Upgrading West Barre, Vermont

The West Barre station has the old roof and signs removed. The signs will be glued inside as part of the structures history. The brick base is seen under the station that still needs finishing and the Gatorfoam base is seen in the background.

 Station Renovations Begins

Last weekend I began renovating my West Barre, Vermont site. As I mentioned in an earlier post I plan on having multiple Gatorfoam drop-in bases that will change the look of the location. At present I have the station base completed and the station is beginning a total remodel. This station is older than I am. It was on my childhood layout and given to me by my fathers friend Bill Darling. Bill had a huge layout in his attic during the early 1960's. I remember my visits to his attic when I was probably around 6-8 years old. He gave me this old station he was not using anymore and had been sitting on his shelf for years. I had a 4 by 8 foot layout at that time. The station is made of a balsa wood frame with paper siding and trim.

In the early 1980's I refurbished the station with a thin plastic roof cover, wood siding and Grandt line windows and doors added. At that time I had read a lot of articles about building what you see and I have done that a lot to get scenes and projects finished over the years including this station. I only finished three wall as that is all that one will see. This station has been used on three different layouts or modules. Only twice did I have a name on the station. These signs I still have and am attaching to the inside of the structure as part of it's history.

The station was originally used on my HOn30 Maine two footer modules (part of the Thames Valley Railway Modular Club) and was painted in Maine RR structure colours. It was later upgraded with CV signs when used on my Randolph yard module (see Jan. 1992, RMC) and now on the White River Division. Plans are to add Northeastern slate roofing to the station, give it a coat of a dark red CV station colouring, new signs, details and a brick platform...stay tuned...George Dutka