My Swamp

I have a swamp at an outside corner of my layout.  The swamp is fed by a stream that comes from a far part of the layout and spills out onto the floor (it ends at the edge of the layout).  There is a narrow gauge trestle that crosses the swamp on the way up to the logging area on the mountain.

The green grass in the swamp area was made from a product called "pot topper" that I bought in Michaels craft store.  It is designed to place on top of plant pots as a decorative covering.  These toppers are cheap but they have a base underneath that needs to be removed so that the "grass" will nestle down on the layout, and that base is a pain to separate from the grass part.  The toppers are round and about 6" in diameter so I needed several to cover the swamp area.  There are natural segments in the grass part so it looks like dirt patches among the grasses.  I added a few sagebrush trees to simulate dead trees, and added a few "dead logs" among the grass.  There are a number of waterfowl and other birds in the swamp area, as well as an owl, snakes, frogs, etc.  The small critters area really hard to see unless you look closely.

In the photo above you can see the steam that runs though the swamp.  There is a decaying narrow gauge boxcar that fell off the trestle long ago and projects up above the water.  In front of the boxcar is a rowboat with a young man rowing his sweetheart along the stream.  The stream comes into the swamp area from beyond the stone pier on the left.  

Above is a shot looking down at the swamp area showing the separations between the grass.  

I also installed swamp sounds made by Fantasonics which I have installed on a Dream Player which is a solid state device with various options for playing sounds.  Up until this sound installation I had been installing cheap CD players to play other Fantasonics sounds.  In addition to the Dream Player I have a power supply designed and built by my late friend Gordon North which will support up to 5 Dream Players and, on a separate side, a supply to handle structure lighting on the layout.  

Above on the right is the power supply and on the left is an amplifier for the speakers since I was using unpowered speakers.  The speakers are ported out the fascia under the swamp area with one on each side of the layout corner and about 8" from the corner.  That way when you stand at the corner you hear  a stereo swamp sound - really neat.  

The water in the stream was made with Envirotex two part epoxy resin which I prefer to the other products I have tried, including Magic Water and the Woodland Scenics product.  I poured the stream several years ago and it is doing fine except I managed to mess it up a little while working on the swamp so I will be refreshing it next year. 

Inspection locomotive 1889

I have had this locomotive drawing and plans for many years with the thought I would build one,  but that now seems unlikely so I thought I would share them in the event someone else might like to build some form of this inspection locomotive.  The loco was built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works for the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company for the use of the superintendent.  The length between the points of the two pilots was 41 foot 5 inches - really small.  It traveled at 45 miles per hour with bursts up to 60 miles per hour.  It had an abundance of windows to provide an unobstructed view of the track.   The passenger area was fitted with a toilet closet, a writing desk, 3 drawing room car seats, and a sofa lounge which could be made into a bed.

 The name on the side of the loco is "Transit" and the number is 300.   A neat little loco.

New structure on my layout

I have installed on the layout the new structure that I recently built.  It is located on the edge of a small town called Elder.  It fit in a once vacant lot.  The town has one paved street - kind of difficult to have many large towns on a 17' x 25' layout and still have industrial areas.  As with most of my structures on the layout it is held in place only by the scenic cement around the base, and can be fairly easily removed if needed.  I added various detritus around the building to make it appear used and somewhat run down.

I may at a later time add one or more signs to the building indicating what it is, but for now it is unspecified.

Due to the holidays I will likely be slow in additional postings although I have pretty much decided on what I will build next.  There are a number of scenery improvements that I have planned so that will al;so figure in to the schedule.

In any event have happy holidays whatever you celebrate.

1912 Crushed Stone Plant

Below is a photo of a 1912 vintage crushed stone plant.  It is from a 1912 industrial book and I have no idea where it was located but I just thought it was interesting.  If I had a place for it on my railroad I would build a model.  I think it is interesting that the truck being loaded barely fits under the bin.  I am guessing this facility was originally built to load wagons.

I am sorry the photo is not better quality, but it was a small photo and not that great to begin with.  It does however convey the idea.

Finished model structure yet to be named

I have finished the structure I started a few weeks ago but still have not decided what it is, and to make matters worse I have decided it will not fit in the layout location that I previously planned.  So I have selected another location in a small town that is near the tannery I previously built.  The result of this was the rear of the building could now be seen from around the corner of the layout, and I had not but any doors or windows in the rear thinking it wold not be seen.  Since the basic building was complete I had to modify it to add one wind and one door.  Not a fun task.  Here are a few photos of the structure.

