Silver Lake,
Thanks for sharing your stories of the area from your art school days. It really brought the Providence area to life for me. And thanks for tying in the New Haven line and switch tower. It's often interesting to see the intersections of where the diners are located and where the rail lines are. Google is a great tool for that.
It's too bad the Civil War era mill was torn down. And the fact that there was once a large building behind the Silvertop makes sense. It was sort of sitting all by itself when I was there, which seemed odd.
Like you, I have an S scale diner model but of the Tip Top. It's part of the Lefton's Great American Diners Series from the Roadside USA Collection. Someday maybe I'll succeed in getting an in-focus photo of it to post. The back's unfinished, so it would look best against the wall of a taller building on a layout.
I hadn't heard about the McDonald's with the RR cars dining area until your post, but then I stumbled on a reference and photo two days ago. According to a railroad.net post, in 2006, the McDonald's remodeled and either donated or sold the car (they only mentioned one) to the Old Colony & Fall River Railroad Museum. The museum just closed September 4 of this year. Apparently a McD's play ground was in the streamlined car at one point. Posters theorized it was originally a New York Central or New Haven car. McD's, like Denny's, went through a "diner phase" when they made various cosmetic changes to try and cash in on the popularity of diners. I don't think it was that successful. Maybe the Fall River railcar(s) sticking out of the side of the building dates from those days? What an odd juxtaposition of styles -- the Golden Arches meet the Silver Sides! :-).
Mickey D's meets New Haven. (I'll try and post the shareable photo tomorrow. It's stuck on my iPad. In the meantime, here's the link.)
Thanks for sharing.
Tomlinson Run Railroad
