What's your Best/Favorite Building On Your Layout?

This is a really hard question. I've customized a number of off the shelf buildings to varying degrees to represent things close to me - my layout has become in a sense, a reminder of the many people and places that have shaped my life. This building encompasses a bunch of those, and so it probably is my favorite. I realize its a Woodland Scenics stock building and all I did was change some signs and add some paint, but this one means a lot. You don't get the building without the stories though: 

I'm very proudly from Canton, Ohio. Haven't live there since I was 18 years old, and I'm 38 now. But it will forever be *Home*. The ice cream shop is "Heggy's" which represents "Heggy's Candy and Nuts". It's a local joint known for candy, fresh roasted nuts, and a small restaurant. I worked there in high school, in fact, at one point my entire immediate family worked there. I loved making ice cream cones, and sundaes, it was a fun job and some great people. I custom mixed some green paint, because the real building had a very unique shade of green. The picture doesn't capture it well, but its kind of a funky color - probably in the realm of jade green, but yet still different. There is also a Coke sign on the bottom of the front door, just like there used to be on the actual location. (It might still be there, but I think they moved it inside) 

On this side of the building we have Mom's Barber Shop. My mom is a super talented lady. She maintained her license to cut hair long after she left the profession of being a beautician. Also, she was the only person to ever cut my hair until I was 19! She always kept me looking good. 

On the top floor is the "Imperial Pool Hall". So, Canton at one time had a ridiculous number of bowling alleys. Many had pool tables, and in high school, my friends and I would go play pool at them. Most of my family bowls, and "Imperial" was one of those many bowling alleys. 

I'm not a beer drinker, so a beer sign advertiser didn't resonate with me. That said, Royal Crown cola did. I grew up in a "Coke" family, but when I went to Grandma's house there were always bottles and later cans of RC in the fridge. Its a fond memory of Grandma's house, and I still enjoy an RC every now and then.  

That was alot of words...sorry, probably cheesy for some, but my layout has become a place to keep memories alive, which makes me enjoy it all the more. Thanks to anyone who read through all that...

Oh, boy...which one? Like you l bash a lot of them, and have scratch built a number of them. I am working on a mining town store/P.O. from a kit now.  My favorites are grain elevators, followed by stamp mills, and then small, rustic gas stations. There seem to be a lot of kits for those, but my favorite of those is a scratch built Skelly station.

 My favourite building is a scratch built model of a CPR 280 ton coating plant that seems to have become the centrepiece of my layout .

  Here are a few pics 

Al

AlbertsTrains - beautiful!! --- any model info on the locomotive? 

Don, not only do you bring a wet street to life you even have the reflection of the cars headlights shining off that street.  Amazing!

Menard's Morton Salt

This is my favorite that I have built so far, but it did not end up on my layout. It is now in a public display in Maryland.

BTS kits.  Cabin Creek Coal Tipple.  Elliott and Sons Supply.  

Great topic, Don.

I feel the same way as NKP4ME. Some of the structures on my layout reflect my various interests, things I like, etc.

My Yankee Stadium:

"Common baby light my fire!" Whiskey a Go go in LA, where Jim Morrison and The Doors got started:

Victorian home that looks just like the home where my wife lived with her parents and 3 brothers in the Lansingberg section of Troy, NY:

Arnold

From my hometown of Hazleton, Pa. and built by ANDRE GARCIA "the Elbow Room".

Hello Rick!

 The locomotive is an MTH Premier Royal Hudson that I had recently repainted 

Al

albertstrains posted:

Hello Rick!

 The locomotive is an MTH Premier Royal Hudson that I had recently repainted 

Al

 

Thanks, looks great!

Another favorite, Rico Station, decorated by ad showing my daughter, Maria Cribari, starring in the musical, Annie, and another ad for Pinehurst golf resort, where my father loved to play golf in NC:

Although my daughter was never in Annie, she can really sing. If you want to hear her, go on U Tube, plug in my name, and click on my video/song: Earthrise. I am very proud of her  and she thinks the trains are cool. Arnold

My brother-in-law has made me four buildings for my layout. This is our favorite. It is the Tippy's Taco from College Park, MD. When my wife was pregnant with our first child, she would get a craving for Tippy's tacos.

