Red's Eats

A CV through freight heads by Red's on the WRD. The era is set by the CV paint jobs and the 1965 pickup truck, an Oxford model. I wanted a few scenes that could be added to the layout for summer viewing when the 1960's-80's come into play. This is one for the foreground.

A great little place in Wisscasset, Maine which offers lobster rolls and found track side makes a great little structure to model. Back in the spring one of the booths at our local train show in Woodstock offered this little baggy of four structures for $8.00. One caught my eye as a possibility for my rendition of Red's. I do need a spot for my crews to stop and get some lunch or at least an ice cream cone. So for my later years operation this has become a new drop-in diorama.

Years ago and in season while working the afternoon Ford's Talbotville switches, the job I worked normally took a transfer out to connect with the NS at Southwold yard. Once the transfer is put away we would run up to the crossing for some eats at the Polar King...a similar establishment as Red's. I normally went for a soft ice cream cone, but at times a foot long was called for.

Once I cleaned off the shell I painted most of the model by brush using acrylic dollar store paints. Black for the roof and back. Red and white for the rest. The server got some Floquil flesh touch-up's while the counter trim edge is painted Floquil old silver. The sign came from a colour copy of a Railfan article photo. The awning worked well also just glued to the area along the upper front. Some signs from my collection rounded off the structure. A really easy build. One thing I found was when I place it on the diorama base and angled it the way I wanted it the rear showed a bit. So instead of leaving it just black some weathering was applied, a door with the opening over a rear window. I also added an awning, some junk and a power line to a round circle area built into the plastic back...a second look is coming tomorrow...George Dutka

This is how Red's looked during Sept. 2016. Each time I passed by there was a lineup...even in the morning 30 minutes before it was to open. It was impossible to get a clean shot of all the signs on the structure. It sure would have been nice to add these to my model.

My little baggy find that I could see Red's as a possibility.

Looking inside the structure.

The structure is finished but the base is in the early stage of scenery.

My model placed on the Railfan article that I used for the sign and awnings. I just photocopied them full size as seen in the photo. I also used the roadway sign.

The finished diorama.