As I was using some scrap girders cut from an atlas plate girder bridge yesterday, I recalled that I bought them for a bridge I built for my childhood layout. I'm now using the girders for a turntable bridge. I also have an atlas water tower on my layout, and I seem to notice the same kit on many other layouts. So, just curious, how many of you have the plate girder bridge or the water tower on your layout? Are there other items you can think of that show up on many layouts either in kitbashed or original form? Some of the DPM kits come to mind.

At one club I was a member I used the plate girders from the Atlas kit to "fake" a bridge.Instead of cutting the bridge area out of the road bed I simply glued the girders along the edge of the road bed..Worked like a charm.The bridge was going to be a girder bridge anyway .

Here's a pic of the classic Atlas water tower and station, both abandoned on my layout. Doesn't everybody have one?

My kids have my Atlas station on their layout, and my dad's Atlas water tower is near by...dated 1968. For Christmas, I gave my nephew his own Atlas station and water tower...I pre-painted for him...the station is buff with dark green trim now.

My layout is covered in Atlas stuff, with two of the through girder bridges used as part of the Maitland River crossing, although I cut them apart and converted them into deck-style bridges. One's at the west end of the through truss span:




...and the other at the east end:




I used parts from two more to build my turntable bridge:




...and another, also re-built as a deck-type bridge, as the west span of the Speed River bridge:




That same bridge also uses two Atlas deck truss bridges:




...as does an as-yet-unnamed bridge on the approach to the second level of the layout:




...and two more in the bridge over Chippawa Creek:




There's an Atlas water tower in Elfrida, although I did modify it with a Grandt Line spout:




...and likewise for the one at Lowbanks:




Atlas also got some more of my money for their ubiquitous station, with one in South Cayuga:




...and another in Elfrida:




I have another two, already assembled and painted, but will probably use only one of them for the first town on the upper level. The other town will get a much larger Walthers staion.


Another popular "see 'em on layouts everywhere" structure was AHM's Rico Station. I flipped the walls on mine to better-suit the locale, and modified it slightly, but even painting it in "company colours" does little to disguise its heritage:




AHM got a lot of mileage out of their small interlocking tower. This one controlled the interchange wye at Airline Junction, but when most of the line was abandonned, it became surplus. The second floor is now the home office for the Dunnville Industrial District's Yardmaster, while the ground floor is used by train crews:




There's another one at Cayuga Junction, and it's used as a Control Point for the north/south traffic through South Cayuga on the Grand Valley and the interchange with the Erie Northshore. Eventually, I want to add order boards here and at Elfrida to control the interchange traffic, and I may make this into an interlocking controlling all of the turnouts in South Cayuga:




AHM's large interlocking tower was another popular one, although mine in Port Maitland uses the upper floor as the Yardmaster's office, while the ground floor is for train crews, as this is an interchange point with the TH&B:




Most of the rest of my structures are kitbashed ones from Walthers or ones that are scratchbuilt, but I'm currently working on 20-or-so DPM kits. Some are kits, some built-up used kits, and some merely walls and parts of walls picked-up from the "used" tables at several hobbyshops. There are several duplicates, some of which I've modified to disguise the similarities. However, most will be used as low-relief background structures in Elfrida and South Cayuga (both, especially the latter, are very shallow areas). The rest will be built as foreshortened structures, for use in the next line out from the backdrop. This is work currently in-progress, so not much to see at the moment. Here's an aerial view (courtesy of Secord Air Services) showing a tentative arrangement:




I'm quite satisfied with the Atlas bridges and have no intention or replacing them. Likewise for the stations and water towers - while scratchbuilt ones would be more unique, there's simply not enough time available to go back and redo them.
While going through my inventory of unbuilt structures, I realised that I have more than enough needed to complete the partial second level of the layout, including a small town, a fair-size city, and a fairly large locomotive facility. I just need to learn how to work faster.

Wayne

Great pictures of a great modeled layout. A great enjoyment to see your fine work, Doc!

I'm expecting quite a few Pikestuff items to show up in this thread, particularly more modern layouts....

Behind the SD-70 is a Pikestuff "Small Engine House", kitbashed longer and detailed with Walthers vents and caged ladder.
[attachment=16337]

City Classic "Company Houses" highly kitbashed to look like the houses in my nieghborhood. The one with the enclosed porch is mine.
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Great stuff guys! Wayne - Of all the layout photos I have seen from you over the years, I never would have guessed all those bridges were Atlas

I don't have the Atlas station, but have thought about buying it numerous times. I just could never figure out how to make it work. My brother tried to give me a Rico station once, and same thing. I do have some DPM kits, but none fit on my current layout, although I've tried to figure out how I could use them. But I notice "Kelly's Saloon" and "Skip's Chicken and Ribs" in the background of many layouts. I've got the Woodland Scenics' Phamacy and Shoe Repair on my layout. Those two seem to show up often on layouts set in western USA during the steam era.

One brand I used to see a lot but don't anymore is Revell. I have used many of their kits on past layouts. There was the freight house, the bakery, the engine house with operating doors, and others I don't recall. Buildings such as the bakery and engine house were mostly the same building with modifications. They were also great for bashing. I saw a bakery turned sideways and turned into a three stall engine house. I still have the freight house but am not currently using it on my layout. The other buildings are long gone.

Tom

FiatFan Wrote:One brand I used to see a lot but don't anymore is Revell. ......

As a kid, I wanted the Revell Engine House, but neither it nor Revell's Superior Bakery (essentially the same building with different front walls) were available at my LHS. I ended-up settling for the Weekly Herald, another version of the same kit, but with a modernised front wall. When that original layout was sold, I kept several structures from it, including that one.
It languished in a box for many years (I liked the brick detail, but not the semi-modern front wall). When I decided to build the stockyards/auction house at Lowbanks, I got it out of storage and replaced the ugly tile-front wall with a scratchbuilt annex for offices.





(The cows have come home since those photos were taken.)

Wayne

FiatFan Wrote:One brand I used to see a lot but don't anymore is Revell. Tom

I bought a Revell barn for $2.00 at a flea market. I still need to weather it and plant it on the layout.

Ahh, the Revell enginehouse! Probably located next to the Heljan turntable

The finished rolling lift bridge, using parts of Atlas through truss kit.
[attachment=16348]
The parts in black are the Atlas parts
[attachment=16347]
The deck truss bridge is two atlas kits, the water tank is an Atlas kit.
[attachment=16346]
This Roundhouse is bashed from two Revell Engine house kits, the roof is scratch built to fit.
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a view of the front of the roundhouse, looking across a Heljan turntable.
[attachment=16344]
The "Cask and Anchor restaurant" is a modified Atlas "Roadside Inn" kit.
[attachment=16343]
From the far end: Gift shop,(Modified Revell depot), The Cask and anchor, the boat shop( modified Atlas depot ), and the shipchandler Two Atlas Depot kits bashed together.
[attachment=16342]

beautiful scenery guys