Miller Beer Reefer Progress

I have finished construction on the first four beer reefers and am now in the process of painting.  This is the current state of the Miller Beer reefer.  Roof and ends are boxcar red and sides are white.  The Art Griffin decals have been applied to one side and now need to dry completely before I apply the eagle trademark.  I need to get some new paint brushes to do the detail painting on the model.  I am happy with the result so far, unfortunately the door on the car is five feet wide and I believe that the prototype had a four foot door.  I guess it will be back to the pattern shop for a redo!

Beer Reefer Build

I have started a build page on my next beer reefer.  It is a model of a Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul 34 foot Pabst car.  I purchased a photo of the car and decals for it from Art Griffin.  

Miller Beer CM&StP Reefer

This is an in process photo of the first in the group of refrigerator cars which will be delivering beer to the depots in Red Jacket.  This is a 28 foot car built in 1889.  My version will be after the rebuilding which applied air brakes to the car.  In the back ground is a prototype photo.  I made styrene masters of the side, end and underframe.  A mold was made and the parts were cast in resin.

Beer Distribution In Calumet (Red Jacket) 4

This is my interpretation of the Pabst depot and bottling plant, the last of the beer depots.  The first view is of the track side of the building showing the ice house, bottling plant and stable.

The above view is of the wagon loading side of the building.  I used the information gained in examining the photo to create the stepped roof of the three sections of the building. 
   

Beer Distribution In Calumet (Red Jacket) 3

This is my interpretation of the Schlitz beer depot.  This view is of the stable and front, wagon loading side.

Track side view.  Warehouse for bottled beer is on this side.  The windows placed high on the wall provide light and plenty of storage space along wall. 

Photo Of Prototype Beer Depots

Well wouldn't you know.  I have just finished the Schlitz beer depot and am ready to start the Pabst.  I was looking through the Superior Views photo pages and found the above picture.  I believe that the four beer depots are located in the left center foreground.  Extreme left is Miller, then Blatz, next Schlitz and last Pabst.  The Blatz depot is directly aligned with the Red Jacket smoke stack.  Clearly the Pabst depot shows the three sections as indicated on the Sanborn.  Tucked behind Pabst appears to be the grocery warehouse.  It appears that there is an angled wall on the Miller building.  It also seems to show the set back of the stable on the Blatz depot as shown on the map.  Of course I could be totally wrong about what I see but the direction of the photo, looking toward Red Jacket shaft, should include them.  I guess my estimates of what the buildings looked like were close.  The biggest discrepancy might be that the roof sections appear continuous not stepped down between the ice houses and the attached wings.

Beer Depots Sanborn Map Detail

This view is from the 1893 map.  The track is owned by the Mineral Range when it was still a three foot gauge common carrier. 

This view is from the 1897 map.  The most notable change is the removal of the track.  This was the time period when the MR converted to standard gauge so they may have pulled the spur.  Of course it is possible that it still existed and was not shown.  There are changes to the depots and/or this map shows more specific details associated with the buildings.  According to the key the building sections with the large "X" are stables.

I have chosen to combine data from both maps to build the models.  The Miller depot is based upon the 1893 building.  The Blatz depot did not change between maps.  I am building the Schlitz depot based upon the 1897 map configuration.  My plan is to build the Pabst depot based upon the 1897 as well. The configuration with a bottling works in the middle section and stable on the end should make a neat model.