July 15, 2021

A Brewery for Silicon Valley Lines

Silicon Valley Lines

For almost 18 years, I had a few Walther's Milwaukee Beer and Ale kits sitting in my "personal hobby shop."  I had always wanted to create a large industry for the Silicon Valley Lines model railroad club, but with a stressful day job, and a son involved with FIRST Robotics, the time to spend working on such a large task felt like it was it would never happen.

Fast Forward to 2020, where We have have all seen amazing "COVID Projects" other model railroaders have built during lockdown. I felt a sudden sense of urgency to actually get something accomplished. It was time to build a Brewery.

SVL is an operations oriented club in a large space. While striking from an architectural perspective, the Walthers kit harkens back to an earlier era where large industries are compressed to fit on smaller layouts.  I initially purchased multiple brewery kits with an intent to create a unique build, but after examining the available space at the club, I needed to take a different route. While I was flipping through old MR articles, I ran across an article describing the then "brand new" DPM modular wall system. I realized that the arched window wall sections could be used to build a nice warehouse to connect with the original kit.

Inspiration from an old MR Article

After taking some measurements at the club, I glued up some of the wall sections and soon had a chance to check a "dry fit" of the resulting complex: