Who is/was Thomas Yorke?

There were some health issues in the family and Tom I believe is no longer making kits. He did make kits for over 30 yrs.

The materials used vary from Hydrocal plaster to cast resin for the major components with the remainder of the kits comprised of wood, styrene and metal. Most kits are of the craftsman type, but some are designed for the beginner.

Pretty sure that was for a laundry....

mwb...there is another, different kit, for a Chinese laundry, too...that has a separate

boiler outside the building...that, different, kit has shown up on eBay from time to time..the one with what looks like Chinese characters in the illustration on the one box is yet another small store, part of Yorke's "Buildin's" series.  The three of them

plus one for a bordello/pool hall all look like a drive through Columbia, Calif. and

along Highway 49 gold country, but two of them are more generic to western mining

than the laundry or Chinese character store.  Another thing is the architecture...the

twin doors with iron fire doors covering them, are seen in California, but not, in my

experience, in mining areas farther east.  I'd like to know the reason for the twin doors...since many of those mining camps suffered fires, the iron fire doors are

understandable.

Those kits have gotten around....some were offered out of Canada for a while and I

picked up one structure that I kitbashed into an adobe freight station....luckily for me,

that and this store were picked up more reasonably.  Still like to know the original

history, and what all he did...with 30 years of it, and myself only aware of them in the last few years, a lot must have been done....there are two non Yorke kits that were done by now defunct kitbuilders that I am looking for.....maybe Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette will do an article on Yorke, they have done other articles on old kitbuildiers.

Yorke is still around -- google Thomas A Yorke -- he has been doing a mexican themed series. I think he was an engineer for Disney and has a great imagination. His kits seem to be based on being old, semi derelict and from all over - Southwest, the South, even some city stuff. His kits are great with creative instructions on painting, weathering etc... They show up on ebay and worth getting. Dr Ben's apparently bought the old kit masters and is offering them at premium prices vs what you could find an original for on ebay if you're patient