After I have installed this on the layout with details (and hopefully a name/purpose) I will post it here.  I wonder what is going on in this building?

Gordon North RIP

My good friend Gordon North passed away this last weekend at the age of 81.  Gordon was an outstanding modeler and one of the first to model in On30 (or as Gordon preferred to call it - On2 1/2). His model railroad was called the Denver & Western and was featured in several magazines, most often in the Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette.  He developed an advanced version of the once popular PFM sound, and called his version North Sound.  His model railroad used this system to the end.

Gordon was well known in the narrow gauge community and always willing to help other modelers.  He scratch built almost everything on his railroad including structures, engines and rolling stock.  Gordon never bought kits - just parts.

We will miss you Gordon, rest in peace.

PS: Gordon's son Gary created a web site to commemorate Gordons model railroad -
http://denverandwestern.wix.com/on30

Old building model

I have started constructing an old building that has been converted into a business.  I have not yet decided what that business will be.  I started with some left over Yorke hydrocal castings that are the parts of the base that you see.  I have added a partially completed wood structure on top.  This building will go on my layout in a slight depression on the outskirts of my city.  The city will be to the right of this structure.  There is no rail siding but the mainline runs in front of it.

The windows are a mix of SS Ltd cast metal and Tichy plastic windows.  Since I made no plan and am making this up as I go I have only a vague idea of what I will do with the rest of the building.  I guess I will be surprised - hopefully in a good way.

As usual I have painted it to represent peeling paint over an alcohol/ink base color.  The sign is something from my scrap box of sign material and has no bearing on the use of the building.

Norfolk & Southern steel flat car 1894

The Norfolk & Southern railroad steel flat car below as illustrated in 1894.  The Norfolk & Southern started as the Elizabeth City & Norfolk chartered in 1870 became the Norfolk & Southern railroad in 1883.  It seems to be a remote ancestor of the current Norfolk Southern.

Their first attempt at a metal flat used an iron tube frame which apparently was not up to heavy weights.  This car used steel tubular frame that was more successful.  The photo shows it hauling 147 car wheels weighing 80,000 pounds.  The steel tubes were bolted together and used "gas pipes" between the steel tubes.  The car was 34 foot long.  This was an experimental car.

This would make a neat model.

Portable excavator & screening machinery

Back on September 6th I posted an image of a Fairbanks-Morse ballast loader vintage 1908.  Here are two similar machines from a 1906 Jeffrey Elevator & Conveyor catalog.  These machines are fascinating and as crude as they appear, they were better than hand loading which had been the standard.

These seem to be different machines though they could be just modifications of the same design.

I am still thinking about my next model build, although I just finished constructing a top superstructure for a  railroad bridge that has been on  the layout for over a year with only the bridge "floor" and track in place.  

Finished barrel factory model

The barrel factory is finished and installed on the layout.  I will probably do some more detailing around the factory but essentially it is done.  This has been an interesting project.

The barrel making process is interesting.  The green wood (bolt) is delivered to the factory by rail and dried in the area behind the factory (real small on my model).  When reasonably dry it is run through the drying shed on a rail trolley.  It then enters the factory where the wood is split and cut into staves.  Heading pieces are also cut and when the barrel is assembled, a groove called a "crozing" is cut into each end of the staves to allow the heading to nestle tightly into it.  The barrel is then formed and hoops of wood (or more recently metal) are fastened around the barrel to make it tight.  This is a very abbreviated version of the process but gives you the idea.

Below are photos of the barrel factory on my layout.

The industry is located at an inside corner of the layout thus the rear and right side are not viewable.  You can see a truck at the left.  I added a truck loading door on the side of the factory behind the office.  You can also see the boiler house stack behind the small water tank on the factory roof.

This view is as good as it gets for viewing the barrel conveyor and the trackside platform on the right where the barrels are loaded on a rail car.  I added some wood scrap behind the factory which can be seen just beyond the office.  I also placed a variety of vents and details on the factory roof for visual interest.  With most of our model structures the most prominent feature we see is the roof.

In answer to the comment/question, the sign on the front of the factory is dry transfers on a wood strip and the sign on the office roof was made on the computer.

