Miami Iron and Metal: The Movie Scene

 

My friend Anthony R., who some railfans may know on YouTube under the handle TrainHunters1 or TrainHuntersFans, affectionately likes to pinpoint "movie scenes" in events that take place in various hip and hot Miami venues. I have been fortunate to join him in some of these adventures as of late, and look forward to many more in 2023. They are as he describes, "movie scenes" -- settings one can only imagine seeing behind a screen of one's choice, perhaps too overwhelming to be even deemed a believable enough scene in person... but they are.

Model railroaders take to capturing scenes alright -- some that can be reproduced today and some that are blasts from the pasts that can only be reimagined through film and other works. But Miami in all its glitz, glamour, and vice, possesses scenes that can only be associated with the Magic City. Regardless of the era, some beg to be modeled. Some make it to video games like Driver (1,3, etc.) and GTA.

The James Bond movie Goldfinger features a scene where Oddjob takes a Lincoln car to the scrapyard, which was filmed near or at present-day Miami Iron and Metal. I was flattered to learn that the scrapyard was featured in the film, under the label Atlantic Iron and Metal, which may or may not be identically affiliated. Word on the street is it's the same folks, even though the property Oddjob drives into is clearly next to the edge of Antillean Marine. (2:00 in the video) But, the property where the crane lifts the Lincoln just has to be present day Miami Iron and Metal, a CSX customer at milepost SXD-37 on the Downtown Spur. 

Goldfinger shot the Lincoln driving into a scrapyard from across the street and 300 feet back. The entrance doesn't appear to exist anymore, but this is close to the spot and where scrap gons can be visible sitting on a house track. This is what the scene looked like in January 2021.

I had the luck of capturing a daylight switch at Miami Iron and Metal, which is accessed through "parking lot running" at the neighboring property, Centauri Transport. Typically, the two days a week that CSX Y322 runs, this customer is served one hour into their time on the spur, which typically ranges between 4 and 6 AM. (They entered the Downtown Spur at 3:20 AM when this paragraph was drafted).

This chase had been all the motivation needed to finish off a model train project, one extremely unique to the area with cars of which only eight have existed. I am modeling purpose-rebuilt scrap gondolas that started their lives as MoPac bulkhead flats, and were re-bodied into scrap gondolas in the late 2000s. SPEX reporting marks were worn until about 2015 or so, where Miami Iron and Metal took ownership under LSEX reporting marks. These unique cars primarily shuttle scrap metal from Miami Iron to their various processors, mainly CMC Steel in Baldwin, FL.

In order to build these cars, the following was done:

• The top layer of paint was stripped -- I think the colors of the cars are the colors of the plastic beneath them, so they do some kind of coat on top to seal the paint on the car and make it finished
• ladders and bulkhead details were removed easily. They are all separately applied parts except for the slopes off the bulkhead. The shape of the slope appears gentler than the Miami Iron/MOPAC prototype so it was cut and redone using brass sheet.
• Brass sheet and styrene of various shapes and sizes CAed/Cemented on depending where to match the general look of the car. Some finer detail is missing such as these very thin protrusions on the bottom and a thin sheet on the end. I can always add the latter some other time.
• BLMA/Atlas grab irons kind of shoehorned on the brass or plastic using CA. There are additional details but the donor cars did not have them.
• Airbrushed a mix to closely match the faded iron oxide.
• mix of acrylic paint and Posca paint pens to decorate graffiti
• light airbrush of dirt on the bottom

Miami Iron and Metal also takes some of the common use high-sided gondolas, albeit beat up and ratty of course.

The premise of this is that this part of Miami contains scenes so unique that as much as they draw movie producers to film there, they draw us modelers to simulate operations in these areas. This was the inspiration of Lance Mindheim's layout just the same as this was inspiration to pick up railfanning in the local area. It is quite cool to handle scrap metal and chemicals from industries with such a patchy history and a patchy story, as opposed to teamtracking general goods to your friendly local 1940s general industry using per diem 40' boxcars in your friendly small town. One can only imagine the underground happenings in this part of Miami that just add so much literary value to it.