This first version had a flat roof, but I ripped that off and tried several times until I could make the slightly peaked roof of the second version characteristic of a lot of New England mills.
The third and probably final version came about after I purchased a three-part factory from Railway Design Associates and placed it in front of the original structure, which is connected to the right-hand building by a passageway. Here one sees two of the three buildings that came with the kit, but since the third one, a modern concrete warehouse, didn't fit with my nineteenth-century railroad, I decided I couldn't use it. I then began to play around with it and ended up turning it into the R. I. Dye Works, which appears at the background at right in front of the P.J. Macktez Mill. I scratchbuilt the new wooden loading dock, and if I can fit a railroad siding next to it, I'd like to build a wooden travelling crane, such George Selios created for his brilliant plumbing supply model of many years back. The beautiful details, such as the shelves, oil drums, and sacks, are resin casting that came unpainted from Sierra West Scale Models. [GPL].
At the end of 2016 the building moved to Jim Kerkam’s Manassas Gap Railroad, which runs from Manassas, VA, 52 miles to Front Royal, VA. On Jim's layout the former factory has become part of the main railroad yard. Mike Tykick, who made the new sign for Jim, took the photograph. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Other views
- First version (with flat roof)
- A bird's-eye view of the completed factory complex
