New to my site is a 24' x 36' HO Scale Pennsy mainline layout, just finished last year. This layout represents about 20 miles of 4 track operation along the Middle Division in the late 40's, and includes Mifflin and Lewistown stations and several unique features along the Juniata river route.
Mifflin
A replica of the Mifflin Depot sits along the main flanked by a lumber yard and grain co-op, industries that are still thriving to this day.
Denholm
8 miles from Mifflin stood the Denholm Coal Wharf, a 12 track, run-through, engine fueling facility, hoppers filled with coal, water, and sand. Fires were cleaned and chassis were inspected and lubed. At the height of operation in the 30's, a loco was serviced in 3 minutes. Nothing but the stone abutments remains of this structure today.
The model was built with modified Atlas truss bridges and various styrene shapes from photos.
Lewistown
The largest town on the line was Lewistown where branch lines connected the towns of Burnham and Milroy. At Lewistown a separate yard was used to hold the freight and included a 3 stall roundhouse and fuel facility. The depot at Lewistown is the oldest surviving passenger station in continuous service since the 1850's. Amtrak still stops twice a day here. This model is scratch built of styrene. The Lewistown Jct. Lunch is a JL Innovative kit that represents the commercial district near the depot.
Granville
Just west of Lewiston, the Pennsy crosses the Juniata River at Granville. Similar in structure to all the mainline stone arch bridges, the Granville was skewed with seven 70' arches. Piers from the earlier 2 track bridges(ca. 1890) still stand in the shallow waters next to the main line. The model was fabricated from a carved plaster master, molded then recast in sections in foam resin, and is over 5 1/2' long.
Burnham
A single track mainline ran north from the yard at Lewistown to the industrial city called Burnham. A major industry is Standard Steel, a supplier of steel wheels for railroad cars.
On the right, above, the quarry mines Gannister, a mineral used in the making of Firebrick at kilns at Hawstone and Mt. Union, a small but important industry along the Pennsylvania RR.
Sawmill:
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| This Fine Scale Miniatures sawmill kit sat in the clients closet for 25 years. I added a lot of additional castings, logs, lumber, lights, and figures, I think he was happier with the finished diorama than a faded yellow box of stripwood.
St. Louis Station:
One of my first projects with RAILDREAMS was to design and build an HO model of St. Louis Union Station, an unusual 19th century stone structure that extended 6 blocks and spanned 30 tracks. Fortunately the client only wanted a representation to fill a 2 1/2'x 8' space. In short, common walls were mastered in styrene, molded in RTV silicone and recast in plaster then carved to shape.
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| St. louis Station from the 18th St. side featuring the distinctive porte cochere exit. |
At 6 1/2 feet the train shed is limited to 3/4 of the actual length. Each truss was hand built of styrene strips and laced together crossways with piano wire. What a chore...but very strong. |
The long wide plaza at tracks end was known as Midway and features food vendors and souvenir shops. |
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FSM Pile Driver:
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Another example of George Selios' genius... The FSM Pile Driver. I've built two and discovered they get easier the second time around.
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AMB Farmhouse Kitbash:
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A West Virginia layout required a number of company houses. Starting with American model Builders farmhouse, I shortened the fronts and reworked the porches and roofs. In the third example, I combined two kits to create an old hotel. To view an article on this kitbash, see Railroad Model Craftsman, Novermber 2001.
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Cityscape Kitbash:
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| | Plastic kits are perhaps the easiest structures to build and sometimes it becomes necessary to maximize your modeling dollar. These large factory buildings are only 3 or 4 inches deep. The walls were opened up and extended across the front to create a complex cityscape for the client. You may recognize them from your own layout.
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SS Ltd. Jennings Lumber:
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| Recently I was given the opportunity to build SS Ltd. Jennings lumber, a kit I've always wanted to try since the late 70's. Highly complex as far as craftsmen kits go, it is assembled literally board for board. Once built, it looked abandoned, so I filled it with inventory using balsa sheets, stripwood, and homemade castings of sacked and rolled goods. MR Oct 1982 has an article on making easy stacks of lumber with balsa.
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Greenbrier & Elk Railroad:
This layout, owned by a client in Pennsylvania, was my first completed HO layout ever. As a subcontractor for RAILDREAMS, I was given free rein to fit it in a 12x20 space along 3 walls. It took roughly 6 months, start to finish and was delivered in November 2001.
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| High mountain logging...That's standard guage on the trestle and narrow guage along the ridgetop. |
Cass, West Virginia.....The mill complex module is over eight feet long and features all the structures as they appeared in the 1940's. |
The millpond on the other end of the module. Narrow gauge logging meets C&O mainline. |
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| The Glady Fork mine on the C&O main is a beautiful BT.S. craftsman kit modified to a two track tipple.. |
On the other side of the layout, Greenbrier Jct. is nestled in another valley. It features DPM, Campbell, Sierra West and AMB Structures. |
An overview of part of the layout shows a curved stone arch bridge fabricated from A.I.M. tunnel portals. The Cass mill is to the right of the mountain. |
Others:
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| Campbell kits have always been some of the most clever and affordable "craftsman models" available. Here is Ayer's Chairs. |
These two KLM Models yarders were built for a client who is into HOn3 Logging. By changing roof, tanks and details, each became distinctive. |
Another Sierra West kit, a rather odd shaped building, Scotia Supply also found a home in W. Va. The adjacent fenced shed was scratchbuilt and filled with building supplies. |
A client wanted a model of a ore dock with a concrete sub-structure. Using Walthers dock as a basis, I mastered parts and cast plaster for the"concrete" supports that are compatable with the bins from the Walther kit,any length, either 2 or 4 track wide.
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