Best Of Your favorite, less common, city buildings.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

My new plan means I'm going to be including more of York on the Windsor St extension. This is great, but also means I'm going to need to fill a few blocks with good city buildings.

York isn't a major city, so most structures aren't too tall. No skyscrapers, etc...

But here's the challenge: I don't want it to look like a walthers photo shoot. Nothing tends to ruin my immersion in a layout like seeing the exact same buildings that are on every other layout.

So, what are some of the more obscure city buildings that I might not be aware of?

[Dave V]

[mu26aeh]

So I'm guessing you are asking for kits/structures that are out there that you and others may not know about ?

In meantime, I found some websites showing around York, PA in case your or others are wondering what to look for.

http://www.trainweb.org/rrofyork/photo.htm

http://www.railfanguides.us/pa/york/index.htm

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yep.

And Dave, I think I almost have to include Paddy's.

[Dave V]

Yep.

And Dave, I think I almost have to include Paddy's.

And next door, a theatre playing "The Dayman Cometh."   

[mu26aeh]

Looking thru MBK since you can see pictures of all buildings on their site without clicking on each manufacturer, I think any of these would give a feel of that area of York.

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/RS-Laser-Kits-N-3057-Courter-Factory-Kit-p/rsl-3057.htm

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Lunde-Studios-N-6-Midas-Trust-Kit-p/lun-6.htm

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Downtown-Deco-N-The-Boobie-Hatch-Kit-p/dtd-2019.htm  (There's some seedy parts of town the railroad runs thru  )

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/DPM-N-51600-Wilhelmi-Mercantile-Kit-p/dpm-51600.htm

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Tomix-N-Warehouse-A-Kit-p/tmx-256298.htm

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/GC-Laser-N-Lindsay-Bros-Front-Entry-Backdrop-Kit-p/gcl-090251.htm

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Walthers-N-Parkview-Terrace-Tenement-Kit-p/933-3263.htm

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Atlas-N-Building-Kit-p/atl-2870.htm

www.modeltrainstuff.com/Walthers-N-933-3233-Vulcan-Manufacturing-Co-Kit-p/933-3233.htm

[Ed Kapuscinski]

And next door, a theatre playing "The Dayman Cometh."   

Most def.

But seriously, I'm looking for buildings. Stuff that you don't see on every layout, like this:
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/TMX-260752-N-3-Story-Office-Building-Kit-p/tmx-260752.htm
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/RS-Laser-Kits-N-24-7-Deli-Kit-p/rsl-3014.htm
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Custom-Model-Railroads-N-ACME-Corporation-Kit-p/cmr-n-071.htm

[mu26aeh]

And one more for good measure

www.modeltrainstuff.com/Woodland-Scenics-N-Sicken-Tire-Company-Kit-p/woo-pf5204.htm

Honestly, I think a lot of Downtown Deco, Woodland Scenics, and DPM buildings would look good for York.  Think anything brick

[Dave V]

You saw these, right?

http://www.shapeways.com/designer/arqtectdesigner?li=pb

Then there are the old IHC buildings:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=colonial&_sac=1&_osacat=19119&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xihc.TRS0&_nkw=ihc&_sacat=19119

[Ed Kapuscinski]

And one more for good measure

www.modeltrainstuff.com/Woodland-Scenics-N-Sicken-Tire-Company-Kit-p/woo-pf5204.htm

Honestly, I think a lot of Downtown Deco, Woodland Scenics, and DPM buildings would look good for York.  Think anything brick

I've thought about the WS stuff, but from what I've seen, they just don't hold up to decent inspection. Lots of stuff doesn't make sense (I forget the exact details, but DKS had a huge list of things).

That's the thing that kills me. The DPM stuff is pretty appropriate, but I've got two problems with it:
1. It's about 50 years too modern of architecture for York. A lot of York is late colonial and 19th century in nature. The DPM stuff is late 19th and 20th century. It's subtle, but it'd bug me.
2. It's on every single layout. It's weird, I know, but having have worked in a hobby shop, and being in this stuff for so long, when I see a DPM building on a layout, my brain doesn't see "Surkowsky Sausage Mart", it sees "that's DPM 51600 again". It actually kinda sucks and makes this much more difficult than it should be!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

You saw these, right?

http://www.shapeways.com/designer/arqtectdesigner?li=pb

Then there are the old IHC buildings:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=colonial&_sac=1&_osacat=19119&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xihc.TRS0&_nkw=ihc&_sacat=19119

Oh man, I love those IHC buildings. My dad has a TON of them. And while they were once rather ubiquitous, they're much less common now. I'm actually working on building up my stockpile of them now...

And yeah, those Shapeways ones are exactly what I'm talking about. Those are KILLER. I'm adding them to the list.

[Bob Bufkin]

Ed check around the show this weekend.  You can generally find something different there. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Speaking of Shapeways... Kwik-e-mart!
https://www.shapeways.com/product/ZL5GCJM6E/kwik-e-mart-n-scale?li=search-results-7&optionId=58999430

[Dave V]

Speaking of Shapeways... Kwik-e-mart!
https://www.shapeways.com/product/ZL5GCJM6E/kwik-e-mart-n-scale?li=search-results-7&optionId=58999430

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Do you have any history on York? Small cities and towns were only brick if they burned to the ground.