are defi-
nitely chosen to reflect prototype practice.
The bents are patterned on the standard PFE bent, shown in
a drawing in the PFE book, page 294 (for full reference to the
book, see Part One).
For my small SP branch, this is probably a big-enough ice deck,
particularly since some of the packing houses on the branch
have their own pre-cooling facilities for produce. That means
they will not order pre-iced cars, and so the cars they load only
Getting Real Column - 14
34: This is an end view of the
ice house, with an office door
and window, and a service door
for drive-up customers. The
building is roofed with masking
tape simulating rolled roofing,
and painted gray.
34
35: An overall view of my two-car ice deck at Shumala. The
building is styrene novelty siding. There is an ice unloading door
at trackside, since this is not a large-scale manufacturing facility,
it needs to have ice brought in to have a sufficient supply.
36: I’ve posed a couple of commercial figures on my ice deck,
with arms moved to suit the tools. I made the bident at left and
a pickaroon at right, from brass wire. I glued the figures to the
deck with white glue, so they can be removed and repositioned
if desired. I don’t normally put ice blocks on the deck, but do
have a couple of clear plastic lumps which can be used. They are
sanded lightly to make them cloudy rather than clear; clear ice is
a consumer product and not necessary for icing refrigerator cars.
35
36
MRH-Oct 2013