Barrel conveyor model

Most of the effort on this barrel conveyor was the research and design.  When you buy a kit to build, all of that has been done for you to the best of the ability of the manufacturer.  Then if they provide good instructions (not always the case) you just have to follow the instructions to build your model.  When scratch building models such as this you are on your own with whatever prototype information you can find as well as some reasonable understanding of how machinery works.  This conveyor model is based on information from a vintage engineering catalog.  I posted photos several weeks ago of barrel conveyors and I used those photos as my guide and inspiration.

The conveyor is made from strip wood stained with my usual india ink and alcohol mixture.  I made the chain tracks from a single strand of plastic window screen.  The curved barrel supports on the tracks were made from cast metal passenger car roof beading for older style passenger cars.  Unfortunately the second photo is not very clear.  There is a short piece of the screen strip used for the chain tracks lying next to the conveyor.  At least one model manufacturer makes a sprocket chain which they market for loco mechanisms but the cost is quite high.

I added a third photo above to show the sprocket chain (made from screen wire) better.  I also added a barrel being held by the curved supports.

I did not model the gears and machinery at the upper end of the conveyor as that is inside the upper factory door and cannot be seen from the layout aisle.  I used to model details that can not be seen but have given up doing that.  Some of my structures do not have any detail on the side that cannot be seen.

My next work on the barrel factory will be to install it on the layout and detail the surroundings.

Barrel company office

This is the office for the barrel company.  It attaches to the left side of the barrel factory.  It is heavily weathered and has not seen paint for many years.  The awning covers the window that gets the most sun.

The construction is clapboard siding to contrast with the rougher board and batten of the factory.  The roofing is tar paper as the slope of the roof is too slight to use shingles.

Next I will build the barrel conveyor that moves the barrels from the second floor storage area to the outside loading dock.  I showed examples of these conveyors in an earlier post.

Barrel factory progress

I have added the second story and a bunch of detail.  The second story is the finished barrel storage area.  The first photo shows the left side of the factory.  I have yet to make the office which will adjoin the left side of the lower area and will be a small clapboard structure.  Also there will be a stack at the back adjoining the boiler house.

The second photo shows the right side of the factory with the drying shed attached.  The large opening on the upper story is where the barrel conveyor will exit the building to carry the barrels to the loading dock on the other side of the rail siding.

I was at the Timonium Maryland train show this morning.  The October show there is usually their biggest but this one was disappointingly smaller.  I think most train shows, as well as hobby shops,  are losing their appeal with the ready access to products via the Internet.  I do almost all of my shopping by mail, though most of my model railroad purchases are merely paint, wood and detail parts since I only do scratch building these days.  When I go to train shows these days it is mostly for socializing.

Barrel Factory main level progress

This has gone somewhat slow but the basic main level of the barrel factory is mostly complete.  The roof is still in progress and the wall caps need to be added.  The brick portion in the center rear is the boiler house which provides the power and heat for the facility along with the engine room buried inside the main floor in front of the boiler house.  The side you cannot see has minimal detail as it will not be seen from the edge of the layout.

The right side will abut to the drying shed previously built.  On the left side will be a small office building adjoining the main structure.  The second floor will be on the right side of the roof covering only about half of the main floor.  

The building finish is merely the standard ink/alcohol stain.  The windows are Grandt Line.  There is a door in the indentation at the right front where the dried "bolts" (barrel wood) is moved into the building.  

More HO model railroad history

A few days ago I came across an old Mantua HO box car kit, probably from the 1940's, which had an interesting note on the end of the box.  It said "your car sides are not in this box - select them from your dealer - they are included in the kit price."  The other end of the box proclaimed it was an all metal kit.  Presumably the car sides were also metal.  I do not have that kit nor the car sides, but I thought that was an interesting marketing practice way back then.  The kit price was $3.50.

What I am very familiar with is the early printed card stock sides, particularly the colorful billboard reefer sides and I still have a stock of them saved for I do not know what.

I used to collect old HO kits but have since disposed of almost all of them as I pare my model collection down to what I actually intend to use.

Barrel factory drying shed

I have been working on preparing the layout site for the barrel factory.  The first part of the factory I have built is the drying shed for the barrel bolts.  The bolts enter the shed from the right (back of the factory) and are pulled through the drying shed by the manual winch on the left of the photo.  The platform car has just emerged from the shed through the canvas door cover.  There are 5 wood "bolts" on the car.  The shed side you see will actually face the back of the layout with the other side backing up to the wall of the factory structure.  The track through the shed is made from styrene.  The platform car is made from styrene with commercial cast metal wheels.  The winch is a cast metal American Model Builders product.

