This Old Spot: A Modeler's Visual Library

[chooch_42]

Stein, Hello ! Went to the "norsk_signaler" site and used Google Translate: it did a fair job of making the information understandable (sometimes I have a tough time with English !!) for me. Both your site and Translate are quite useful. Thanks. Bob C. 

[markpierce]

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markpierce

This is one of my favorites.  Presumably it had been a general store.  It is located at Sheep Ranch, CA, in the central California "gold country" somewhere between Sonora and Volcano.

I drove through that area many years ago. Those places are fast becoming harder to find in some areas---do you know whether it is a private residence now or---?

My impression was the structure was unoccupied, but can imagine it containing lots of "stuff."  I was there about 20 minutes, and didn't see a soul or vehicle in the meantime.  Now if you want some place (Sheep Ranch) really quiet, I'll recommend it.  Hope you won't mind a 30 to 45-minute drive over winding roads to any stores.

Mark

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Stein: Those are some neat buildings and that railroad looks more like a NE corridor area!

Staircase on the outside---note the 'bracing'---near Seaforth ON

A former diner of sorts--was a lawyers office as well--near Wingham ON

I posted this thing on another thread some time ago---note the warpage---near Winthrop ON

Another riverside view----I used to live in a place like these---over a bakery yet----this is Elora ON-near the Elora Gorge

[steinjr]

rrinker

steinjr

 I realize that these pictures are pretty useless for American modelers - but what the heck - maybe it will inspire someone to build a layout set in Norway.

Actually, it doesn't seem all that unusual at all. The signals look fairly normal, as opposed to, say,. German types. The color that the station is painted might be a bit odd, but the overall shape of the building seems fairly generic, at least, it doesn't scream out "hey that's obviously in Norway" to me.

 

 That had me scratching my head and googling a little before I realized what the link was.

 I learned that Sorumsand  station was designed by Norwegian architect Paul Armin Due (1870-1926), and that P.A. Due, like quite a few architects of his age, was heavily influenced by what is known over here in Norway as the "Jugend style" (from the German words for "youth style").

 Jugend style, which is better known in English speaking countries by it's French name "Art Nouveau" ("New art"/"new style"), swept both Europe and America during the last couple of decades of the 1800s, up to World War 1 or so.

  An American RR station in Art Nouveau style was the old New Orleans Union Station, designed by Chicago designer Paul Sullivan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_Union_Station

 I also found quite a few interesting books on Amazon and google books on railroad station arctitecture, and some pictures of some of the buildings designed by Sullivan (e.g. at  http://www.chicagohistory.org/sullivan150/credits/index.php).

 Btw - another source I have very much enjoyed on buildings in the Twin Cities (which is the place I try to model) is Larry Millets book "Lost Twin Cities" - on historic buildings the Twin Cities that has been torn down. Was recommended to me by forum poster wjstix, if I remember correctly.

 Btw2 - I also found a fascinating web page on modeling Norwegian signals (unfortunately only in Norwegian): http://www.platelayer.com/artikler/norske_signaler/signal_del1.htm

 The type 1 signal mentioned (entry to station) and type 2 signal (departure from station) has three lights above each other. Center light is red, top and bottom is green.

 Just red (or no light) is stop.

 Just top green light is "proceed slowly" (because you will be going through one or more turnouts thrown to the deviating path).

 If both top and bottom green light is "clear" - you are going straight ahead into (or out of) the station, and can proceed at greater speed. (Or in other words - if one of the bulbs burn out, you drop to signal which is more restricted).

 Btw3 - and utterly off topic, but I just love the world wide web, hyperlinks and search engines like google.

 It makes it immensely easier to avoid being a dullard (according to Science Fiction author Philip José Farmer, a dullard could be defined as "Someone who looks up a thing in the encyclopedia, turns directly to the entry, reads it, and then closes the book")

 I now have a few more bookmarks and a couple of new entries in my "train/subway commute reading list" on railroad station architecture.

