Introducing the Allegheny Valley -- My mighty railway empire....all 5' x 8' of it (plus a bit)!
Older pic of the peddlar freight - the engine is a bashed LGB 2017D cars are Lehmann
Beautiful downtown nowhere - a few years ago. There have been a few changes since then
The town, now named Kimberly, as it appeared in 2008
The water tower and windmill got a facelift in June of '09
Lots of activity in a small space, return visitors often notice things they missed on previous visits
The farm in 2006
The relocated farm in 2008
The little red schoolhouse a couple years ago
The new schoolyard, December '08
Since the schoolhouse is on the edge of the layout has a full
scratchbuilt interior, including books. But it's kind of hard to
photograph
My factory, custom made by a fellow in Eastern Pa to fit the
space...but what should it make? It's an industrial supply depot for now
The covered bridge and church before the renovation
The church December '08....
The 2017 before I butchered it
2017 mark IV June of '09 -- click here to see what was done to it.
A cookout and a guy harassing a seagull in the "pond"
Another older view of the village - buildings are Piko figures mixture of Preiser Lemax & Just Plain Folks
Young lovers share a soda outside the general store. They've been moved
since this pic was taken, but I'm not sure they even noticed, as they are
still quite busy cuddling <3
You never know who might be lurking in the trees - most of them came from Michael's - 1/2 off after Christmas.
Wild tales of a monster living in the woods are generally scoffed at by
the townspeople, but they tend not to go there at night... just in case.
Deconstructed, packed and ready to go in March of 2008.... rather
depressing, I hate moving... but it gave me a chance to rethink and
improve
The Allegheny Valley a new place, April 2008-
Since it is mounted on a diningroom table, the diningroom is the
obvious choice. The new space was bigger so I got to add a spur.
Here it is under construction. The farm was moved to the new corner
spot, necessary since the spur ran right through the old barnyard. Eminant Domain in miniature.
About where the barn stood before the move you'll now find the
switchman's shanty at Eli Junction. I have NO IDEA what this building
was originally, it was glued to a Bachmann flatcar when I got it.
While everything was apart I decided it was a good time to add lights
to the buildings. These are stick-on grain of wheat bulbs, and will be
mounted in the rafters.
Watts-Myniss Mine, just couldn't resist the name.
Some mini scenes that help bring the layout to life:
Feeding time
Shadetree hotrodders
firewood sellers, this was scratchbuilt in a week just before my grandkid's visit at Christmas '08
May '09 they upgraded from that old Fordson to a Cletrac kitbashed from a cheap resin dozer
Then in June '09 the saw rig finally got decent looking wheels, courtesy of Ozark Miniatures
Oil's well that ends well? Another scratchbuilt scene.
A rather tipsy bull session... just imagine all the lies, err semi-true stories being told!
A boxcar full of goodies!
Dateline Mar 2009....INVASION!!!! But I bet the guy in the beige coat
with the celery in his lapel will get us out of it, somehow... but you
might have to tune in next week to find out. This scene is temporary
and was made just for the fun of it.
