I just saw the Menard's ad in the lastest issue of MR and the two stall enginehouse caught my eye because it seems to be a close facsimile of John Allen's award winning scratch built enginehouse that was a centerpiece on all three versions of his Gorre and Daphetid railroad. Like John Allen's enginehouse, it has one stall with a through track.
Several years ago, I purchased the FSM version of the enginehouse which also is a close copy. In fact I think George Selios issued two editions of it. I'm not sure which one I have and if they are much different. I have yet to get around to building it. I'm almost tempted to buy the Menard's kit as a temporary place holder until I find the time to build the kit.
John-NYBWLike John Allen's enginehouse, it has one stall with a through track.
-Matt
Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.
Many years ago probably close to fifty Revell models made a great version with scale detail. Haven't seen one in a long time. Those Menards buildings all seem clunky to me and much more for the Christmas trains then scale modeling. Good potential but need a lot of work to look good.
John-NYBW I just saw the Menard's ad in the lastest issue of MR and the two stall enginehouse caught my eye because it seems to be a close facsimile of John Allen's award winning scratch built enginehouse that was a centerpiece on all three versions of his Gorre and Daphetid railroad. Like John Allen's enginehouse, it has one stall with a through track. Several years ago, I purchased the FSM version of the enginehouse which also is a close copy. In fact I think George Selios issued two editions of it. I'm not sure which one I have and if they are much different. I have yet to get around to building it. I'm almost tempted to buy the Menard's kit as a temporary place holder until I find the time to build the kit.
John-NYBW I have yet to get around to building it. I'm almost tempted to buy the Menard's kit as a temporary place holder until I find the time to build the kit.
I think the Menards kit would be a fine stand-in. Much better than an empty space.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
ndbprrMany years ago probably close to fifty Revell models made a great version with scale detail.
Yeah, I remember those, as I tried to buy one, but they were all sold-out at my mid-'50s hobbyshop.Revell later modified the kit as a newspaper printing company, with a simulated "tile" front on the street side of the structure, and no large doors. The sides of the building were the same as the enginehouse version. When I sold my 4'x8' layout, I kept that structure (along with Revell's fuel tank and sandhouse), and later, (after building a house with a basement meant for a train layout) modified the printer structure into an auction house for livestock.
I did replace the tile-front portion with a scratchbuilt entry way for offices, and also some stockpens.
Some photos...
Eventually, I also acquired a run-through enginehouse, made by disassembling my three stall Vollmer roundhouse (there wasn't enough real estate available for it as a roundhouse, so I converted it to a squarehouse....sorta...
The two outer bays are run-throughs, while the centre one dead-ends at an added-on foreman's office....
Wayne
Hi John
My favorite is the Red Owl grocery store Menards sells because I remember them well. Just found out last year they have a survivor of those old stores in Henderson Minnesota. I'm thinking of getting one just to put on the shelf because I like it.
You have a roundhouse kit with the directions just sitting there? The last time I remember building something like that was over 40 years ago. If I had that kit I'd be all over that thing as it sounds like fun.
Maybe pick a couple of rainy days and put that thing together and forget about the Menards one is my recommendation. Otherwise just send it over here and I'll put it together for ya and mail it back to you...
What's even funnier is that I actually would. I finished and weathered a model I got at a train show and mailed it to Kevin once.
Hey Kevin, If you still have a photo, post a picture of that thing to make an old man happy if you would please My last picture disappeared into Oblivion on my phone.
TF
Track fiddlerHey Kevin, If you still have a photo, post a picture of that thing to make an old man happy if you would please.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
Glad to help out.
ndbprr Many years ago probably close to fifty Revell models made a great version with scale detail. Haven't seen one in a long time. Those Menards buildings all seem clunky to me and much more for the Christmas trains then scale modeling. Good potential but need a lot of work to look good.
Some of them are oddly correct. One of my nephews gave me the Arby's for Christmas. There's one pretty major issue: the back third or so where the freezers and such are is missing. That tends to be a rather featureless block cube anyhow.
But the rest of the structure is dead on correct. The dimensions are just a few feet off, not that you'd ever notice. The building being two feet too narrow isn't important. The doors are the right size.
With rather minimal modification, the fast food restaurants in their line are perfectly useful.
Maybe we are thinking of different kits but my recollection is the Revell kit was a brick version. Like the John Allen enginehouse it had one stall with a through track. I had that kit although I don't know what happened to it. I've moved twice since I built it. It had the same sidewalls and windows as the bakery kit. If I remember, it was later produced by other manufacturers.
I've bought two Menard kits, a two story house and a hobby shop. I would prefer they not come with the surrounding perimeter (grass and plants for the house and sidewalk for the hobby shop). I'd prefer to do my own. I thought they were acceptable looking. The strange thing about the hobby shop is it had an external plug in one of the walls for lighting the building. If that was to be used, you would need to hide it. Since I'm not lighting the building, I just butted it up against an adjacent structure to hide it.