 Randy - thanks for making me look for a connection, and take a very enjoyable side trip down this lane!

 Grin,
 Stein

 

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markpierce

This is one of my favorites.  Presumably it had been a general store.  It is located at Sheep Ranch, CA, in the central California "gold country" somewhere between Sonora and Volcano.

I drove through that area many years ago. Those places are fast becoming harder to find in some areas---do you know whether it is a private residence now or---?

[rrinker]

steinjr

 I realize that these pictures are pretty useless for American modelers - but what the heck - maybe it will inspire someone to build a layout set in Norway.

 Grin,
 Stein

Actually, it doesn't seem all that unusual at all. The signals look fairly normal, as opposed to, say,. German types. The color that the station is painted might be a bit odd, but the overall shape of the building seems fairly generic, at least, it doesn't scream out "hey that's obviously in Norway" to me.

                           --Randy

 

[markpierce]

tstage

A partial view of the bank of Armstrong levers (taken through glass window in doorway):

Thanks to American Model Builders, Inc., this scene is easy to model.

 http://www.laserkit.com/images/388Ct.jpg

Edit:  Sorry, the above link isn't clickable.  Just go to www.laserkit.com and look for the new product listing.

Mark

[markpierce]

This is one of my favorites.  Presumably it had been a general store.  It is located at Sheep Ranch, CA, in the central California "gold country" somewhere between Sonora and Volcano.

 

 I particularly like the looks of the front porch with its varied foundations, and the gasoline price!  Of course, it has the obligatory Coca Cola sign.

Mark

[tstage]

steinjr

 I realize that these pictures are pretty useless for American modelers - but what the heck - maybe it will inspire someone to build a layout set in Norway.

Stein,

No one said they had to be just American prototypes.  Thanks for posting these.

Tom

[tstage]

Ajacent to the Grafton tower above is the small Grafton freight station:

Tom

[steinjr]

 Here is an oddball location, seen from the viewpoint of American modelers - Sorumsand RR station in Norway - a small RR station on the Kongsvinger RR line, about 30 miles east of Oslo. Pictures are from April 2005 :

 

Three tracks, raised platform between track 1 and track 2 to the left, some signals, catenary wire and masts, platform edge, asphalt and ballast color and texture, light poles (background left), station color, wooden crossing of the track for RR passengers (front left).

 

 

 One view (of about 8-10 pictures I took from different angles to show the station building - this one shows characteristic rounded windows with many small panes, doors, signs, clock (far left), the characteristic roof lines, garbage can (dark green), ashtray (dark red), tiles in front of main entrance.

 

 

 Closeup of details - main building is made of concrete, stationmaster's window section is made of wood, typical station sign (blue with white text), crew phone (gray box with gray T, loudspeaker with flashing light on top to alert crew on train that the phone is ringing), some trash on the ground that still hasn't been picked up.

 I realize that these pictures are pretty useless for American modelers - but what the heck - maybe it will inspire someone to build a layout set in Norway.

 A link to three photo journey along "my" RR line, done by another Norwegian railfan (Roy Olsen), who is also a far better photographer than me: 

http://trips.rool.no/kongsvingerbanen_190508
http://trips.rool.no/kongsvingerbanen_300407
http://trips.rool.no/kongsvingerbanen_210305

 Quite a few oldish structures here - RR line was built during the time of the American Civil War - in the mid 1860s.

 It was electrified sometime in 1952. The second second RR line at Sorumsand (the narrow gauge steam RR Urskog-Holandsbanen) was closed for general traffic in 1960, after having run since 1896. It now operates purely as a museum RR line.

(Send me a PM if you get curious about any of the structures  and need the text translated from Norwegian to English)

 Grin,
 Stein

 

[tstage]

[I posted these pics over on the other thread.  So, my apologies for those you have already seen them.]

