santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Many headstones in the US are simply engraved rectangular granite stones laid on the surface.
Finally, Santafewillies layout thread - revived Feb 2026
- Thread starter santafewillie
- Start date
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Interestingly I recently found out that tombstone originally referred to a large flat slab that went over the entire grave while a headstone was as it's name implies at the head of the grave. Nowadays the two are used interchangeably.
195565
195559
Hazleton, Pennsylvania.
I'm a huge fan of the GG1 and I have ... I lost count of how many GG1s i have. But I won't be installing the overhead wiring. The Pennsylvania Railroad didn’t “string wire”; they built a power grid in the sky. Too much work for me!
Hanging custom (not pre-fab'ed) catenary is very tedious, exacting work and requires an enormous amount of time to do correctly. The pre-fab sections go up much quicker and look great. The problem with the pre-fab catenary sections is that they don't always fit where you need them to fit. Most of the time, but not all.
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Yep, I know in some cemeteries you have to pay what's called a monument privilege for upright headstones if they allow them. A lot of them usually want only flat headstones since it's much easier for the grounds crew to bring in maintenance and digging equipment as well as to mow the grass that way. Nowadays what they're really pushing is mausoleums which I really don't care for. They make me think of a bunch of apartment mailboxes for dead people.
Interestingly I recently found out that tombstone originally referred to a large flat slab that went over the entire grave while a headstone was as it's name implies at the head of the grave. Nowadays the two are used interchangeably.
Jaz avalley
Station cat
Interesting fact, thank you for adding
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
I never thought of it that way, but it makes lots of sense. Never too old to learn something new.
RhB Michael
RhB Lokführer
The cemetery where my great grandfather is interred doesn't allow upright stones. They are all flush in the ground.
Bruette
Well-Known Member
Did you ever consider having a train to take those boxcars to the scarp yard? If I am not mistaken some roof walk boxcars were still in service as late as 1983.
Jaz avalley
Station cat
And if you were to weather them because of their age….I am sure TLOC could give you some light weathering tips, tips from me might be a tad ott LOL
Jaz avalley
Station cat
Although to be fair, you have it pretty much in handAs promised I have returned after a short break to return to a normal life and clean up some of the mess that the tornado left me. There's still a lot more to do in the way of tree removal, but my HOA (I'm the President and only member) is not too particular about how quickly it gets done!
We left off at the small farm across the road from the next ranch, the Stallings Horse Ranch, named after some friends of ours who are getting out of the horse rearing business.
First an overview.View attachment 195555
The barn is a laser-cut wood structure from the now closed American Model Builders, the log cabin is a cardstock structure downloaded from the Illinois Historical Society years ago.
We see Janey practicing barrel-racing in the practice pen.
View attachment 195556
View attachment 195557
To the south is the ADM grain elevator from Walther's.
View attachment 195559View attachment 195560
I recently added a safety rail around the dust collectors.
View attachment 195561
View attachment 195565
Behind the elevator is a cemetery. This is made with parts from an old Woodland Scenics white metal casting kit, with additional headstones from their current plastic kit and many simple ones that I made.
View attachment 195562
View attachment 195563View attachment 195564
Lots of room left for future occupants. Note that some pictures were taken at earlier stages and don't show all of the current headstones.
In the next installment, we'll look at some more rail-served industries south of here.
Thanks for looking and I'll get back on track more quickly.
195565
195559
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santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
OK, it's time to revive this thread after a series of health and other life situations that took priority. To reiterate, this is primarily a thread about structures in the various towns on my layout. Someone asked about trains and I realized that there weren't any in any of the pictures, so I will attempt to include a few in upcoming posts.
I left off ten months ago in the middle of the town of Vernon, named after my late father-in-law. Post #208 left off at Louie's Cigar Store. It's on the backdrop side of the tracks which run through the scenery here, although at this actual point, they gently curve out towards the aisle. Overall shot showing Louie's on the right. Between Louie's and the center tan structure are backdrop cardstock structures downloaded from Tomkat's excellent thread here.
That tan structure is Tina's Tick Tock Clock Shop.
Tina's is a re-purposed Walther's kit known as Vic's Barber Shop, which I also have in another location.
To the south as the railroad goes is a Bar Mills laser-cut wood structure known as Saulenas Tavern.
Since the original picture posted above was taken, I added a few more figures to bring some more life to it.
Then we cross the road to Harrison's Hardware.
This is one of a very few pre-built structures that I have. The dog came with this Walther's building, I added all of the other figures. Sadly, this has details on the backside that no one sees unless the structure is removed.
Moving south there is a string of three additional businesses; blocked by a train!
I have hit the 10 picture limit, so I'll detail these in a future thread, but first I have to do some chores!
Thanks for your patience in waiting for this thread to continue and thanks for looking.
I left off ten months ago in the middle of the town of Vernon, named after my late father-in-law. Post #208 left off at Louie's Cigar Store. It's on the backdrop side of the tracks which run through the scenery here, although at this actual point, they gently curve out towards the aisle. Overall shot showing Louie's on the right. Between Louie's and the center tan structure are backdrop cardstock structures downloaded from Tomkat's excellent thread here.
