When doing the 50's,what are some things to do and not do?

[Wdlgln005]

You could get some Natl Geo, Time, Life, or other mags from the 50's and see what chain sttores existed. A&P grocery, Woolworth's, etc but smaller stores with on-street parking in front. May even have space for angle parking on narrow street. Even a Penny or Sears store would be a lot smaller. Malls had yet to be invented. You may not have space to do a downtown square, with a mix of public/private buildings. You may want to do some with 2 story with the dentist upstairs from the barber shop.

something to avoid deals with any history that hasen't happened yet. Ike for President. No Mustangs (fords),No toyotas, few imported small cars.

[fec153]

general store with a post office inside. one storey grade school. voluntary fire dept.
small church. out-house,old barn,chicken coops.
Flip

[BRJN]

In general, you will want to personalize your shops as 'Mom-and-Pop' stores, rather than chain outlets. Only a few industries had a "Standard Oil"-type nationwide dominant company.

You can't have anything that hasn't been invented yet; no Radio Shack for instance because computers are still room-size clunkers that cost $tens of thousands each.

A radio station in the upper floor of a building might be a nice touch. WMRR?

Find a book about the 50's (maybe a Trivial Pursuit?) and look for ideas.

Note that the RR consolidation phase had not yet hit, so you can set the area of your railroad by the off-road cars you introduce. I recommend at least one PRR boxcar; they seem to have gone everywhere.

Many 1940's and a few shiny-new 1950's cars, some (well-weathered) 1930's vehicles.

There was probably one kid in every County High School who got himself a 1957 Chevy hotrod and kept it sparkly clean. Put that outside the Malt shop. :-)

[mustanggt]

For buildings, hardware stores, general stores, and barber shops are good. For vehicles, Classic metal works has many good ones available. As for roads, asphalt in cities and suburbs, and dirt mainly for the country.
Merry Christmas

[Razorclaw]

What are some the stores that one should have and shops you shouldn't? Cars and trucks? Asphalt or dirt roads? By the way,this layout will probably be a small town out in the country. Thanks, Stephen


Have a very merry Christmas and God bless!![:)]