No more waiting for the morning mixed train in the rain!

 

         Signore Malatesta had an important wine merchant, a Signore Sapore and his new wife Luciana visiting from Roma in late 1931.  They arrived as planned on the 8:40 am ferry.  Mrs. Sapore was dressed in a very elegant dress with the latest hat from the fashionable shops from Milano.  The happy couple were looking forward to a relaxing weekend sampling Mr. Malatesta’s red wines from his vineyard Castello di St. Giorgio.  Mr. Sapore was feeling a little guilty with the months of late nights at the office so he was happy that his wife was all smiles when she helped off the ferry.  She looked radiant in her pink dress and matching hat.  She was attracting a lot of negative attention from many of the women of the village. He chalked it up to envy.  

        "Where is the train station?" He asked the Ferry Capitan.

        "Station?  There is no station."

        "No station?" He looked over to his wife.  Her smile disappeared.

        "Just wait there . . . against the wall there and the train will be along momentarily."

        Their luggage was brought off the ferry and arranged neatly on the other side of the tracks.  "Signore, the train will not be here for at least 30 minutes, maybe 45 minutes?" One of the crew men said shrugging his shoulders.  "Maybe a capuccino?" The man pointed to the cafe at the end of the pier.

        "Coffee?"

        "You go ahead, I will wait here with the luggage," she said opening her little purse and pulled out a stick of lipstick.

        "Are you sure?  The cafe looks nice.  We can sit and maybe drink a Cinzano?"

        She agreed and they walked over and sat down outside for a drink.  The luggage was brought over by the waiters.  The couple were happy sitting amongst the villagers who were drinking their coffees and Cinzanos gossiping and enjoying the soft sounds of the sea water gently lapping against the pier when a distant train whistle was heard wailing. 

        "Cameriere!" Mr. Sapore called out.

        "Yes?"

        "The check please . . . and can our luggage be taken to the station?"

        "You mean the dock Signore?  There is no station."

        "I know, I know." Sapore raised his eyebrows, these fishing villagers are so literal, he thought to himself.

        "Of course.  Carlo . . . si prega di prendere i bagagli"  The waiter had waved to one of the waiters that was standing at attention near the cafe entrance.  The young man dutifully picked up all of the luggage and nearly sprinted to the dock with the luggage under every arm and in ever hand.  "Do you want another drink?"

        "No grazie.  The train is arriving."

        "All right signore, but it does not leave for awhile."

        "None the less we would like to be early."

        And so the bill was paid and the Sapores walked over to where their luggage waited.  The morning mixed could be seen making some maneuvers, dropping off freight cars while the lone passenger car waited on the mainline alone.  

        Suddenly grey clouds blocked the warm sun and replaced with strong winds.  Mrs. Sapore drew nearer to her husband with a worried look at the sky, "Is it going to rain?"

        "Don\"t worry the train will soon be here."  

        "Are you sure?  Its getting dark."  

        In the corner of his eyes Mr. Sapore was watching the waiters and the villagers scramble inside the cafe.  Umbrellas sprung open everywhere.  Rain?  We didn\"t . . . when is that passenger train coming? "Look the train is just there on the other side." He could see through the archway the passenger car waiting alone while the little diesel was shuffling back and forth.

      The rain at first fell gently like rose petals on their heads and shoulders but soon the rain grew stronger.  Mrs. Sapore\"s hat feather wilted and then her makeup ran down her cheeks.  No matter how close she got to her husband, the rain pelted her harder and harder. "Ignacio!"

          "The train is coming, mia cara."

         It was too late when the passenger coach finally arrived.  Mrs. Sapore was thoroughly drenched.  The rain was so heavy now that rivers of rainwater flowed down their faces.

        When Signore Malatesta stood in front of the new arrivals dripping on the entrance of his villa, he was embarrassed.

Building the Station

        Truth be told I could no longer stand looking at the wall that would someday be the train station (really a shelter) standing their empty.  I had quickly cut up an old political poster and hot glued it to stand in for the future warehouse that would be housed behind its walls.  Those huge letters were just not putting me in the mood for a quiet seaside fishing village and besides Signore Malatesta was saying on with it build the stazione before he loses more customers! So I proceeded to cut a gazillion bricks from pink insulation foam. I then through the freshly cut foam bricks into a canister full of jagged little rocks. I covered the canister now full of little bricks and began to shake the canister for as long as I could stand it. Out came these perfectly weathered bricks that had all the texture of aged brick. I can\"t take credit for this technique, I got the idea from Black Magic Craft on YouTube ( https://youtu.be/TJPKVOMECvo - model railroaders really need to watch and follow some of these wargame model makers for cool techniques and inspiration).

        Well after making these bricks and texturing them I proceeded to glue them with white glue to the ugly foam core (nothing personal to the politician - who I happen to like) until I had a wall full of these bricks.

After gluing the bricks, I attached a roof made of foam core to keep out the rain (well it is not the greatest protection because sometimes the rain sometimes come almost sideways off the Mediterranean Sea in Amalfitano).

The shelter looked odd. It did not feel plausible that the roof would be strong enough when it rained in Amalfitano. So I decided to carve two pillars to add support to the roof. I used a denser form of insulation foam that I had laying around. I used a ball point pen to make the indentations and the pillars were ready to glue after 15 minutes of work.

Now the bricks needed mortar. I use Durham\"s Water Putty mixed with a little tile grout to give the water putty a little more texture. The grout was applied to the wall with a piece of scrap plastic that was stiff but still flexible enough to force the grout in between the bricks.

        Now things were looking a lot nicer (I was a little worried that the wall would look too fake but the grout/putty mixture really made it look old and somewhat more realistic)!  I was now afraid of painting it.  What if I messed it up?  At first I painted it grey but that didn\"t give me that old world feel that I was after.  So I tried various browns and then lots of black wash.  

        I am pretty happy with the way the station came out.  I might add some weeds and moss to give it a more damp look befitting the seaside nature of the train shelter.  

        Signore Malatesta at the ribbon cutting remarked the train shelter was a fine addition to his railroad.  He did not notice that many of the villagers were more anxious to eat the free pastries and wine than truly appreciate the new shelter.