Clyde's done it again, this time with a scratchbuilt HO scale sugar beet loader. The model is based on photos and drawings from John R. Signor's article "Modeling California's Sugar Beet Industry" in the November 2008 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman magazine. The drawings are based on one that was located at San Ardo, California, along Southern Pacific's (now UP's) scenic Coast Route. San Ardo is located several miles south of King City.

The San Ardo beet loader was last used in 1992.

The HO scale model is built largely from Clyde's favorite material, Evergreen styrene. As shown the structure is temporarily taped down to a block of wood. The structure's footprint is 16 1/2" long x 5 1/4" wide. Typical of Clyde's work, plenty of details can be seen. The corrugated roof and motor house at the end of the loader are made from a flattened out Coca Cola can. The material was heated up and annealed, after which it was cut to size. The "corrugations" were pressed into it using Evergreen styrene corrugation material for the pattern. Looks pretty darn good if you ask me! There are plenty more details yet to be added, not to mention paint and weathering. I will post additional photos as the project moves along.

UPDATE 7/13/14: Finally got around to uploading images of Clyde's completed and painted model. Eventually the beet loader will be installed on the *new* HO scale only West Bay Model Railroad Assn. club layout in Menlo Park, CA. In case you are interested, Clyde used Anise seeds to represent stray sugar beets strewn about the loading areas.