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Street Scenes & Discovery Plastics
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Too many model train layouts are filled with '57 Chevy convertibles, two-seat Ford Thunderbirds and Coca Cola trucks. The middle level of my layout has a variety of vehicles typical of the 1950s. Some are ordinary sedans with blackwall tires - the kinds of cars usually found in period photographs.
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The lower level of my train layout is a pre-World War II setting. The streets are filled with cars from the era - a tan '39 Graham Paige Sharknose sedan, a maroon and black Model A Ford and a green 1940 Packard Darrin. The parking area contains a Cord, an maroon Chrysler Airflow and two Ford woodies - a '35 and a '40. The cool, art-deco styled, gray and blue, full-skirted sedan behind the lamppost is a 1937 Panhard Dynamic Berline, something not often seen in the U.S. I placed it there because it looks very fancifully Thirties Aero, like you might see in a Disney or Merrie Melodies cartoon from the period.
Union Station has waiting taxis and a navy blue 1934 Chrysler Airflow. There's even a Christmas parade with Santa atop a 1930 Aherens-Fox fire engine.
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Discovery Plastics was a manufacturing company I once owned. While the firm eventually grew to well over 100 employees, as a start-up, it was located in a small storefront building which I've recreated on the layout. During the time I owned the business, I had a black Volkswagen Beetle with a red interior like the one parked on the train layout. Around the corner is a 1957 white Continental Mark II being repaired by a mechanic. In real life, I owned one of those as well and it needed frequent mechanical attention.
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Real Discovery Plastics (circa 1978) is at left; the O-gauge recreation is at right. There is a second DP building on the layout. It can be seen here.
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