So, he made us a Tippy's house. My wife (pregnant) is out front at a table. I am inside ordering. You can see me just behind the catus on the left.

Nice structures guys.  I have it narrowed down to three:

This is my first major scratch-build, over 30 years ago.  It's from the old attic layout, so it holds a lot of sentimental value.

The Lionel Irvington factory is much too big, so I made this one.  I need to get around to improving the interior one of these days.

This Lionel Luxury Diner has great detail, window decals, and lighting.  IMO, one of their most attractive pieces, and it fits nicely into a short corner on the overhead layout.

Jerry

Thank you CoachJoe, I do very long (45 to 110 sec.) exposures, then "paint" the shot with small flashlights. Slowly moving them around. That's how the headlights on the street and any dark areas of the shot can be brought up a bit. The trick is to not over do it. Also I have my camera hocked up to a monitor so I can check the shot. It takes sometimes dozens of tries. As for the street I just use a wide paint brush and brush on water. On a warm day it dries fast so no harm is done. Like others I like to personalize my buildings. Example on the right of this shot is "Peter's Pretty Good Hamburgers". "You can't keep our burgers down". Peter is my wife's cousin and is a chief. My wife and he are Greek, that's why the Greek flag and blue and white building. A 16x9 print of this shot hangs in his home. He loved it. Don

My photography is NOT GOOD, but I love my Springfield Frisco Depot --

I finished this hotel project today.  My favorite is my power plant. Added strobe lights to the smokestacks.

www.youtube.com/trainbros89

Out of the 203 structures in Moon Township, USA, two are my very favorite because they relate directly to my wife and me sentimentally.

The first would be her favorite, too. It is an exact replica of her childhood home, which was crafted by an architect for me to give to her as one of her Christmas gifts several years ago. The coolest part about the gifting was that (a.) she had no idea I was presenting such a gift to her, so she was quite puzzled about what could be in the gift-box; (b.) she recognized the model as being of her house before its roof area was entirely out of its tissue-paper, as she removed the miniature house from its box. Later, when modeling it into the landscape of the layout, I put a miniature of her reaching for the doorknob of the front door, and I placed a model of her father standing nearby.

My second-favorite structure would be the exact replica of our house, crafted by the same architect, that a dear neighborhood friend of ours had crafted for us, as his surprise gift to us several Christmases ago. When I configured it onto the layout, I put a miniature of him standing in front, near his first pickup truck, looking at the house he was about to spend so much time in, helping me construct the layout.

And I placed both houses in view of each other.

He was the first neighbor to greet us when we first moved into the neighborhood as newly-weds. He had walked over to our deck as we sat there enjoying our new view of our new neighborhood around us, and he said, at tens years of age, "HI, my name is Paul. Welcome to the neighborhood." In the years that followed, we sort of kidnapped-adopted him, as he grew older and matured through the decades, having a very pleasant relationship with his wonderful parents, but not shy to borrow Paul for myriad jobs and celebrations and adventures, right up to today, in his early 30's,  such as his working with me at F.A.O. Schwarz, 5th Avenue, NYC, on the Lionel layout, a few years ago, seen here (we had an absolute ball!) 

So, my two favorite structures on my layout are tied to my wife and me emotionally, representing family to us, and close relationships, just like the layout itself, every bit of it, is tied to and born from memories of family and happy times with friends who have meant something important to us. To me, a layout and the favorite buildings on it are a place to visit for a trip down Memory Lane, to places of dignity, sacred sanctuaries, that talk to us about the beauty in life - its people.

FrankM

My favorite building on my 50s style 027 toy train layout is my scratch built round house.  I designed in my favorite features such as shape with windows between the two levels of roof, square smoke removal stacks, lots of windows, brick siding and interior lights.  It was built from 1/8 inch Masonite and covered with brick paper.  I think it fits in very well with my homemade $10 turntable.  For details on how I build both see the below OGR forum link. 

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...ra-027-layout?page=1

TT post 9,  Round house post 11

Charlie

I like this one a lot it was one of my first

Moonson posted:

Out of the 203 structures in Moon Township, USA, two are my very favorite because they relate directly to my wife and me sentimentally.

