Your golden-era model railroads!

I haven't done much with my layout as I've been working on 1:1 scale trains for each weekend (as a brakeman on a nearby tourist RR) since June. I'm taking a break until the end of this month, so hopefully I can get back to the layout.
Meanwhile, the Sergeant who normally drives the CO's command car for 'B' Company, 796th ROB has some washing to do!

 

Someone managed to snap off a shot with their Speed Graphic camera on a August afternoon at Sadie, TN. The shadow from the Texaco "Sheppard's crook" sign post shows up on the TN State Patrol car, though.

Mr. Grindstaff must be discussing "that war across the water" with one of the older men who hang around his store these days...

 

At the Hunter, TN depot, and a lovely local gal is waiting for her sweetheart to arrive with a 72-hour pass at Camp Forrest:



The old men are inside arguing about checkers and the war "across the water" at the Grindstaff store near Hurley Hollow, at Sadie, TN



The commuters wait for the 12:15 to Johnson City at the Buladeen depot:



Another duty day is halfway done at 'Baker' Company, 796th ROB:





And near the Ensor farm, the gap is set correct to keep the cows in their pen. New-fangled flatlander swing gates are unheard of here:

 

I added a new gas pump at the Grindstaff store. It's a very small detail but I found a very good looking model of the right Texaco brand pump for normal leaded gas that would have bene in use in rural areas in the 40s.
It's 1/43 scale so it's a little bigger than it should be, but these pumps were very tall in real life, so I think it works well.
It only took about 20 minute of weathering (dry brushing and washes) to get it to look right for the location.

 

It's November 11, but on my layout, veterans are never forgotten:



















Lee Bishop
Captain, US Army
1998-2006

 

A few random close-in shots around the Buladeen depot over the weekend...

 

I added this to the wall over the weekend:


It's an aluminum casting made by the Age of Steam Roundhouse museum off their original. I drilled attachment holes and painted it to match how it'd look in service in WW2. It's hanging on the wall of the train room. I used clevis pins attached to picture wire from behind to hand it on the wall.

THEN, I put my GoPro camera down inside the Grindstaff store with the roof on and took shots with the app on my cell. They're not the best shots as the camera wasn't made for this kind of thing, but once I ran them through some filters, they have a feel like "someone with a Speed Graphic" took them in the summer of 1943. It was neat to see it from the perspective of a O scale person:

 

Thanks, guys!
Here's looking down Stoney Creek Road on a sweltering summer's day in 1943 while waiting for the next ET&WNC train:

 

FYI, a photo of my layout is in the Trackside Photos section of the March 2021 Model Railroader.
I goofed when I added the caption with my cell, it auto corrected my first name to "Ashley" instead of Lee, but otherwise it's all there.

Yesterday, I realized I had the right kinds of pilots for my ten-wheelers they carried in the 30s and 40s, in the spare parts package. I hadn't known that before and was pondering scratch building the right kind of wood pilot they carried in the war and pre-war years. Clearly, I was happy I didn't have to do that, and also angry I didn't know that earlier. An hour of paint and weathering, and now ET&WNC 9, 11 and 12 all have the right pilots!

Here, you can see what they'd carried up to yesterday, boilertube pilots that were correct for the final days of the narrow gauge era on the RR: