I always wondered if toy train layouts are a little too crowded downtown to be realistic. It seems people are everywhere. Same thing in old movies. Then yesterday I was walking through the local mall and realized....Geez, it seems this area is just as dense as all those old time movies. I grew up in small towns in 1967-1974.
My question for you all is....were the small downtowns really crowded with people back then. Were they hot beds of activity unlike the sleepy downtowns we see today?
Jim H
Jim, I grew up in a small town, population 8,500, and on some days it was jammed. However, due to "tradition", on Wednesday afternoons many of the shops around the court house square were closed. The court house was even closed on Wednesday afternoons!!!
Now this will be a surprise to many. When the county fair was held, the court house square was where all the rides and carnival booths were located. Each day parades were held that traveled on three sides of the court house square.
So if you are trying to model a small town with a town square, (Laz has one.) just about anything is appropriate from empty to jammed with a carnival.
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
I grew up in the 50s & our small town Main street on Friday nights, was wall to wall people !! That was before malls & you parked in front of the stores, if you found a spot ! Though we rode the bus till I was a teenager & that's when we got a car & TV , too !! Yes, there were people everywhere then !! Took a bath every Satuday night without fail, too !!
Thanks, John
You mean like this????
West side of downtown square, Waxahachie, ca.1938
Downtown square looking southeast along Franklin St. View is of east/south side of square during election, circa 1915
Kurt
Buckeye Riveter wrote: Jim, I grew up in a small town, population 8,500, and on some days it was jammed. However, due to "tradition", on Wednesday afternoons many of the shops around the court house square were closed. The court house was even closed on Wednesday afternoons!!!Now this will be a surprise to many. When the county fair was held, the court house square was where all the rides and carnival booths were located. Each day parades were held that traveled on three sides of the court house square. So if you are trying to model a small town with a town square, (Laz has one.) just about anything is appropriate from empty to jammed with a carnival.
JIM, as BUCKEYE said here is my town square...
laz57
Don U. TCA 73-5735
Use to window shop about once a month when I was growing up then walk to and fro town, parents never owned a car. After that went to cemetary and visit graves then feed squirrels peanuts.
Those were the days.
Don
About small downtowns, I can't comment - being from New York City. But, if you compare it to Neighborhoods, they seem to be just as crowded as they were sixty years ago.
( showing my age!)
Thanks all for your responses. Many of you know I recently relocated to England. Here the small towns are every bit as busy as the busiest layout. Every small town has a "high" street (similar to our downtown retail area). High streets are often so packed that you can not ride a bicycle or skateboard. Sometimes High Streets contain a mall, but the mall is integrated into the existing shops...not standing alone out in a field in the suburbs. Also, the shopping is compressed into shorter hours (8pm weekdays, 6pm Saturday, many shops close on Sundays except in the busier areas). One almost always has to pay for parking and even then finding a place to park can be a challenge... especially on the weekends. London has some shopping streets where the population is absolutely jam packed every day. Even when you get off the main streets the area is still very busy. Streets just off the Regent St and Oxford St in London are similar in populaton density and "closeness" to diagon (sp?) alley in Harry Potter.
p.s. We took the Eurostar through the Chunnel to Paris last weekend. Paris streets are just as lively.
laz 57 wrote:laz57
Awesome job, Laz! First the sandlot ballpark, now this. Your layout is really progressing nicely.
Jim
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
jimhaleyscomet wrote: Thanks all for your responses. Many of you know I recently relocated to England. Here the small towns are every bit as busy as the busiest layout. Every small town has a "high" street (similar to our downtown retail area). High streets are often so packed that you can not ride a bicycle or skateboard. Sometimes High Streets contain a mall, but the mall is integrated into the existing shops...not standing alone out in a field in the suburbs. Also, the shopping is compressed into shorter hours (8pm weekdays, 6pm Saturday, many shops close on Sundays except in the busier areas). One almost always has to pay for parking and even then finding a place to park can be a challenge... especially on the weekends. London has some shopping streets where the population is absolutely jam packed every day. Even when you get off the main streets the area is still very busy. Streets just off the Regent St and Oxford St in London are similar in populaton density and "closeness" to diagon (sp?) alley in Harry Potter.Jim H p.s. We took the Eurostar through the Chunnel to Paris last weekend. Paris streets are just as lively.
Nice work, Laz! Your images remind me very much of the town square in Manheim, PA, one of many small towns I wouldn't mind retiring in. I visited there in December a few years ago, when there were strings of the old-style 15- or 25-watt ceramic-coated colored bulbs hung from one end of the square to the other. 'nuff heat being generated there to warm the air as well as our hearts!
Joel
Joel - that town square you described reminds me of the one in "A Christmas Story".
Laz - love the town square. Will be be hanging x mas lights for the holiday season as well?
thanks GIZ for the kudos of the town. I have to think about those Christmas lights? Sounds cool.
I think on average you get photographed 300 times per day (600 per day in London). Perhaps I should add tiny camera's to the layout!
I'll try to give an updated version this week on Sunday Photo Fun? I have added to it.
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