The first would be her favorite, too. It is an exact replica of her childhood home, which was crafted by an architect for me to give to her as one of her Christmas gifts several years ago. The coolest part about the gifting was that (a.) she had no idea I was presenting such a gift to her, so she was quite puzzled about what could be in the gift-box; (b.) she recognized the model as being of her house before its roof area was entirely out of its tissue-paper, as she removed the miniature house from its box. Later, when modeling it into the landscape of the layout, I put a miniature of her reaching for the doorknob of the front door, and I placed a model of her father standing nearby.

My second-favorite structure would be the exact replica of our house, crafted by the same architect, that a dear neighborhood friend of ours had crafted for us, as his surprise gift to us several Christmases ago. When I configured it onto the layout, I put a miniature of him standing in front, near his first pickup truck, looking at the house he was about to spend so much time in, helping me construct the layout.

And I placed both houses in view of each other.

He was the first neighbor to greet us when we first moved into the neighborhood as newly-weds. He had walked over to our deck as we sat there enjoying our new view of our new neighborhood around us, and he said, at tens years of age, "HI, my name is Paul. Welcome to the neighborhood." In the years that followed, we sort of kidnapped-adopted him, as he grew older and matured through the decades, having a very pleasant relationship with his wonderful parents, but not shy to borrow Paul for myriad jobs and celebrations and adventures, right up to today, in his early 30's,  such as his working with me at F.A.O. Schwarz, 5th Avenue, NYC, on the Lionel layout, a few years ago, seen here (we had an absolute ball!) 

So, my two favorite structures on my layout are tied to my wife and me emotionally, representing family to us, and close relationships, just like the layout itself, every bit of it, is tied to and born from memories of family and happy times with friends who have meant something important to us. To me, a layout and the favorite buildings on it are a place to visit for a trip down Memory Lane, to places of dignity, sacred sanctuaries, that talk to us about the beauty in life - its people.

FrankM

Five Stars for your above reply, Frank. Loved every word of it. Thanks for sharing it, Arnold

My favorite is my scratch built hockey rink.  

- Nick

I have absolutely no skill when it comes to building buildings, so I rely on the talents of others. Here are two of my favorites.

First, a special run flat from Todd Architectural Models:

Second, a switch tower from Crescent Locomotive Works:

Not very easy to pick my favorite model but here is one I really like. I owned the kit for about eight years before I built it and put it on a layout - from a kit by Stoney Creek Designs. Complex and delicate to build.

MELGAR

The real Ramble Inn was located on the city line in Queens ,N.Y. 

My baseball field is my favorite part of my layout.

DohertyNJ posted:

My baseball field is my favorite part of my layout.

I love it. Nice green fence, could be the Green Monster at Fenway Park. Bravo DoughertyNJ

Arnold

One building that is great is Joe's diner that was made to be sold as a telephone (pick up the roof). It has a fully detailed interior with people, sign and interior are lighted, and by pressing a button in the back, it plays "Rock Around The Clock" from the 1950s. They go on eBay for less than $50., and it's 1:48 in size. Search "diner telephone" under "collectibles" on eBay.

laz1957 posted:

From my hometown of Hazleton, Pa. and built by ANDRE GARCIA "the Elbow Room".

Very nice, but it begs the question... Did you include on your layout the below ground "comfort station" around the corner?

Keystone posted:

laz1957 posted:

From my hometown of Hazleton, Pa. and built by ANDRE GARCIA "the Elbow Room".

Very nice, but it begs the question... Did you include on your layout the below ground "comfort station" around the corner?

KEYSTONE,

  WOW that is a thought.  Man I remember those on Broad Street when I was a kid.  LOL!!!  Brought back some memories,Thanks!!!!

Its amazing how many people do ball fields on their layout and its their favorite structure.  This is my mine and definitely my favorite build.  

It's amazing how many people have models of real homes from their life on the layouts.  Many that haven't even chimed in on this thread.

Nick R, I remember when you were building your rink.  It turned out great.  I like the Air Force ad on the boards.  My daughter spent her 4 years in.

Joe H, Joe's Diner is truly a wonderful building for the layout.  I too have one and every Joe should hve on on their layout.

