The Very Last White River and Northern Railroad

[DKS]

Wow, Dave, I feel like I've already driven over that bridge somewhere back East at some point.  That looks perfectly on-point.

Thank you! The value of modeling the mundane. And also of modeling non-RR stuff.

[CRL]

Personally, I find this little bridge to be more impressive than most huge “showcase” bridges found on many layouts.

You’ll still need to add some rust weathering due to all the drooling from anyone who see this.

[Chris333]

then masked it with tubing so the edges wouldn't be sharp, and lightly sprayed it with ruddy metal primer.

Brilliant!

[glakedylan]

bridge looks marvelous! (Billy Crystal voice)
very nice work DKS. impressive as always


sincerely
Gary

[DKS]

After fully embracing the tourist train theme, I've made a couple more changes to the layout. (Yes, I know that comes as a huge surprise.)

First, I added a station just for the Mountain Vista Railroad, so that the tourist line didn't have to use the Boston & Maine Augustine station, awkwardly located across two tracks. It will simply be an Athearn Overton combine on a foundation with a platform. Inspiration came from the Black River & Western, which used a combine as their Flemington station for a number of years.



Also, after I added the kiddie train ride, it occurred to me that I could also include the "World's Smallest Model Train," which would be displayed inside a small building within the kiddie ride loop. This is actually an N Scale layout modeled in Z Scale, a holdover from the James River Branch. Now, since neither N nor Z existed in this layout's era, it would then become a "gimmick," not unlike the model layout itself: it's not a functioning train, but instead just blobs of plastic on a hidden motorized loop. Very meta. All I need to do now is make a little building in which to display it.

[davefoxx]

I'm so glad that you still have this!  I was lucky enough to see the James River Branch at Timonium just days before its untimely demise.  I didn't know what, if anything, was salvaged from the layout.

DFF

[DKS]

Today has been devoted to Ed's Dirty Dog. It was a long road to arrive at Ed's. It had a number of various starting points, including Blair Line's Fred and Red's Cafe (below left), which I ultimately rejected as being a bit too inner-city. Then it was going to be a converted trailer. When I found the Showcase Miniatures kit #124, Bud's Red Hots (below right), I thought I'd found the answer.

   

Then the hurricane hit, and a lot of things changed. I decided to use the office for Haber Coal, which itself had a long history. It was originally going to be Branchline Laser-Art #891 Dan's Welding (below left), but after two tries and a lot of modification, I still wasn't getting anything satisfactory. So, I switched to JL Innovative Design #260 East Junction Section House (below right).

   

I was at the point of finishing the roof on the former coal yard office when I became dissatisfied with it as well, mostly because the reference images I found were much closer to what I had in mind. The more I studied Smokin' Bowls, the more I thought I should just scratchbuild it, which I ultimately started to do today. Smokin' Bowls in Bellows Falls, Vermont, is about what I had in mind for Ed's all along. This is classified as a "food truck" since the structure is really a trailer (you can see the wheels in the first image below).









After gathering all of the materials, I cut the wall and roof parts to size, and began assembly. Notice that I kept the signs from the Blair Line kit, as well as the interior details from the Showcase Miniatures kit. I lined the interior walls with aluminum foil, which accomplished two things: it created an appropriate stainless steel surface, and it also made the structure light-tight.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Hot dog!

If you need a logo for the sign, it'd be tough to go wrong with this:
https://www.pngegg.com/en/png-nfmnm

[Point353]

Today has been devoted to Ed's Dirty Dog. When I found the Showcase Miniatures kit #124, Bud's Red Hots (below right), I thought I'd found the answer.

   

Will the EAT sign be a (simulated) illuminated neon sign - with the intermittent flickering effect?
And, maybe, a wooden a-frame sign outside reading "Today's special: Bacon bombs".

[DKS]

Will the EAT sign be a (simulated) illuminated neon sign - with the intermittent flickering effect?
And, maybe, a wooden a-frame sign outside reading "Today's special: Bacon bombs".

EAT sign is plain wood. (Neon for a roadside dog shack is a bit overkill, IMO.) I do like the idea about the bacon bomb sign.

[DKS]

Hot dog!

If you need a logo for the sign, it'd be tough to go wrong with this:
https://www.pngegg.com/en/png-nfmnm

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Love it!!

[Dave V]

[Ed Kapuscinski]

You were down at Eds Dirty Dog eating wieners with your pals the other day....

[davefoxx]

Shouldn't that be "Ed's Dirty Dogs"?  Where's Darcy?

DFF