Track fiddler Hi John My favorite is the Red Owl grocery store Menards sells because I remember them well. Just found out last year they have a survivor of those old stores in Henderson Minnesota. I'm thinking of getting one just to put on the shelf because I like it. You have a roundhouse kit with the directions just sitting there? The last time I remember building something like that was over 40 years ago. If I had that kit I'd be all over that thing as it sounds like fun. Maybe pick a couple of rainy days and put that thing together and forget about the Menards one is my recommendation. Otherwise just send it over here and I'll put it together for ya and mail it back to you... What's even funnier is that I actually would. I finished and weathered a model I got at a train show and mailed it to Kevin once. Hey Kevin, If you still have a photo, post a picture of that thing to make an old man happy if you would please My last picture disappeared into Oblivion on my phone. TF
Had the Red Owl kit come out a year earlier, I probably would have bought it but I had already got the Woodland Scenics IGA store plus I have Downtown Deco block with a small grocery store. Two grocery stores is all I could justify for the last town on my layout still under construction.
I remember when the FSM kit came out but it was a little too pricey for me at that stage of my life. Later on when I could affort it, it was no longer available. I found one on ebay at least five years ago but my short line is just no reaching its terminus where I plan to put that little enginehouse. It will house a ten wheeler and a doodlebug. I did open the box up a couple years ago just to take stock of what I had. I noticed the wood walls are quite brittle as a result of drying out. I will have to handle with care and probably have to put more wall bracing on it then the kit calls for.
One of the things I would like to do is build it to look as close to the original as possible. The problem is finding color photos of John Allen's enginehouse. I could only find one and the enginehouse is in the background and it's hard to tell just what color it really is. I browsed the instructions and they recommend the walls be unpainted and aged and if I remember right, the trim was red/brown. I don't know if that is based on the original or not. There is one noticeable difference. The enginehouse doors on the original had round arches whereas the FSM kit has angled arches. I've thought about modifying it to look like the original but the hard part will be cutting the round trim around the arch.
It's been a long time since I built a craftsman wood kit and I want to practice on something a little less substantial before taking this one on. This is going to be near the front of the layout and I want it to be a showpiece.
If you really want to build one, I found this listing on ebay.
HO SCALE - FIne Scale Miniature - Engine House - Kit #35 - New In Box | eBay
$95 is a heck of a good price. I know I paid more for mine when I bought it. I can't remember the original price for certain but I think it was in the $150-200 range and that was in 1980s dollars. Probably $400-600 in today's dollars.
doctorwayne ndbprr Many years ago probably close to fifty Revell models made a great version with scale detail. Yeah, I remember those, as I tried to buy one, but they were all sold-out at my mid-'50s hobbyshop.Revell later modified the kit as a newspaper printing company, with a simulated "tile" front on the street side of the structure, and no large doors. The sides of the building were the same as the enginehouse version.
ndbprr Many years ago probably close to fifty Revell models made a great version with scale detail.
Yeah, I remember those, as I tried to buy one, but they were all sold-out at my mid-'50s hobbyshop.Revell later modified the kit as a newspaper printing company, with a simulated "tile" front on the street side of the structure, and no large doors. The sides of the building were the same as the enginehouse version.
Now that you mention it, I do remember the kit being modified as a newspaper office in addition to the bakery. What I remember about the bakery kit is the brick walls were all blue.
Vintage (1961) "Superior Bakery" (HO) Plastic Building Kit, by Revell (#T-9037) | eBay
I found this photo of the enginehouse. I'd forgotten it had the side bumpout.
s-l640.jpg (640×480) (ebayimg.com)
Here's the newspaper building
Vintage Revell T-9038:398 HO Scale Weekly Herald Building Kit Unassembled | eBay
PS. I always enjoy seeing pictures of your layout, Wayne. I wish I had your skills as a modeler. Most of the stuff I build falls in the "good enough" category. Your stuff all looks top drawer.
John-NYBWNow that you mention it, I do remember the kit being modified as a newspaper office in addition to the bakery. What I remember about the bakery kit is the brick walls were all blue. Vintage (1961) "Superior Bakery" (HO) Plastic Building Kit, by Revell (#T-9037) | eBay
I appreciate your comments, John, but I'm also in the "good enough" camp (otherwise, I'd never get anything done).
doctorwayne I appreciate your comments, John, but I'm also in the "good enough" camp (otherwise, I'd never get anything done). Wayne
OK, but your good enough is better than my good enough.
John-NYBW doctorwayne I appreciate your comments, John, but I'm also in the "good enough" camp (otherwise, I'd never get anything done). Wayne OK, but your good enough is better than my good enough.
Rich
Alton Junction
NittanyLion Some of them are oddly correct. One of my nephews gave me the Arby's for Christmas. There's one pretty major issue: the back third or so where the freezers and such are is missing. That tends to be a rather featureless block cube anyhow. But the rest of the structure is dead on correct. The dimensions are just a few feet off, not that you'd ever notice. The building being two feet too narrow isn't important. The doors are the right size. With rather minimal modification, the fast food restaurants in their line are perfectly useful.
-Fritz Milhaupt, Publications Editor, Pere Marquette Historical Society, Inc.http://www.pmhistsoc.org
I happened across a great price on the Menard's Pepsi plant.