The Star Grill I've been working off and on for a long time. It's sitting on my work bench waiting for me to finish. It was from a small company that only made two building and then went out of business. Nice little Deco joint that would fit almost anywhere. I used one of Miller Engineering's neon small signs inside on the back wall. Don

I have several also.  One of my latest favorites is my model of a Wonder Bread Bakery.  It is loosely modeled after a real bakery in Hodgkins, IL that has since been torn down.  After this picture was taken I have added flour silos on the right rear corner of the building.

Art

scale rail posted:

The Star Grill I've been working off and on for a long time. It's sitting on my work bench waiting for me to finish. It was from a small company that only made two building and then went out of business. Nice little Deco joint that would fit almost anywhere. I used one of Miller Engineering's neon small signs inside on the back wall. Don

 

 

 

 A great little kit. I turned mine into a bar.....and it's hall finished too!!! 

 

 

Art, I can smell the bread baking.  AMC Dave, I have too many bars in my town now. Though I'm planning one more. Don

Highly compressed corner model of the White Oak Denim Mill. In 1915 White Oak developed 01 heavyweight denim which birthed Levi's 501 button-fly Jeans with the red selvage thread down each leg..  An exclusive supply and purchase relationship lasted for 102 years. White Oak (circa 1905) closed 12/31/17. 

Model buildings by Model Structures for Model Railroads, stack by Harry Hienke who also built and /or weathered many of the Service Yard structures shown. 

scale rail posted:

Art, I can smell the bread baking.  AMC Dave, I have too many bars in my town now. Though I'm planning one more. Don

Didn't think you could have to many in a 1950's setting!!!!

It's my first bar.....had lots of places to eat.

I can't pick between two.  One is Korber Joe's Pickle Factory bashed into a 2 1/2 inch deep flat with lots of extra's - most scratch-built like the loading dock, square tapered smokestack, ducting on the exterior of the building. 

   The other is the most elaborate kitbash I have attempted to date, the coal mine, tipple complex.... It's a combination of 2 different kits, plus a bunch of scratch-built items: 

This is a GREAT thread!  Excellent work everyone,  inspirational!

- Nick

chris a posted:

I can't pick between two.  One is Korber Joe's Pickle Factory bashed into a 2 1/2 inch deep flat with lots of extra's - most scratch-built like the loading dock, square tapered smokestack, ducting on the exterior of the building. 

   The other is the most elaborate kitbash I have attempted to date, the coal mine, tipple complex.... It's a combination of 2 different kits, plus a bunch of scratch-built items: 

 

Chris, slow down, your gettin too good. Fantastic work. Don

Nice work Guys,

I really like the Freight House I made for my harbor, and the sawmill, both are probably favorites.

Mission Santa Barbara (my now grown son's grade school project) made from cardstock:  

I built this model of the section house at Vance Junction, Colorado on the narrow gauge Rio Grande Southern Railroad more than 15 years ago from a Banta Modelworks kit. It resides on my 12-by-8 layout that was completed in 2004.

MELGAR

laz1957 posted:

Keystone posted:

laz1957 posted:

From my hometown of Hazleton, Pa. and built by ANDRE GARCIA "the Elbow Room".

Very nice, but it begs the question... Did you include on your layout the below ground "comfort station" around the corner?

KEYSTONE,

  WOW that is a thought.  Man I remember those on Broad Street when I was a kid.  LOL!!!  Brought back some memories,Thanks!!!!

I used MTH's subway entrance; changed the signs, painted the green trim black and created a taller pipe w/ a wider cap for what I always thought was the vent for the heat or "fresh air".

Don,  thanks for the encouraging words, and thanks to all who hit the "like reply" button.   

Trust me, Don, from my perspective, it doesn't feel like I am  moving too fast !!   After more decades than I care to admit to,  I am glad I am finally getting some decent modeling results,  that I am proud of.   Being a member here on the forum has alot to do with my progress, always something new to learn here. 

This is mine.  It is a model of an actual grain elevator in my small home town.  The C&NW cowboy line is long abandoned, but the elevator remains and is still in use for truck traffic.  The grain is elevated from the pit on the back side, by means of a conveyor with buckets attached, and deposited in several bins awaiting loading.  The engine would unhook from its train and spot a couple of box cars for loading.  The cars were moved to load the 2nd car by mechanical means.  Often the empty would come in from the wrong direction, (from the east where the big terminals are located)  and need to be placed on the siding for further movement by means of a "flying" switch manuver. 