The shed is sheathed in corrugated metal sheets (actually a commercial card stock product).  The track siding runs along the sheathed side of the shed with the barrel loading platform on the other side of the track.

As with most of my industries this one is highly condensed as compared with a typical prototype factory.  I prefer to have lots of different industries spread around the layout rather than a few large industries.

Barrel company conveyors

I have developed a rough floor/room layout for the barrel factory to fit the layout site and have been adjusting the site for the factory.  All of the barrel making functions will be on the main floor with a second floor used for storage of completed barrels awaiting shipment.   The factory is served by a siding that is an extension of an existing siding.  I had to carve out some scenery to fit that in.  The factory will sit on a raised area (raised in comparison to the siding and the other industries served by that siding).  Adjacent to the siding on the opposite side from the factory is the shipping dock - may be a little strange but that is what works for this site.  The barrels will be moved from the upper level storage area to the loading dock by means of a barrel conveyor.  Below are two photos of barrel conveyors.

The first photo shows an almost vertical lift and the second a lift at about a 45 degree angle.  I think these are really neat and I will include something similar on the model.

The wood "bolts" delivered to the factory are initially stored in the back area of the site, then are fed through a dry kiln channel/tunnel and heated to remove excess moisture.  I am in the process of making this kiln channel.  

Barrel company start

I have decided my next structure will be a wood barrel company.  Actually as I was mulling over several possible industries, the barrel factory was suggested by my wife.  The location on my layout where it will go will dictate the size.  The site is an odd shape on the inside corner near my grist mill and lumber company.  I had several temporary buildings sitting there.  The space is somewhat less than I had for my tannery.  It is at the end of the lumber company siding.

Wooden barrels were still in frequent use in 1939 (my era) and barrel making is interesting.  There are two general categories of barrels referred to as "slack" or "tight".  Slack style barrels are used for dry materials whereas tight barrels are used primarily for liquid.  The names are descriptive of how loosely of tight the barrel staves fit together.  The other parts of the barrel are the headings and the hoops (either wood or metal).

Above is a photo of wood barrels and barrel parts.  Slack cooperage also includes other containers such stubs, buckets, pails, kegs, churns and firkins.  There are two general grades of slack cooperage barrels; one grade used for such items as flour, sugar, chemicals, etc., and the other grade used for such items as   packing house products, fruits, vegetables, lime, cement, rosin, hardware etc.  

Tight cooperage barrels are usually made from white oak or a similarly hard wood due to it's hardness, workability, and excellent seasoning qualities, is less likely to discolor or lend a disagreeable odor to the  contents.

The staves are made from short logs about 3 feet long called bolts.  The bolts are usually obtained green to avoid checking and splitting of bolts left out in the weather too long.

I am working on the floor and room design of the factory using rough sketches and room templates to ensure that it all fits and contains the necessary functions for making barrels.

Hunt Electric Locomotive

Below is an illustration/photo of a C W Hunt company electric locomotive circa 1911.  I thought I would post this while I am deciding what to model next.  These locos operated from either storage batteries, overhead trolleys, or a combination.  Their approximate weight was 5 tons.  Dimensions were length 12 ft, width 5 - 6 ft, height 70 inches, gauge 21 1/2 inches.  Speed was from 1 to 4 mph and could haul 50 tons.  The average use time in general switching was about 10 hours so good for a days work.  The motors and gear boxes were on top.  The platform area on each end permitted the driver to position himself properly for either direction.  Each truck was driven by it's own motor.

Hunt supplied a variety of dump and flat cars, as well as some specialized cars,  for use with the loco.

Modeling this locomotive would not be hard since it looks like a box on a flat car with the motors on top.  These locos were used in industrial areas, mining facilities and much more.

My modeling workbench

Below is a photo of my modeling workbench in post project clean condition.  As I was cleaning after completing the welding shop posted yesterday I thought this might be of some interest or at least give a perspective on where I create these projects.  The desk is a very old wood desk with a few drawers and several cutting mats on top along with a ceramic heat proof kitchen pot protector on the right side.  The reason for the ceramic top section is for soldering or anything that might damage or warp the mats (done that before).  As you can see I have most of the ceramic top covered with stuff much of which is there most of the time.  The paint bottles are a selection of my acrylic craft paint bottles of which I have many more elsewhere.  There are several types of white glue and my India-ink/alcohol mix. The metal blocks are mostly used for glueing weights as are the many lead type printer slugs I acquired.  The white sheet of paper taped to the rightmost mat is for drawing cutting guides, making notes about what I am modeling, wiping paint brushes, or whatever I need it for - I just removed the one used for the welding shop and it was covered with pencil and paint marks.  I find that a cheap, easy and handy part of my work surface.  The left mat has just been installed replacing a grey mat by X-acto which I did not like since the blue lines on it were only surface paint or ink and wiped off when I spilled brush cleaner or any such liquid - much prefer the green mats with the lines embedded in the mat as I use the lines to square up my work.  On the workbench I have a bottle of water for cleaning water based paint from brushes, a bottle of lacquer thinner for cleaning solvent based paint from brushes and a mess of other things I find useful.

