The Raven Pulp & Paper Company is the largest industry on the layout and the Tideflats District's biggest customer. This facility, when completed will occupy about 1/4 of the entire layout and hides the two track staging yard running through the main mill building. A combination of a Walthers kits and scratch building can be found within the complex The modeled portion is the chemical receiving and processing area of the mill.

The green and red LEDs mounted on the fascia by the car card boxes are track sensors for the staging tracks. The red LED lights up when the train is approaching the end of the staging track. In the above photo, both staging tracks are full.

Two sidings run through the center of the complex where wood chip cars destined for the other side of the mill (not modeled) and Hi-Cube boxcars for finished paper products will be spotted. In the foreground in the harbor there are plans to model a wood chip barge tied up and waiting for it's turn to be unloaded. The water here has yet to be given the final "waves". This will be done after the wood chip barge is in place.

The seawall is a paper print purchased and downloaded from Scalescenes.com that was mounted on black dense foamcore. They have numerous structure kits that are very inexpensive, easily downloaded, and fun to put together. I do have a little concern over the long-term durability and colorfastness. With this in mind, I sprayed them with artists matt sealer, typically used for pencil and charcoal drawings, to help prevent possible fading, and help protect the finish.

Below is a scratch built paper machine that will be installed inside of the mill itself. I plan to enlarge one of the large open cargo doors to allow for a better view of the machine. After a online search of paper mill machinery and interiors, I had a pretty good indication of the type of things that could be modeled, and of course, would need to be scratchbuilt. I have several large boxes of scrap parts that I have accumulated over the years. These not only include pieces and parts of model railroad kits, but almost anything I come across that I think might possibly be used for something some day. I'm sure many of these items will never end up on the layout. But in this case, many of the odd bits and pieces will. Below you see the results of several evenings of digging though my "junk" and a little imagination, paint and glue. I think this will pass very nicely as a major piece of paper-making equipment when viewed through an open mill door. I have included some callouts of some of the pieces and their origins. You might be able to pick out a view other recognizable pieces as well. Gotta love the scrapbox!

The shot above partially shows the interior detailing of the chemical track unloading shed. It has interior lighting. The exterior light fixture on the left hand side of the photo is a 6V grain of wheat bulb tucked inside a Plastruct 3/8" square tube cut at a 45 degree angle. It's being powered by a 5V power supply. You'll notice several of these throughout the mill complex. Many more lights to come!

Here's a control room and office for the chemical plant at the mill. It has interior lighting and detail.

Some of the rooftop details on the mill. Lots of weathering still to do on the overall structure.