Structures

Sonny's Shack

This was my first wood kit.  I had seen a couple of nice wood models of structures by some veteran NMRA members, and so I wanted to try that out.  I got this kit at a local swap meet because it looked simple to do.  It was probably the simplest wood structure kit there was, so perfect for me.  It turned out nice and was a more realistic model than the plastic ones in my opinion.  Click on the picture to see how others have used it in their scenery.  I thought it might be good by a lake as a bait and tackle shop.

Sonny's Shack was by American Model Builders, and it utilized laser cut wood which first came out in the 1990's.  Laser cut wood kits were all the rage for a while, and even now they are still popular.  This one was certainly easy to put together as all the pieces were cut and fit together nicely.  All that was left was to assemble, glue and paint, and you got a nice little structure.   Here are the box and instructions. 

Campbell L.C.L. Freight Station

This is the second wood structure kit I built.  It is a Campbell L.C.L Freight Station probably from the 1960's.  What is an L.C.L Freight station?  Here is what AI says: 

"An L.C.L. (Less-than-Carload) freight station for railroads is a designated facility, often called a freight house, where shipments too small to fill an entire railroad freight car are received, consolidated, and loaded into cars for transport."

The Campbell kits were popular in the 60's and 70's, and as you can see looked great when finished.  Here is a nice video of it being assembled.  Copies of the instructions and the box can be found here.

Oil Tank Kit

I wanted an industry for my oil tank cars, and this fit the bill perfectly.  It is from a 1955 kit by Alexander scale models which "are exact scaled copies of actual prototypes taken from the tracksides and countrysides of real railroads."  This kit was a great source of information for me on how oil is stored and transported using rail cars.  The instructions have a nice bit about the actual prototype on which this model is based.  The tank can hold 2000 barrels of crude oil, and was made by Parkersburg Rig & Reel Company of West Virginia.  The crude oil would be pumped into this tank through a pipeline from a number of producing wells in the area.  The oil is then pumped from the tank to the loading rack where it is delivered to waiting tank cars.  If the tank is on high ground, gravity feed is used to deliver the oil to the loading rack.  The instructions are here.

Elevated Gateman's House

This kit was a 1950's kit from Modelton Mfg. in Burbank, CA, and had never been assembled.  I thought it might be fun to try, so I bought it and put it together.  It was difficult, and I didn't do a great job, but still it came out OK.   According to AI, "An elevated gateman's house, often called a crossing tower or shanty, was used on railroads to house a gate operator (gateman or watchman) whose job was to manually operate crossing gates, bells, or signals at busy grade crossings, protecting street traffic from oncoming train."  Instructions are here.