Commercial Highway Structures & Modeling

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

Well I got such a good response with my rails to trails question that I wanted to try another one.

I am really into roadside things (diners, drive ins, etc.) and I am trying to figure out the best methods for putting these next to a rail line.

Any suggestions? Any ideas on the best models? I just got the Walther's Arnold's Drive in and I will probably be getting the City Classics Route 22 Diner. (If you cant tell I like structures more than most other parts. That of course being because I am a historic preservationist.)

Thanks,
Aaron
Nantucket, MA

[lupo]

[#welcome]
nice to have you aboard !
you could take a look at:
http://www.horailroad.com/fsm/fsmlayout0.html
great trackside scenery and at the finescale miniatures has some very nice kits.
another:
http://www.barmillsmodels.com/
or look at all the links in this site from
http://www.valleymodeltrains.com/index.html
they have a great selection of scenery kits

[Anonymous]

Diners, drive-ins, and so on are all automobile oriented. It is most likely that the back of these structures would be towards the railway's right-of-way. If you want to showcase some nice structures, put them at the front of the layout, and run the tracks behind. You can also put the rails at the front, and show the back of the structures. This would give you an opportunity to superdetail the stuff behind the structure - dumpsters, garbage cans, debris, delivery area, service entrance, or whatever is appropriate to the era and structure you are modelling.

Here are a few links to add to the ones from LUPO.

http://www.gothamcitysub.com/pages/home.htm

http://www.downtowndeco.com/index.htm

Andrew

[Eriediamond]

Ok acorn, I'm going to give this a shot. Not knowing what you mean by "method" I'll do the best I can with what I think you mean. The drive in I would think should be located as part of a town at the edge of it bacause of the parking needed. The diner could be located on a hwy parallel or near the tracks and of coarse, so located that the viewer sees the front unless you want to look at garbage cans. Also, please leave enough parking for semi trucks, I may want to stop in there sometime. Having your diner located outside of town or on an open stretch of hwy offers another reason for another structure. A "mom&pop" motel comes to mind and a gas station with a diesel pump. I may need to fuel up after getting a good nights rest and a good breakfast of eggs, country ham, grits, and a couple cups of 40w.[dinner][dinner][dinner][(-D][(-D][(-D] Hope this gives you some ideas.

[Jetrock]

eriediamond makes a good point--if your railroad is predominantly rural, a road parallel to the railroad would be an appropriate place for a diner to be placed--in that way it would be on a tangent to the track, at least partially visible to the viewer, rather than behind it (of course, one could always place it IN BETWEEN the viewer and the railroad to get a full view of the front.)

Many such diners were built from old streetcars or passenger cars--need a new home for that permanently scrapped heavyweight coach?? It'd save you the trouble of buying a building kit...

One note--consider having a diner near sidings or industries. Workers often enjoy having a lunch spot near their place of employ, as do train crews--on the Central California Traction, crews often paid local kids a dollar to "guard" their trains while they got a quick lunch at a trackside beanery. Such places can provide visual interest as well as unexpected complexities to those trying to keep a tight schedule!

[Eriediamond]

Great point, jetrock. Man, times have changed, a dime use to get trains guarded. But then you could get a cup of coffee and a big chunk of pie for a quarter. A nickle for the coffee, a dime for the pie, and a dime tip for the waitress. Oops, just gave away my age!!!!!![(-D][(-D] Might note that even when those shiney stainless steel diners stared appearing, they were built to look like streamline passenger cars.