I've laid out my town of Simcoe, Ontario, the parts of it I'm trying to depict. When it boils down to it you can only put in the essentials and hope it can represent the whole. There's a lot of linear space through the town where the railway used to run. Plenty of straight track, both north and south of the depot.
The first picture shows LE&N car 975 running past the switches for the freight shed track and the team track. My turnouts are laid out somewhat similar, allowing for the sharpness of the switches and having to curve the track between walls.
My effort at the same tracks, though I made the team track come off the main rather than the passing siding.
The next image is a very early one, looking south at the station. The fliver is on Argyle Street, just after crossing the tracks.
This three car train southbound looks at the Argyle Street crossing, hardly recognizable as the busy street and commercial area that exists today. The cars on the left are spotted at the freight shed. Notice the cross bucks, split on either side of the post. The one post served to give warnings in both directions. There would presumably be another cross buck on the west side before the crossing of the shed track.
This photo looks at a northbound car at the station. Train order board is down, meaning they have to stop for orders. This would be the destination for high school kids from Port Dover going to Simcoe Composite School, a couple of blocks away to the north west. I assume the photographer is standing beside Argyle Street here. Lots of trees and brush along the other side of the track, good to blend into the backdrop.
Again GRR coach 842, this time accompanying express combine 626, the last interurban car built in Canada. Expressmen are transhipping from a baggage cart, while the motorman checks on proceedings.
The north end of my model of the Simcoe station.
GRR 846 on charter service stops for a photo op. U.S. railfans have rented it for the day. Notice the milk cans on the baggage cart, feeding the dairy in town from outlying farms. Behind the station is a curve in the Lynn River. The large transverse section of the station housed the rotary converter that changed Ontario Hydro's current to 1500 VDC to power the LE&N. Shortly after this date, a brick substation was built, just to the left of the rail fan on the left. It used solid state voltage conversion, thus making the rotary convertor obsolete. Today this site is a municipal parking lot, the only remaining building this brick substation.
Looking North at the station model, sub-station building to the left.
A two car rail fan extra, as designated by the white flags and "Limited" sign. The photographer is standing in the shadow of the brick sub-station. GRR 844 leads LE&N car 937.
Now to add some elevations to the scenery, lots of trees to fill in, and Argyle Street and crossing.
Dave,
I log in through my FB account which allows me to post. You could try that.
Styrene is my favourite medium for structures, though I have been known to work in wood as well. There are lots of shapes and siding choices. I draft a plan of a complicated building like the station here before building it, one elevation per side in HO scale. When it comes to the roof, I first use paper to get the shapes right. I can add scraps of paper to fill odd corners, especially with a complex roof shape like Simcoe, before taking my bits of paper apart and transferring it to styrene plastic. Sometimes you can get cheap (read free) styrene from…
If it works for you Roger, we could meet in Simcoe at Simson Park, head down to Dover following the trail, perch at Knechtel's on the beach, then hit Hewitt's on the way to your place. Make a day of it so-to-speak.
P.S. Keep submitting! I got here because of the post in Facebook.