You may be able to see the small 1 1/4 inch by 2 inch glass plates I use for painting figures or small parts which I tack glue to the glass.  I have lots of paint brushes of many sizes and shapes.  There is lots more stuff there but you get the idea.

Welding and machinery shop mostly done

It has been a while since I posted.  I was away at the Narrow Gauge Convention in Seattle/Bellvue.  Nice time but their traffic is the worst I have ever seen.  Upon my return home I developed a bad cold - my first in years, so those are my excuses for not posting for a while.  I have though completed and installed the Welding and Used Machinery Company.  I am still working on the details and scenery around the structure but that could continue for a long time as I think of something else to add.

The siding that serves this industry, as well as several others, is on the other side of the building.  This is installed right at the edge of the layout and there is a dirt road where the truck is sitting that leads off to the right.

Now I am going to have to come up with something else to  build.  Sometimes that is the hard part.

Welding shop progress

The welding and used machinery company is coming along well.  I have built a "basement" which is the welding shop.  The interior of the welding shop is detailed and I installed an electronic welding effect from TMI Digital.  It provides a white intermittent light which serves to light the interior so that the details can be seen.  There is a rudimentary auto body inside which blocks the welding light.  A kneeling figure is behind the auto doing the welding - you can only see his head and the top of his body.  It seems effective to me.

The TMI Digital board is under the structure and you can see part of the electronic board at the top of the above photo.  Below are the three structures that make up this industry; at left is the office part which sits on top of the "basement" welding shop part.  The shed on the right sits next to the side platform of the office.  There will be machinery in the shed.

One reason I have decided to make one function of this industry used machinery is to give me a reason to use some of my many detail parts and have old machinery both in the shed and around the whole structure.  I have quite a few machinery detail parts and will scratchbuild others.

The location for this industry is a hill slope next to a siding at the front of my layout.  It was just a boring grassy slope but I have cut a preliminary opening to install this industry.

This part of the layout sits on top of a bookcase, and you can see part of the top of that bookcase in the hole.  The structure will sit on the bookcase with the top platform at track level and the welding shop door at ground level in the rear.

Vintage Ballast Loader

This is a vintage 1908 ballast loader by Fairbanks Morse.  The machine consisted of two inclined conveyors supported on a framework, with the lower end of the conveyor at the trackside gravel pile and the upper end extending over the ballast car.   Power was supplied by a 6 hp gasoline engine.  The loader structure was mounted on a railcar with a gear so the gasoline engine could move the car.  The overhanging frame supported a revolving shaft with a double crank on each end.  Ropes were connected from each crank to a scoop shovel.

Four shovelers with the assistance of two men could load twelve cars holding 26 yards of gravel each in a 10 hour day.  They claimed it was more cost effective than than using a steam shovel.  This would make an interesting model, most likely as a derelict on a more modern model railroad.

In response to a comment/question (which apparently blogger does not enable me to respond to directly) the photo and information I posted on this unique ballast loader was all the info the catalog had.

Lineside industry now with an identity

I have finished the structure I was working on - sort of.  I have decided it will be a welding and used machinery company.  I always liked watching the Bob Ross painting shows and still watch some reruns since I frequently paint my own Xmas cards.  One saying Bob had as he painted was that as the painting progressed he would see things - to be added into his painting.  I kind of do the same as I build my models since I draw no plans and the model just sort of evolves.  In the case of this model I have decided since it is on a grade off the siding I will add a "basement" which will be the welding shop.  That is in progress.  There will be a road behind the structure at the base of the grade.

It is lots of fun building these structures.  More later.

