Since you grew up in the area, other than churches and pizza places, what are the iconic things I need to include as background?
Hey Ed...sorry for delay in reply. had to process my experience of those locations and think in terms of your era.
small town Schuylkill County and surrounding area:
lots of churches (as you note) with a ratio of 3 barrooms for every church
churches are still to some degree ethnic in makeup and run the spectrum of western and eastern european and various eastern orthodox, as well
the location of each church is in a neighborhood that was earlier also with ethnic makeup
thus the pizza joints along with smattering of pa dutch and polish (especially in terms of ma & pa shops and restuarant)
it is, afterall, the home of yuengling, mrs. t, anthracite coal (though less and less since the '50s), and lots of mills (mostly clothing, plastic production, concrete architectural/building materials)
so lots of brick and mostly non victorian in design
each town had its share of muscle cars (dating back to the 60s), mostly chevy, ford, and mopar continuing into the more recent years, "foreign" cars were shunned to a large degree
fire companies were many, 3 to 4 per town (even the smallest towns) volunteer oriented with lots of pride in their equipment
the most noticeable visual was the "not worth using" coal banks that lined both highways and back roads
these blotches of black were visually interesting and drew the eye to them, especially in winter months, for the white birch trees that seemed to be the only thing that could/would grow in them, the light bark color standing out against the black backdrop
while each town had a new addition/development that boasted more elaborate and expensive housing and white collar life, these were not visible from railroad mainline
housing was very low to central middle class with many of the company houses still being occupied (but with additions and some updates added but still looking appalachian coal region)
the neighborhoods that lined both sides of the railroad were mostly residential but a downtown shopping and/or business section could be within a block or two of distance (exceptions would be shamokin area where tracks still run down the middle of the downtown area)
while there was a fair share of farming, i do not recall any agriculture near or visible from the railroads
there was also a distinct contrast between one side of the railroad neighborhood and the other side
those towns still have a sense of being from the right or wrong side of the tracks, not that the social class differed to large degree, just a more worn and torn sense to the buildings on the "wrong" side
downtown areas were deteriorating as businesses and shopping made its way from in town to the strip mall or mall outside of town and away from railroad (the exception here was the cressona area where a strip mall continues to this day)
i hope this gives you some sense of that area and will be helpful in your modeling
i know you will capture it and your model railroad will continue to reveal your skill and ability of modeling
thanks for your modeling and the sharing here which provides wonderful resources for other modelers
sincerely
G
