N scale modelling inspiration and resources
I first spotted this interesting bridge a few years back when Google Map exploring the railroads and industrial spurs around Savannah, Georgia.
Something about the control tower and massive counter-weight structure appealed to me and I have always thought it would make an excellent North American river crossing module and scratchbuilding project.
I’ve also wanted to do a post about it for ages…
Continue reading “Bridge Over The Savannah River (Savannah, Georgia)”The town of Mount Joy in Pennsylvania, USA has been on my must research list ever since I found this photograph of the Wenger Feed Mill:
Wenger Feed Mill by Jim Epler – Own work, CC BY 2.0, View Image
You might think that’s strange because a closer look at the picture reveals there isn’t actually any track in the picture. While that observation is true, it’s still a very interesting and attractive jumble of buildings which would make a very nice scratch-building or kit-bashing project.
I don’t have a photo to show it but the facility is still rail served, it’s just that railcars are currently loaded/unloaded on the other (north) side of the facility. However there’s no reason why we couldn’t apply a little modellers license, add some track and create the option to model tracks on both sides of the facility.
There’s also something else not visible in the photo above that makes this location somewhat rare and interesting, at least in terms of US operations…
Continue reading “Grain Silos & Feed Mills In Mount Joy, Pennsylvania”Grain silos are a common sight alongside railroads in agricultural areas and seaports in the United States and Canada.
Nebraska Grain Silo RAAM 2015 by D Ramey Logan – Own work, CC BY 4.0, View Image
Many of these silo complexes have evolved and expanded over time resulting in an interesting combination of different building materials and styles. As such they have the potential to make a fascinating scratch-building projects.
You’ll often find photographs of the whole complex but sometimes photographs of small details can provide inspiration for a project so I thought I’d share a few interesting photographs that I’ve discovered on the Internet…
Continue reading “Grain Silos: Useful Reference Photos”Here is an interesting photograph of a swing bridge over the Fox River in Appleton, WI.
Appleton, WI Swing Bridge by Unknown, CC0, View Image
It looks a bit rusted but those modern relay cabinets on the bridge deck made me think it might still be in use. A quick search revealed that it is an active bridge on a short Canadian National line. It’s not a mainline, so trains using the bridge will be shorter locals that are serving industries further east…
Continue reading “Interesting Ideas For A Module #3”If you’ve visited the site before you may have noticed one of the background images is a fairly typical North American rural grade crossing.
It’s another example of a photograph I found on the public-domain photo sharing website Pixabay. I choose to use it not only because it’s a particularly nice photograph but because it also reminds me of a similar crossing, although perhaps not quite so photogenic, that I stumbled across whilst out for a drive in Tennessee.
I’d always thought a simple grade-crossing scene like this could make a great module to watch-the-trains-go-by.
Happy New Year.
It’s been a while since my last post and I thought I should get on and finish the post I started many months ago about a local model railway society exhibition I attended back in November 2017.
This annual show is organised by Letchworth Model Railway Society and usually has a really interesting mixture of trade stands and layouts in a range of scales, so it’s well worth a visit if you’re in the area.