This is the old NYC Big Four Grafton Interlocking tower in Grafton, OH.  Here's the view of the tower looking east and north:

A partial view of the bank of Armstrong levers (taken through glass window in doorway):

This is where a set of the Armstrong lever rods come through the tower flooring:

The operator's desk:

From all appearances and this link, the Grafton Tower is slowly being renovated and preserved.  (Notice the paint cans on the floor in last picture.)  It was originally located just to the NE side of SR 57 at the tracks.  At some point it was moved ~200' east and back from CSX's current double-mainline.  From the 2nd to the last picture, you'll notice that the vertical tower supports themselves are rail.

Tom

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An old barn can be effective on its own as a scene element 

Feed supply store---Brussels ON

A place called Elora ON--a good river scene can be developed with this element--

All kinds of possumbilities---

 

[0-6-0]

Hello this is the NS yard office on chamberlain rd in Twinsburg.

and this is the yard

and the new water tower the white letter's are 6 feet tall

have a nice day Frank

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Try even the local libraries that have historical/archival photos. Some universities have special collections departments that have available DVD's with even home movies documenting village/town life as well---

A couple more sights--

I came across a set of poles that still had the railroad's old telegraphy wires attached ---long disconnected but--- 

You don't even need big honkin' elevators---

 

[steinjr]

chpthrls

I don't have any pics to show, but, as I'm sure Norfolk-Western fans already know, there is a museum in Roanoke, Va. that houses the photo work of O. Winston Link. The photo contents on the museum are available to the general public just by accessing its web site

 

There are several good photo sites out there for prototype pics from older times. A handful of interesting ones I have visited:

http://www.shorpy.com - pictures from the period 1850-1950.

http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/ - Minnesota Historical Society, visual resources collection

http://imagebase.lib.vt.edu/ - Virginia Tech image database, including 10 000 or so N&W related photos

http://www.forgottendelaware.com/ - pictures from out of the way corners of Delawere

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/ - photos from New York, including subway and railroad pictures

 

A few Library of Congress online collections:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html - Farm Safety Administration/Office of War Information photo collection from the 1930s and 1940s

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/ - Historical American Building Survey/Historical American Engineering Records - line drawings and photos of various historical buildings

There no doubt are dozens or hundreds of other  websites with photos of various buildings etc.

Smile,
Stein

[BATMAN]

 Old water tower at Brookmere B.C.

 

[0-6-0]

Hello the name of the farm is Stone ledge farms. You can find more on the barn at this link.

It used to have rolled roofing on it. A few years ago they put the metal one on. Hope this helps frank

[blownout cylinder]

Seamonster: I love those bridge pix

One closed limestone mill

Paris ON---old houses

Two different views of downtown Paris ON

[Seamonster]

This is the CPR bridge over the Red River at Emerson, Manitoba. It was built as a swing bridge but the mechanism was disconnected long ago. You can still see the big gear on the center pillar. It has a sidewalk on the north side which the residents who live on the west side of the river use to get to the town on the east side. The RR crossing sign is for the pedestrian path over the tracks at the west end of the bridge.

[Seamonster]

Here's some photos of a through truss bridge over the Red River in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The bridge was built in 1912 and carried two-way vehicle traffic until 1965 when a new bridge was built connecting two streets about a kilometer downstream. The bridge deck is only 15 feet wide. Can you imagine two-way traffic with the cars of the 60s? i have heard that two 1959 Chevs (I think it was) with the horizontal tail fins could not pass each other on the bridge. It is now a pedestrian and bicycle bridge.

[cudaken]

 Great idea Tom! Here are a few pictures of Alton IL. The cliffs where the inspiration for my current section of bench.

 

 Alton IL is not far from St Louis Mo. It was founded around 1802 or so. It is on the banks of the Mississippi not far from Missouri river.Shell Oil Company was started in Alton.

 Few pictures of down town Alton.

