My first official structure on the Chartiers Branch layout is "O'Brien Steel Construction Company" (yes, that is the correct spelling), which was located in Washington, Pennsylvania. The company was located at milepost 22, so about a mile and a half away from the end of the line. It was chartered in Pennsylvania around August 14, 1913.
I will attempt to model the buildings matching what they looked like in the real world, but if no information about the building is available, I will use my imagination. This kit is such an imaginary building. It is the Showcase Miniatures "Sunkist Packing Shed" kit. The history behind this kit is that it was requested by a fellow S-scale model railroader who wanted this structure, which the owner of Showcase Miniatures, Joe Warren, had previously done in HO-scale. The project was eventually co-sponsored by the N.A.S.G. to be able to obtain the requested minimum number of reservations to make the project a "go". Joe produced the kit and fulfilled the initial orders. Subsequent orders were then sold through his company's web site, which is where I purchased mine. Presumably now that this second run has sold out, Showcase Miniatures are no longer making S-scale structures, and they appear to have taken any S-scale items off of their site. Too bad, because this is a nice kit.
Documenting this project became too long for one page, so I have split the article up into several pages. You can click on a topic of interest below. Near the bottom of each page is a link to the next topic.
- Kit Parts
- Basic Construction
- Priming and Painting
- Windows
- Roofs
- Trim
- Deck
- Doors
- Detailing
- Base
- Lights
- Interior
- Exterior