WW&F Narrow Gauge Railroad visit in August

Following my visit to the North Conway Scenic Railroad, I made another visit to the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington railway just above Portland Maine near the seaside town of Wiscasset.  The WW&F is a
small but neat narrow gauge museum railroad with a dedicated and active group of volunteers including some of my wife's relatives.  On this visit I got to ride the Model T railcar built from Ford model T parts to resemble a railcar once used by the SR&RL RR.  The railcar can hold 5 passengers and the driver.  Trust me it has no springs that amount to anything - I felt every joint in the rail.  When we got to the far end of the railroad I helped the driver crank up the railcar mounted turntable and turn the railcar for the trip back.

That is me doing the cranking.  Not too hard and fun trying.

Following our visit to the WW&F we went down to the town of Wiscasset for lunch then walked down to the seaside where the WW&F folks donated a dairy car for display on the dock area.

On the other side of the car the door is open and there are photos and memorabilia from the WW&F on display.

Off the side of the dock you can still see some of the pilings that used to carry the WW&F tracks over the water alongside the shoreline.

Lineside structure to be named later

I am building a small lineside structure that will be placed on a siding near a much larger industry structure, though there will be no connection between the two.  The ground slopes down from the siding at that point so the structure will be on posts of some sort.  I have not yet decided what this structure will be yet so at this point it is somewhat generic.  I have used commercially prescribed wood oriented vertically for the sides.  The windows and doors are styrene commercial products - the door by Tichy and the windows were in an unlabeled package so do not know the manufacturer.  I cut off pert of the top of each window so they do look different than the original.  One window at the rear of the building has had surgery to make the lower sash partly open.

Front View

Rear View

As you can see the rafters and roof have not yet been added.  As usual I have seriously weathered the siding starting with an A&I wash then streaking the boards with intermittent strokes of an acrylic craft paint named Ivory color.  Immediately after applying a dab of the paint I rubbed it in with the brush taking care to have some board areas not covered by paint.  After that was dry I gave it another A&I wash.  The windows and doors were painted with Floquil primer, then with green acrylic craft paint leaving a few small areas of gray showing.  When dry those got an A&I wash also.  

I decided to show some in-progress photos in case anyone is interested.  From time to time I look at some of the structure builds on the Railroad Line Forum which although they are mostly kits, some of the builders are quite skilled and I pick up ideas from their work which is frequently photographed at each step of the build.  Most of my methods for building models were acquired over the years by building craftsman kits many of which had good instructions with lots of tips.  My favorite manufacturer is South River Modelworks as they actually pattern their kits after real structures as opposed to the manufacturers who just make them up sometimes with strange results.  My major inspiration for my structure models has been a very large collection of old industrial books with vintage photos of industries and other structures.  Just my view of modeling - everyone has their own.

Erie Railroad Jersey City Coaling Station

The photo below is of the Erie Railroad Jersey City Coaling Station circa 1900.  Not sure what the loco was.  The gates were pivoted from the sides of cast iron lip chutes and opened by dropping them under the chute.  They were closed by cutting upward through the material against the open side of a chute, preventing any jamming or breakage.  They closed instantly, even when controlling the flow of lump anthracite.

I always find it interesting that workers of that period always seemed to be well dressed and usually wore hats.  The coal in the tender is quite large lumps.  This coal dock would make a neat model but I will not be building one.

What I am building is a small wooden lineside structure that is supported by posts, as the ground slopes away from the track where the the structure will be located.  I am not really sure at this point what this structure will be but I have cut out the sides as well as door and window openings.  It is a rather simple structure and could be almost anything.  Nothing worth a photo at this point.

North Conway Scenic Railroad

I have been away for a week in the Maine area for a family event.  While there I took time to do some railroad visits.  One visit was to the North Conway Scenic Railroad in New Hampshire.  I have been there in the past.  One thing that has not changed is the insane traffic jam on the main street mid day.  My wife and I rode the lunch train in the dining car - very nice.  It was only an hour round trip at a leisurely pace.  One key feature of this railroad is the unique station featuring a Russian architecture.  Inside the station is the ticket office and a gift shop.

Many years ago I decided to build a model of this station but after it was half built I lost interest as I had no place for it on my layout.  I kept it around for years in case I changed my mind but earlier this year I tore it apart and saved some pieces for possible later use.

Above is the partially finished model.  It had interior detailing.

Below is the turntable and roundhouse.  Notice the grass in the pit.

Below is a trackside view of the station with the train pulling in.  The guys at the lower left were belatedly starting to crank the crossing arm down across the road.

The railroad has several diesel engines and at least one non-funtional steam engine.  They also have a variety of passenger cars the use for the trips, and they also have a variety of freight cars and cabooses in various states of repair.