That tan structure is Tina's Tick Tock Clock Shop.
Tina's is a re-purposed Walther's kit known as Vic's Barber Shop, which I also have in another location.
To the south as the railroad goes is a Bar Mills laser-cut wood structure known as Saulenas Tavern.
Since the original picture posted above was taken, I added a few more figures to bring some more life to it.
Then we cross the road to Harrison's Hardware.
This is one of a very few pre-built structures that I have. The dog came with this Walther's building, I added all of the other figures. Sadly, this has details on the backside that no one sees unless the structure is removed.
Moving south there is a string of three additional businesses; blocked by a train!
I have hit the 10 picture limit, so I'll detail these in a future thread, but first I have to do some chores!
Thanks for your patience in waiting for this thread to continue and thanks for looking.
RhB Michael
RhB Lokführer
I especially like the pull shade rings detail in the windows.
KriegslokBR52
Well-Known Member
That's great. What would definitely add to that scene are the ever present electric poles and multiple wires running in all directions. This is more intricate work, but lately there are some nice kits with very flexible "wiring" available on the market.
Hazleton, Pennsylvania.
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
I have 100's of poles to do so, but I haven't really made a plan yet.
Bruette
Well-Known Member
I’d imagine that would be one of the final details, just to avoid having to reach through them.
I'm a huge fan of the GG1 and I have ... I lost count of how many GG1s i have. But I won't be installing the overhead wiring. The Pennsylvania Railroad didn’t “string wire”; they built a power grid in the sky. Too much work for me!
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KriegslokBR52
Well-Known Member
Pennsylvania Railroad at the time classified their electric locomotives just like their steam. So a steam locomotive with a wheel arrangement 4-6-0 was a G class. Most well known was G5. GG1 having a wheel arrangement 4-6+6-4 was basically two "G" classes put together. And since it was a first such class on the roster, GG1 designation was adopted.
RhB Michael
RhB Lokführer
Hanging custom (not pre-fab'ed) catenary is very tedious, exacting work and requires an enormous amount of time to do correctly. The pre-fab sections go up much quicker and look great. The problem with the pre-fab catenary sections is that they don't always fit where you need them to fit. Most of the time, but not all.
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
I have done just that on another structure that I have. For now I am leaving this one alone, as I sometimes decide to relocate structures and it might become visible some day. I do also do some limited detailing on the backs of structures intentionally, since I feel like that some day I will do a "cab-ride" video and I want details from the trackside view.
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
We now continue to move south along the railroad in the town of Vernon. The main drag in Vernon runs roughly alongside of the RR ROW, with a lot of the downtown businesses facing the tracks, and thus the aisle. I left off with this view of the next three structures lined up next to Harrison's Hardware.
All three are generic structures from Smalltown USA. First up is the Rexall Drugs store, quite common in the mid-century but no longer around.
If I recall correctly, Smalltown sells this kit as Roy’s Fix-it. For the interior, I just copied, scaled and printed drugstore interiors from the Internet.
Next as a tribute to my wife's longtime ex-employer is an H&R Block office.
This kit is known as Vivian’s Family Shoes in the Smalltown catalog. Note the doctor's office upstairs.
My next structure on the corner is the Bonnie B Boutique, which is the Smalltown name for this kit.
That's Bonnie relaxing on the balcony while her employees run the store.
Across the road is Don's Pizza. Yet another structure kit from Smalltown known as John’s Place.
Upstairs is a detective agency and a palm reader.
Staying in the Smalltown mode, we come to Wholesale Electrical Supply, known as Parcel Delivery Service in their catalog. I no longer see this one on their website.
Continuing south along the road is the Argosy Booksellers.
This is a DPM kit called Robert's Dry Goods. Again, the interior is from some pictures that I found on the Internet.
Next stop is a grocery store and then some area that's not completely developed yet.
Thank you for looking.
All three are generic structures from Smalltown USA. First up is the Rexall Drugs store, quite common in the mid-century but no longer around.
If I recall correctly, Smalltown sells this kit as Roy’s Fix-it. For the interior, I just copied, scaled and printed drugstore interiors from the Internet.
Next as a tribute to my wife's longtime ex-employer is an H&R Block office.
This kit is known as Vivian’s Family Shoes in the Smalltown catalog. Note the doctor's office upstairs.
My next structure on the corner is the Bonnie B Boutique, which is the Smalltown name for this kit.
That's Bonnie relaxing on the balcony while her employees run the store.
Across the road is Don's Pizza. Yet another structure kit from Smalltown known as John’s Place.
Upstairs is a detective agency and a palm reader.
Staying in the Smalltown mode, we come to Wholesale Electrical Supply, known as Parcel Delivery Service in their catalog. I no longer see this one on their website.
Continuing south along the road is the Argosy Booksellers.
This is a DPM kit called Robert's Dry Goods. Again, the interior is from some pictures that I found on the Internet.
Next stop is a grocery store and then some area that's not completely developed yet.
Thank you for looking.
Colorado Midland Modeler
Proudly modeling the CM, MT & SL in HO Scale
Those are some great looking buildings and scenes.
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