Researching Period Industries for Scenery and Operation - how do you do it?

Try Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. They cover many cities and larger towns, and show roads, Railroads, Industries and houses (even Sheds and out buildings)  The maps show top elevations, with industry names marked on the maps as well as where the tracks are as well as any roads.

Use your search engine...

I just Googled "Towns of the 50's Image", "Scenes from the 30's", etc., and got dozens of photos showing period structures, autos/trucks, dress, et al.

As for specific modeling thereof...esp. structures..., it'll be a lot tougher with less options ready-made or kit for O scale than for HO.  OTOH, if you see an HO industry, residence, commercial building, and the like, you can use that for inspiration to scratch-build to a larger size.

When in my 'dark side' HO years, I would save all the kit instructions from items I built. Probably a stupid thing to do at the time. But now I find them handy on occasion.  They can be used as guidance for making parts in 1:48 scale to replicate a particular structure. 

Also, do what architects do if you need simple visualization of an idea...get some inexpensive foam core board, fresh #11 blades for the knife, white glue, colored pencils/pens,...and make a simple model of an idea that fits your space and inclination.

Besides...It's your layout, your empire.   It's all about what you find pleasure and happiness in the doing that counts.

FWIW...

KD

If you are modeling a particular location try searching on the town or city name in that on-line auction site.  You have to weed thru alot of crud results but usually interesting photos do show up.  You can also check out local city or town historical society facebook sites.  Again, alot of useless postings about yesterday's bake sale might come up but on occasion someone will post an old photo of a local business or industry.  Your local library might help.  I recently found a book written in 1950 on the history of a local mill since 1830 that was full of not only photos but, all sorts of data on what they made, shipped and to whom and where it went.

Happy hunting!

I loosely model the Rutland. Robert Nimke put out about 8 volumes of books. They are kind of all over the place as far as info. . But they give a good feel of how it all worked as far as operations and industries. Even how often industries received and shipped.

Kalmbach has a line of books on modeling certain industries and how they operated.

You might try a local college/university to find out if they have local archives. In the Philadelphia area Temple University has volumes of period materials; with a lot of transit photos. There is also the Atwater Kent museum. Many collections have been bequeathed to them.

Jay

A drive around western Pa, western Maryland. Much of what once was is still there. 

Check out this site called Shorpy. Ton's of historical photos and images.

https://www.shorpy.com/

The topic has come up before.  Try this link -- it has many of the above comments, but other interesting ones as well:

     Urban Spurs and Sidings (1/18/2022) | BillYo414

Mike

I often check out the old industrial area in my area, Kansas's city's West Bottom, for ideas and inspiration. Although many are  no longer serving the railroad, You can often see the old signage that provides a clue to what they were.

Regarding your example,  There are 2 small oil dealer kits available:

Deep Rock Gas and Oil from Atlas O

https://shop.atlasrr.com/p-278...ock-gas-oil-kit.aspx

Earl's Oil from Bar Mills

https://barmillsmodels.com/pro...earl-s-oil-n-ho-s-o/

Another option is to look at an existing kit as something other than what the manufacturer says it is. It could be as  simple as changing the name or adding details that turn it into a a different industry. You can also kitbash it into a larger industry by either expanding the footprint or adding other structures that suggest how the industry changed and or expanded over time.

There are also model railroad books about industries one can model. Here are a few;

https://kalmbachhobbystore.com...ssue/vt-mr14210401-c

https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/book/12819

https://www.amazon.com/Model-R...Tracks/dp/0890247714

Because I model the Panhandle, and specifically the Weirton, WV - Steubenville, OH area, I am actually blessed with a wealth of historical information.  You should check out local museums, libraries, and newspapers for photographs and articles of your location.  For example, some of my reference material:

• From the 1940s to the early 2000s, Weirton Steel published a monthly news magazine called the Bulletin.  Growing up in the 1950s-70s, you couldn't go to a local event (Boy Scout Jamboree, church festival, group gathering, picnic, wedding, school outing, etc.) without bumping into a Bulletin photographer.  And there were plenty of photos of the mills and mill workers as well.
• Steubenville's Public Library system has also proved to be a great reference for shots of the town in various eras.

As for modeling pieces of an industry, I'm using photographs of blast furnaces to model their operations.  This is a divider on the current layout, PRR Panhandle 2.0.

This allows me to:

• Move IN:  coal hoppers, iron ore jennies (or half full gondolas), empty hot metal (torpedo) cars
• Move OUT:  empties of the above, loaded hot metal cars to other mill buildings / operations

All mill buildings on my layout are placed at a 45 degree angle to this divider, permitting more of them to exist.  Below (left to right) are the Blooming Mill, a highway overpass between the buildings (as in the prototype), the cardboard mock-up of the Open Hearth, another cardboard front facade of the Strip Steel (rolling mill), and a small foamcore addendum.

On Panhandle 1, which was much smaller, I was still able to model Weirton Steel in 10' x 18" using the diagonal technique.

George

In addition to Sanborn maps, as Dave mentioned above, for an overall look at the area in question, go to https://www.historicaerials.com for aerial coverage of areas over time, plus topography maps which will give you an idea of where/how the rail lines run/ran. In my area, I spotted what looked like the remnants of a railroad right-of-way and sure enough, there had been a junction in the area with the tracks leading up to where I saw the old right-of-way.