Old West buildings?

[Anonymous]

In HO Gage...

Can anyone tell me where to get "old western town" buildings, circa 1870 or so.

I'm building a Christmas/Winter layout with snow cover which goes from the far northern California mountains to the Pacific Ocean, complete with a fishing village and lighthouse (I built from scratch). Now I need a foot-hills town with general store, etc. (I have the train station, water tower, etc.). Now I need the rest of the town!!

The trains are all 4-4-0's. I've created my own HO Santa and sleigh (usingt a 6 diopter magnifier...gees!), toys, stuffed bears, etc. and they all look pretty real, if I do say so myself. The trains are all decked out for Christmas too.

Now I need a town for Santa's train to pull into! I don't reli***he thought of having to scratch-build the town as well.

I'm into extreme realism. Any thoughts out there? Most buildings kits are either too new (early 1920-1930 etc.) or too "big city" like New York, Chicago or San Francisco.

I've checked Walthers and other on-line dealers and various stores to no avail. It seems as though the 4-4-0's and the Old West are passe!

John Canino

[snowey]

in the Dec. 2000 and Jan. 2001 issues of MODEL RAILROADER, they built a layout set in the old west. Try looking in those issues and see if they say where they got their buildings from.
Also, I've seen an ad in the classified section of MODEL RAILROADER a lot, about someone who sells buildings from circa 1870, in HO scale.

[Anonymous]

if you cant find what you want, build it yourself. i think thats half the fun of the hobby.

[Jetrock]

Woodland Scenics has a nice line of small HO-scale buildings with an Old West theme. They're a bit on the small side (a plus for small layouts) but have a lot of charm, are fairly easy to build if you have a little model-building experience, and look good. Plus, they sell for $10-15 each (and some are sets of two buildings) so you can put up a town without breaking the bank.

[dknelson]

Kibri had some old west buildings at one time -- have not checked the latest catalog.
Dave Nelson

[jrbarney]

John,
You may also want to check out the "Old Town" former Ayres/Suydam kits at Alpine Division Scale Models:
http://www.alpinemodels.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=ADSM&Category_Code=110
And also, the wild west structure plans at Wild West:
http://www.wildweststructures.com
Their signs are a bit hokey so you might want to look for better signs at Clover House:
http://www.cloverhouse.com
or elsewhere.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[dehusman]

www.musketminiatures.com

[Anonymous]

Thanks to all. I'll check all of these out and post pictures when it's all done.

John C.