As Mike mentions, location has a lot to do with what businesses would be there.
If your set in a somewhat rural area, a feed dealer. Often, I think because of trackside location, they also were coal dealers. Whether your coal dealer was part of the feed operation or seperate, in the 50's many coal dealers were adding fuel oil tanks or new dealerships were coming in. A feed dealer might also have a line of farm equipment.
A diner was often found near the tracks, especially if crews might frequent it on break or for lunch.
Depending on the size of the town, two gas stations was not uncommon or one service station that had gas pumps and repairs, then a general store that had a set of pumps out front. Auto repair shops without pumps were also common. Small town newspaper, bookstore, bank, auto parts store (Western Auto), furniture store, bakery, auto dealership, 5 & 10 cent store (Woolworth, Fishmans) and upstairs over some of the store fronts were dentists, doctors, lawyers as well as other offices.
Just going over some memories.
Good luck,
Richard
I guess location would have a lot to do with what might be in a small town, but riding my bike around the small town I grew up in, in SE. WI., There was a lumber yard, which also had coal silos that were used. An oil dealer with heating oil, kerosene, etc., the biggest factory in town at the time was a stainless steel tube and pipe manufacturer, the next biggest was a milk products (powdered milk, later on, baby formula, and dryed dairy products used by other food manufacturers), a co-op and a feed mill, two farm equipment dealers (John Deere, and an independent) and repair shops, and on the downtown "square" was a hardware store, two grocery stores, one had a great butcher shop, an independent butcher shop, a "dime store", a drug store with soda fountain, a movie house, two insurance offices, a couple of lawyers, one jewelery store, two general merchandise stores, like mens and womens cloths, housewares, etc., an electrician's store which sold lamps, parts, radio tubes, radios, and later tv's. A bakery, two banks, 4 taverns, two doctor and two dentist offices, and small manufacturer that made parts for Parker Pens, a couple of car dealerships and repair shops, one was a Pontiac dealer, the other was an independent that also fixed trucks.
That about all that comes to mind, besides the schools. There were a couple of plumbers shops, and a small contractor's office.
Is that a start?
Mike.
My You Tube
The smaller the town, the less likely they'd be to have a hotel. You could have a bar on the ground floor of the hotel perhaps?? Many hotels had good bar & grills.
Sometimes the small details can trip you up. For example, 60 years ago octagonal STOP signs were yellow with black letters, and mailboxes were Olive Drab.
Don't forget the flag for the post office.
p.s. The white letters on green background road signs didn't come along until the later 1960's. Each community and state had it's own design; where I lived, streetsigns were cast metal with raised letters. They were painted white, with the letters painted dark blue.
Also a movie theater.
Enjoy
Paul
Hi gang. I was just thinking about the little town on my layout and what I might add to it to make it appear more realistic. The thing is no two towns are exactly the same and where as one might only have the most basic businesses and so forth another might have that and a whole lot more. Right now I have a station/depot, a hotel, a corner market, a post office, a dry goods store, a cafe, a barber shop, a fire house, a Gulf gas station, a school and a Baptist church with a cemetary next to it as well as several houses. There's also a lumber mill up on the side of the mountain. Anyone else out there have a small 1950s era town with just the basic businesses ?.
Tracklayer