Factory examples

This photo shows an example of the general type of factory building I will be modeling.  The photo shows the Chicago factory of the N K Fairbank company with a nice view of the adjoining rail yard.  The fairbanks company manufactured soap among other things though I do not know what was manufactured in this particular factory.  This photo is from the 1890's.

There is an elevated "fence" along the right side between the rail tracks and the factory.  It looks to me like it was a string of billboards facing the factory.  It was common in those days to have strings of billboards blocking views they did not want to see and it also gained some advertising revenue.  There appears to be a track gang working just below the bridge where the photographer took the photo from.   I suspect this is all gone now.

My model factory will be crammed into an area about a scale 62 square feet with layout room walls on two sides (so it supposedly goes on further).  Construction is under way.