Chris A, You have a wonderful eye and sense of artistic unity, like here.....where you have kept a consistent tone and age to the vista with that particular tunnel portal, in its appearance of weathered lumber, working so well with the beautiful coal facility building. Your work rises to the level of art, in my opinion.

FrankM

Scale Rail,

My favorite structure on any layout is my Hellgate metal Bridge, to me as a Welding Engineer the ultimate metal O structure.  

PCRR/Dave

I built this Bridgeport Tower House model from a kit by Laser Art Structures Branchline Trains about ten years ago. It didn't make the cut onto either of my O gauge layouts. There are many similar houses in Bridgeport, CT.

MELGAR

Pickle plant...

I really like that.....built one in HO like that...now I need a O scale version

FrankM -  Thanks for the very thoughtful and positive feedback.   

chris a posted:

I can't pick between two.  One is Korber Joe's Pickle Factory bashed into a 2 1/2 inch deep flat with lots of extra's - most scratch-built like the loading dock, square tapered smokestack, ducting on the exterior of the building. 

   The other is the most elaborate kitbash I have attempted to date, the coal mine, tipple complex.... It's a combination of 2 different kits, plus a bunch of scratch-built items: 

 

Chris

those are just stunning pic! I like that coaling station I see what you mean on the weathering I will have to try it on mine a great job all around 

This small machine shop, on my 2004 layout, is the only structure that I have built from styrene. I much prefer to work in wood and generally use small buildings on my layouts.

MELGAR

This is hard.  If I don't like it, it would never be on my layout. I'd rather have plywood or more track. Not the best photos; wrong device. Still learning this ones camera, which is clunky, but not too bad. I miss my old AL-1 and developing real film though. 

   This factory used to be an AF talking American Flyer City Station with timed stops. The timer still functions and I use it a lot, so I guess it wins "Best" by default (it actually controls the el, not the lower lines.) It was going to get tossed until I nabbed it (a freebe) No roof or doors (still no door to enter as is ) and  I never liked the green/yellow windows on the station much, but they look "right" to me as old factory windows, so I never bothered hunting parts (now Lionel parts for thier repop)

The fav. on this layout is stored on another device ... so more later.

   My all time favorite is my childhood gantry and launcher(& pw car) Enough so that once the WB/Looney Tunes train was done, I ended up with this fun little layout to eat up more "space"

I detailed and repainted the Archery shop, and made the upstairs a Mason's Lodge!

MO985......WOW!

Love this thread !!! Kudos kudos !!

One of my favorites from the last iteration of the Munoz Lines . . . Sunshine Sarsaparilla. Built for us by John.

The Munoz Building I built from a Bar Mills kit

Two I kitbashed, Hy Dranger's Flower Shop and Ginny's Election Headquarters

Kayla's Soap built for us by John

Pocahontas Coal built for us by Brian

Question - how many of you have a funeral parlor on your layout. Here are photos of mine. It is one of the buildings my brother-in-law made.

Charlie

I used to see a lot of country stores when l was kid, and alway liked the ones with a gas station built into a corner and so have long  desired that Stony Creek store kit beautifully modeled above.  This even though l have bashed a couple of other store kits with that feature, and just got in another two story store kit to bash, and have the Alladdin store kit yet to build.  This last and the Stony Creek kit are probably the top of the pile in country store kits.  Dunno where l will put them all.

It would have to be Finley Station; if not for Finley I doubt there would even be a layout for me to enjoy.

I guess i like all my buildings because I scratch build everything on my layout...the ones  that stand out are the buildings I created for my Grand Kids and my wife Ruth pluse my old home town.

.

Scrapper did the sarsaparilla factory relocate to New Jersey?

Gene that Northport Sweet Shop is dead on.  Nice build.

Coach Joe . . . . . Sunshine Sarsaparilla is now in Delaware

Menards flying saucer which steals cows.

It stole the show on Halloween, parents loved it, kids thought Godzilla was a bit better.

I am glad to see so many scratch-builders and kitbashers still in the hobby.  I have enjoyed all the submissions and keep them coming.

Charlie

Not my best but one of my favorites. Don

This Department 56 Diner where a young couple is sharing an ice cream soda: