Wells River Structures on the Green Mountain Division

A Montreal-Boston CPR RDC makes a station stop at Wells River. This station was built from a Heartland Models kit. We will detrain here and have a walk around town and check out some of the buildings.

Structures Finally Finished at Wells River...by Don Janes

          It's been nine months since I started building my Wells River scene on my Green Mountain Division layout. When I got home from Arizona last April I started working in earnest on the Wells River peninsula.  There were a few structures finished but I hadn't started the scenery and more structures needed to be built.  I made it my goal to finish this section of layout before heading back south in Jan..  I still need to add a lot more small details which I will do as I move along but overall everything is done. I even added street lighting and a couple of interior scenes.  The lights really enhance the town.  I just got a new iPhone so most of the photos were done with that. The shots with the station and RDC's were done with my DLSR camera but the rest with the iPhone XR.  

       The peninsula is about 14 feet long.  The line to Wells River is a meandering branchline that cuts off the mainline at a spot I call Essex Jct.  The scene is entirely freelanced. The station is a prototypically correct structure. The rest of the structures are either kitbuilt or scratchbuilt. Some are models of actual structures found in other parts of New England. I will describe each one briefly in the photo captions.  I hope you enjoy the tour of my Wells River scene.

       I am off to Arizona in a few weeks but will hopefully have some material with me to do a couple of posts while I am gone.

Here is a track side view of Wells River with the station, water tank and section shanty which was covered in a previous post.

This small oil dealer is the next set of structures past the depot. It was also covered in a previous post.

The Wells River freight shed was scatchbuilt by Neil Schofield. It actually follows a New Haven prototype in Mansfield, CT. I repainted to closer match B&M colours.

The Creamery is a South River Model Works kit I built many years ago and is still one of my favourite structures.

This factory is also a SRMW kit. It was called RUGG Mfg. Co. but I plan to change the name when I come up with one.

Kendall's General Store is one structure from another SRMW kit.  There are also apartment units on the upper floors

Little Lou's is a small kit from FOS models that I built quite a few years ago.  I really fit nicely between Kendall's store and Rugg Mfg. Co.

Matt's Automotive is another SRMW kit..  I actually drove by the real Matt's in Massachusetts a couple of years ago and took photos of the real garage and had a nice talk with Matt who is the real owner. The kit is an exact replica of the real building.

The old brick fire station in Wells River is a hydrocal kit once offered by Railroad Kits. I decided to detail and light up the upstairs washroom.

Town Line Auto Body is another FOS kit. I have always liked this kit and finally bought it a year ago.  

This is a trackside view of Town Line. I was able to use a lot of detail parts I have accumulated over the years in this scene..

The local feed mill generates a fair amount of rail traffic. It is part of another SRMW kit. 

A trackside view of the mill.

State Line Farm Supply is a Walthers kit. I added interior lights and a couple of tractors in the showroom.

Baker's General store and gas station is the last structure on the edge of town.  The gas pumps, sign  and details around them are from a Woodland Scenics kit. Baker's is the other structure that came with the SRMW Matt's Automotive kit. I just noticed that I need to add some steps at the front door before someone falls and breaks their leg.

Now that our tour of the town is complete we will board the northbound B&M RDC and head back to Montreal.then home to Sarnia