And back we go to White Haven....

The lower (foreground) portion of White Haven is much more business/industrial than the section away from the tracks that I've already more or less finished and I talked about in a previous blog entry.

To mimic what was there in 1976, I have to do some research. Alot of my questions center around when the Jersey Central ceased operations in town and sold off their land in town, which was substantial due to a small yard and some facilities including a station. When was the station torn down? When were the tracks pulled up? What buildings remained or were repurposed?

I did find out that ACME put up a market in town in the former yard entry back in 1971. I'll see if I can model something there. I also need to find out when the water treatment system was installed and upgraded near that yard area.

Nonetheless, there are still some of the buildings still standing in town, especially the large industrial complex north of Berwick Street. Here's two shots - one from a current Google Map output, the other a topo map from 1950:

One thing is pretty constant in both maps - Main Street runs above the yard and between the LVRR and the CNJ mainlines and it's mostly businesses - and that's what I'll model on that street. I just bought Central Camera and a print shop from Clever Models and I'll be building those soon.

I did a little research on the LVRR station that also existed in town - it was located north of Berwick Street near the diner in town. I will be modeling the diner, but I also needed to know when the LVRR station was torn down. Answer? Sometime in the 1980's.

I found a couple of photos on a website devoted to Pennsylvania train stations here: whitehaven.jpg (2531×2694)

It's a relatively simple building - looked to be (by the photos about 60 feet long and only about 12 feet wide running along at LVRR track level. I decided to scratchbuild the structure using a Clever Models texture called Lucky and Knott's siding. Pictures of the build follow:

The siding sheets cut to the sizes of the ends and sides of the building.

I added a bunch of detail parts from a variety of Clever Models kits including the small Chicago house, the Cream City kit, the Warehouse and the Creamery

Walls joined.

Walls and floor reinforced and roof trusses built for the building roof overhangs.

Trusses installed.

Roof underlayment glued on to the trusses and roof supports.

Fascia and roof added.