 

          Cuda Ken

[blownout cylinder]

0-6-0: The barn is amazing--it'd be interesting to find out its history----

Another old ROW----this one near the Carmeuse limestone quarry---

And for something a bit different----a recently built factory-----now up for sale---

Fall over things a lot here---

[rs2mike]

0-6-0

Hello great start so far. Here are a few from me.First one is a old brick barn on route 91 in Twinsburg Ohio

 

This was a pizza shop when I was kid not sure what it was before that. It's in Twinsburg.

This is a cement plant on on rout 91 in Twinsburg

I will have some more later.Have a nice day Frank

 

Frank.  My friends wedding was in that barn.  Real nice people.  Came to the hardware store(richner ) all the time.  The top floor of the barn(equipement storage) has been converted to a ball room of sorts.  The lady who lives there lost her son to luchema(? spelling) and now has fund raisers there.  The pizza shop in the second pic spent a lot of years as a shoe repair place when I was growing up.  I think it even may have seen some time as a scuba shop.  Hey you should snap a pic of the missle silo(water tower) for those wanting a more modern water tower.

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tstage

Barry,

Just trying to understand what I'm seeing.  Was the bridge originally used to cross over the tracks of the yard, which are now no longer there?

Tom

Yes that is what it did. I think there were about 10 tracks that it crossed at that time. Ian Wilson wrote a book a few years back called Steam Over Palmerston that has numerous photos made during that era. I'm trying to find that dang book in this maze of a collection I have here!! lol!! The fact that it was so well kept over the years pretty much allowed this to stay there----when I was there there was no rust anywhere on that bridge----

 

[Seamonster]

Tom, you're forgiven. No harm done. To tell the truth, things are a bit hectic around here and I haven't been able to get on the forum much recently so I didn't notice.

 

I am very pleased to see that you've started this thread. I have a feeling it's going to become a very long one. I am somewhat amazed and awed that my little photograph that I almost hesitated to post was the start of all this. That gives me a warm fuzzy. Thanks, Tom, for starting this.

 

As soon as I can find the time I'll post some of my photographs up on Photobucket and put them in this thread. I've got some grain elevators and some old decrepit buildings and similar stuff.

 

For those of you who like grain elevators, I recommend this link:

http://manitobaphotos.com/manitoba_grain_elevators.htm

The author of the site has given me permission to post a link to his site. I would recommend that you go to his home page and look at all the photographs he has. He is a prolific photographer and I'm sure most of you would enjoy looking at his photographs and maybe even find something to model in his other pages.

 

Stein: I've seen that two-story biffy. Back in 1967 my wife and I were returning from a trip to the west coast and passed through that tourist town. Somewhere I've got a photograph of that biffy and other buildings in the town but they haven't been scanned into the computer yet. We sure got a kick out of that thing.

[tstage]

Barry,

Just trying to understand what I'm seeing.  Was the bridge originally used to cross over the tracks of the yard, which are now no longer there?

Tom

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spidge

This is the Southern Pacific Colton CA. Depot and Express building. They are still standing in the pictured condition. It would make a great railroad park as the BNSF diamond is about 100 yards west.

Great shots of a wonderful set of stations there--

Walkerton ON was at one time a division point for CN back during the 30's through the 50's/60's before it became 'disinvested' in by CN after many years of declines in traffic--there is now a park here that includes what must have been a wonderful place for people to take pix from back then.

Something of a view from the bridge

I'm going through some more of these things but there you go--

 

[tinman1]

Took this while doing a job in southern Ohio. It appears to have seen better days, but it still stands

 

[chpthrls]

I lurk here but don't often post, however, this thread seems pretty worthwhile. I don't have any pics to show, but, as I'm sure Norfolk-Western fans already know, there is a museum in Roanoke, Va. that houses the photo work of O. Winston Link. The photo contents on the museum are available to the general public just by accessing its web site. I'm not a big steamer fan, but the photo archives in this collection are awesome. Most were taken just prior to, and during the transition era and Link loved steam! The archives are a transition modelers dream and all you have to do is Google his name, and voila!

                                                                     Gerry S.