While I know the dimmensions are off, it's compact enough to fit a smaller layout.
The trade off on lack of size was acceptable to me.
I figure on spotting my Coca Cola refridgerated car at it and seeing if anyone notices...
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
I came across this very old article reporting John Allen's enginehouse winning the top prize for structures.
You probably need to enlarge it to read it. I don't know whether it is from MR, RMC, or some other publication but knowing the history of it, I'm going to say it is from the late 1940s. I was surprised to see them describe John Allen as a newcomer but I guess he would have been back then.
I went back in the MR archives and found the July 1948 issue and yes, the Enginehouse was featured on page 469
Add me to the mob that had a 2 stall Revel enginehouse during the mid/late '70s, back when I was a meddling kid. The one I had came with an (ahem) automatic door opening mechanism (IIRC a plastic pressure plate which thru the magic of oddly bent springs would open the doors when a locomotive approached...to a degree less than fully open), which I eventually tossed as it was more trouble than it was worth. Eventually I positioned the enginehouse so a branch line ran thru it and so I could run my AHM GP20 at high speed thru it - as the gods meant it to be - on the way to the Tyco freight station. The small attached workshop (which I think had a smokestack) instead was repurposed as a 'district' office, with banks of quasi-IBM 360 tape-drives (small rectangles of wood painted with Testors silver paint, and construction paper and felt tip pens added to model the lights and tape reels - admittedly it rival Thunderbirds for accuracy, which is not saying much). I did try to save the little jib crane that came with (which I kept in the parts box for near 4 decades) but alas the globs of Testors tube cement prevented that...
crossthedogthe newspaper office (same structure) is right next door in the photo on the cover of the bakery box.
I was going to ask if the enginehouse had the automatic opening doors because I vaguely remember it. If I installed that, I think I quickly discarded it because I don't remember ever operating it that way. I would have bought mine in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
I have what I believe is a Model Power kit of an engine house. It's two stalls, with one of them open in the back, but I just extended that track a bit and dead-ended it. I learned a lot from that kit. I sort-of detailed the interior, and use it as my trolley barn.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Walthers -HO-#3007 2-Stall Enginehouse - Kit 616374006854 | eBay
This is the Walthers two stall engine house. It also has one through track. Was this a common arrangement or did John Allen create a de facto standard for two stall engine houses that kit manufacturers elected to copy. I know of at least 3 plastic versions of two stall engine houses that have used this arrangement in addition to the FSM craftsman version which was marketed as a tribute to John Allen. George Selios made it clear in the first Allen Keller video of the F&SM that he was a big fan of John Allen.
chutton01Eventually I positioned the enginehouse so a branch line ran thru it and so I could run my AHM GP20 at high speed thru it - as the gods meant it to be - on the way to the Tyco freight station.
In the early 60s Revell offered a line of 1961 Chrysler cars, either as assembled single vehicles or as a kit with six cars...a Valiant station wagon, a Dodge Lancer (The Dodge version of the Valiant),Plymouth station wagon, Dodge sedan, Imperial sedan, Chrysler convertible. Plus extra details and decals. ConCor reissued the auto kit-along with other former Revell HO structure kits like the bakery and the newspaper plant-in the early 80s. By that time the dies for the autos kit were not in good shape and the vehicles had issues with a lot of flash and warping.
What I remember about the revell kits were the people included. very realistic. still have them unused and unpainted
No, I don't have one of those Revell engine house kits to try some high speed loops through, but that sounds like fun :-) Speaking of that classic engine house, a reader pointed out that the new brick millworks from Walthers ( https://30squaresofontario.blogspot.com/2022/08/an-heir-apparent-to-revells-engine-house.html ) was somewhat similar to Revell's engine house. I was surprised to see Walthers appears to have based their brick millworks on a similar engine house kit. It seems like a case of everything old is new again - kitbashing it into a bakery or newspaper office would complete the circle :-)
One last thing, I do blabber on about old kits. Some thoughts on AHM ones as they relate to E. L. Moore can be found here: https://30squaresofontario.blogspot.com/search/label/AHM
http://www.30squaresofontario.blogspot.ca/
It appears to me that Walthers just retooled their own 2 stall engine house which I have on my layout. It's very similar to the Revell engine house in that it had one through stall and one stub end stall but it seems all the enginehouses discussed in this thread are based on the scratch built award winning wood enginehouse by John Allen.
Walthers sometime sells kits that were formerly made by another manufacturer. I have one Cornerstone kit with the Heljan name still embossed on the bottom of the foundation. That's not what they did with this kit however. If you look at the side wall, the Revell kit had three sections and the Walthers kit has four. I had the Revell kit on my previous layout and it was shorter than the Walthers enginehouse.
John-NYBW I have one Cornerstone kit with the Heljan name still embossed on the bottom of the foundation.
I think when Walthers started the Cornerstone line they had Heljan (and maybe others) do the casting for them. They might have put their names on the pieces.
On my Blast Furnace, there is another name on the plastic sprues, but I cannot remember who it is.