Safety Kleen at East St. Charles
(right click and open to embiggen)

Tonight was Thursday work night, my favorite night of the week! Steve came over and we started the scenery upgrades for Safety Kleen, a tidy industry nestled along a bend in the tracks at east St. Charles.

Safety Kleen is a spent oil and liquid waste transfer facility modeled after a similar oil transfer facility in Olathe, Kansas, served by the BNSF (on the former ATSF track). The industry is very simple - a spur track with room for three tank cars. A big paved parking lot to allow semi-tank rigs to maneuver. Simple spill pads at the car spots. Security fencing.

We used Sintra PVC board for the paved area. Sintra is a rigid, but lightweight, closed-cell extruded PVC board with generally a low-gloss matte finish. It is used a lot in the sign industry. You can cut it easily with a knife or razor blade, and I've been told that the thicker sizes cut well on a table saw.

The basic forms for the pavement were established using masking tape on the layout, which was then transferred to the Sintra board. The board was then cut to shape, and fine adjustments were made with a wood rasp.

Later, we will lightly score the board to suggest concrete joints and paint it a light gray concrete color (Steve likes Testors 1233 - Flat Light Aircraft Gray) . The addition of details such as staining, cracks/weathering, some etched fencing.and a couple of LED security will complete the project!


Here is the prototype industry in Olathe, Kansas. It's as simple a trackside industry as you could envision!
(right click and open to embiggen)