Your Layout Vignettes

 The American Dream...

 

Well, this is, I guess, a bit of a cheat. SceneryArtist (who posts on this forum) constructed the roads/topography (I did the houses), then took and manipulated the photo into a great "old" postcard. I'm thinking of having a whole series of the various scenes until I have a full deck

 

Jerrman

 

 

No cheat at all, Jermann!  You documented your source giving them the credit.  Beautiful photo and inscription!  I'm glad you posted it.

Grand idea.  I'll take a set.

A dirty Norfolk Southern SD40-2 passes by a rail crew fixing some broken ties. The foreman tips his hat at a job well done.  The Suburban has LED headlights, taillights, and flashing yellow light bar. 

Jerrman, I much enjoyed your trailer homestead and derelict gas station vignettes- both are splendid, to be sure.

 

If you like , here's a long-time favorite of mine, a kind of salvage yard along a rural road, inspired by a couple of places I saw along Rt.11 as I traveled through PA and Upstate NY, over the years. I really enjoyed this project; I have no idea why. It just sort-of "poured" out of me and appeared in front of me, little by little, until it was finished.

FrankM.

Another great vignette, Frank. Is that Tom in the lower right corner?

 

thank you Frank. coming from you, that is a real compliment. really like your salvage yard vignettes. so much detail to look at!

jerrman

Thank you,Jon, and yes, that is young Sawyer, complete with bucket, but I'm not quite sure who the All-American type guy is standing next to him, offering observations. He seems to fit in though, huh.

FrankM.

 

And thank you, Jerrman, for your always cheerful and pleasant approval. I appreciate hearing from you, of course.

FrankM.

Ha! I missed Tom Sawyer when I first saw this one. That's great Frank - Tom Sawyer was one of my favorite boyhood stories...

Me, too.  I love it and a I missed Tom, too.  Very clever.

This is my White Tower scratch built from plans found in an old Model RR mag.

Wonderful White Tower, Gene. Here's an interesting variation of their logo...

 

 

 

Nick - Great scene!  Very realistic looking.

 

Art

Gene - Oh no!  Just as the slider cravings were beginning to subside you have to reignite the pain. 

 

Very nicely done.

 

Art

The annual Fall pumpkin harvest near the tracks in town.  Matt

The CNJ and D&H crews exchange greetings prior to swapping freight cars on the nearby interchange track.  These men know each other well as this drill is a regular occurrence between these two northeastern Roads.

 

It was to be a summer of improvements. The railroad had planned to paint the entire Hale Gate Bridge, and also upgrade and improve the bridge decking. But, with October almost here, a section of bridge railing remained unpainted.

Investigations were begun. The division superintendent came to investigate, and the maintenance foreman, and the VP of operations, MofW supervisors from all over. They descended on the site. They took statements, did interviews, checked procurement, called in a bucket truck for investigations from below, but despite all their efforts, painting did not occur any faster.

 

None of them brought a paint brush.

 

 

All great photos!  Yes, I loved Tom Saywer and Huck Finn when I was a kid too! 

 

Nice White Towers!  So, I am the one who never saw a White Tower, nor heard of a Slider.  So guess what!  I was at the local grocery store just after lunch, and in the frozen food section, they had boxes of White Tower Sliders!!!  No mind you, this is no big modern super market, this is a family owned store, whose freezers keep breaking down, and they keep losing their food.  Never the less, they had Sliders!!  I never saw them before!

I had heard so much about White Castle and their sliders that I decided I had to try them when I was working in Chicago a number of years ago.  I had a rental car and pulled into the parking lot and ventured inside.  I was shocked that the onion smell (or aroma depending on your perspective) was so strong inside that my eyes started watering.  That and I was worried that my suit would absorb that strong onion smell and it wouldn't come out.  So I left and went back later in casual clothes and went through the drive through window.  They were very good.

 

Art 

That's them!!

Thanks, Jon!!

Yes... White Tower had a lot of different logo's and store fronts....I did a lot of research trying to find the one I grew up with in Bellerose NY...I couldn't find that one but this one came close....Gene

It's amazing how small these restaurants could be...

 

 

 

 

 

I have got to do a White Tower somewhere on my layout - and an A&W too.  I am just out of room for the time being until I find a way to expand the layout.

How about just expanding for just a street seen. Tie the layout with a road. If I could just find the right building flats form shelf I'd add a street seen too.

Jon - You're killing me!  I've got a Bears and Packers game this afternoon and I will be going by the White Castle on the way to church and back.  O.K. not exactly by it, but close enough. 

 

Art 

I can almost smell them, Art.

 

Jon,

Why do they have holes in them?  I've never seen that before.

 

Art,

Did you get any Sliders after Church?  I end up with Arby's after church, and I am tired of them  ;-)

Mark, the holes expedite cooking time and make it unnecessary to flip.

You must have caught the bulk chopping of onions. Crying normally only occurs if you don't take home extras for other people. Even if not, you were right about the smell. I can smell White Castle on folks for hours. But in a town with W.C. everyone knows the smell. People "in the know" would not hold it against you...unless they are hungry, and you are empty handed...forget the hungry part, remember extras.

 

 

Note the meat(good stuff) never hits the griddle, just onion steam is cooking them.

 

Not all sliders are exactly the same either. The cut of the onion, type of onion, and the way the ingredients are cooked allow a surprising variance in making one of these American classics. 

I thought it was because of the easy swallowing they got their name too. But a friends dad once said he thought it developed from ultra-busy non-stop weekend nights with cooks sliding single burgers, shuffleboard style (also known a "slider" to those to drunk to say word puck without offending)(and both are about the same size). Either way, tasty goodness. 

 

White Tower..I must have caught them on a bad day. Buns were soaked, they fell apart. Glad W.C. are all over town near me. A dozen or more in the Detroit area alone, and I don't see them going out of business any time soon. Also W.C. normally has the cleanest places & equipment around, even if its old. Some hospitals could learn a thing or two there.   

Trouble on the Texas mainline.

 

 

 

Steve, Lady and Tex

Adriatic,

Thank you for the answers.  So it sounds like I may not like them because I am not partial to onions.  Or maybe it is that they don't like me. 

Jon,

How about that.  I never would have guessed.

Thanks

White Tower #8 on the corner of Fifth and Vermouth...

 

You can do the same thing with your burgers by putting your thumb or index finger through your raw patty. It does cook faster but you still have to flip'm.

Interesting design for an awkward corner...

 

 

 

Then try 2 chicken sandwiches, one Whitey with all, clam bites, & one of the best chocolate shakes anywhere! My normal order. All sandwiches are quite small, but priced accordingly. And a thumb & some onions wont reproduce the magic, not even close.

 

You know, just the word "vignette" actually brings up a vision of a WC style diner at night, first and foremost

White Tower stores seem to celebrate many styles of architecture lending themselves to scratch building as demonstrated by Gene. Here's another fine example of a small White Tower rendered in the Moderne style.