Modelling the Davis Drydock

Ever since I'd worked Canadian Dredge & Dock into my list of industries to include on my Hanley Spur layout, I was dogged by the question - What about the dry dock? Besides dredging, vessel construction and repairs were a big chunk of CD&D's business. While vital to the prototype operation, would it be vital to mine? Looking at a 1924 fire insurance map, the then-Davis operation DRY DOCK (centre) was fairly surrounded by railway tracks and spurs: both CN and CP lines to the waterfront, the CP roundhouse, CN freight sheds, later oil tanks and coalyards:

A proposed location (above) which I then marked out with Sharpie (below) and the curved bow end, using an age-old kerosene bottle from some long-forgotten hardware store long before WHMIS regulations:

The prototype dry dock was 200 feet long, around 12 feet deep. I had much less room than that to work with, and the good news that many of the boats I've seen photos of in drydock were much, much shorter. So I got out my Mastercraft multi-tool, hoping to take a bite out of my plywood layout-top, realizing that the structural integrity of same depended on a 2x2 just behind the layout fascia. Marked out and making the cut:

I should have issued a seismic activity warning to the HO scale citizens of the Swamp Ward. Many of them fell over, vehicles moved over one parking spot, but fortunately no freight cars derailed! The resulting U-shaped cavity:

I reused the cut-out piece for the bottom of the drydock. I simply screwed it to the bottom of the 2x2 in foreground. Didn't seem deep enough. Cut and added another 2x2. Too deep? Oh well, I can always review that decision later. To produce the walls of the drydock, I used a piece of corrugated cardboard which was easy to bend over edge of layout to produce the bow-curved end of the drydock:

Not long enough! Got another one. Then I used Robertson screws to screw outwards, the cardboard in to the ground-level plywood, then more to screw inwards, holding the cardboard to the cut-out piece at bottom:

I then placed the end-gate and will cover up that offending 2x2 with a walkway or some fake water! The resulting drydock, so far (below). I placed my plasticene tugboat on makeshift blocks and brought in the cranes that would be used to lift materials in and out. I liked the irregular look of the cardboard just above ground level. More scenicking to follow!

A few prototype photos for inspiration. A Stefan Nybom shot of the scene from atop a dredge:

And his corresponding shot from atop the Esso oil tanks. The curve of the bow section of drydock is plainly visible:

Thirty-nine years ago, my Dad and I were driving around Wellington Street on a cloudy November morning and caught the CD&D tug Bagotville up on blocks. Note to self...add a safety railing so no HO scale dockworkers tumble in!