This little building is 2.5 inches wide.  The building is in O scale which allows lots of little details to be added.

While most people comment about the moss on the roof, I personally like the bird's nest.  The nest is smaller than a dime.

At the far end of the mining area lies the Lost Canyon Mine.

The little community is coming to life with the addition of a few vehicles and towns people.

About 30 years ago, my good friend Max Corey built a small HO layout and he built these little stores for that layout.  Max is the most talented model builder I have ever known and he built all these (and more) in just one week.

Max gave them to me before he left Alaska and I have put them into various scenes over the years.

Their small size seemed to be just right for this scene.

The Independence Mine in Alaska was near to Max's home and he knew there were several very small structures like this at that mine in the 1930s.  All are long gone.

So here is the little mining community of Corey.

Across the room from the door in my train room, I am building an HO scale mining community in the corner.

The mine is based on one Malcolm Furlow did many years ago.

Indy's Dionsaur Dig

Around 1999, I decided I needed to do a Grandpa/Grandson project.

My granddaughter had dissected an owl's pellet in school and she brought the bones home.  I found enough of a mouse skeleton to make a small diorama of an archaeological dig revealing a "dinosaur" skeleton.

Indiana Jones was big in theaters back then so I decided to call it Indy's Dinosaur Dig.

The scale is HO.  The locomotive is HOn30.

I found a photo of an old abandoned waterfront building and set out to build my own O scale version.  Here is the result.

Small Cabin On A River

I've always had a fascination with small shacks.  This one is in O scale.  The actual building itself is 2.5 by 5 inches.  It looks a lot bigger because of the details surrounding it.

In preparation for a move to a new house, I had to destroy my old layout.   What better way to  remove a trestle than to "burn" it down.

My grandson at age 11.  Model was a tribute to Tom Yorke.  Won the Gazette Award at the Narrow Gauge Convention that year.

Back in May of 1990, my On3 pile driver was featured as Model Railroader's Model of the Month.

Scratchbuilt based on a pile driver used by the Simon Benson Lumber Company.  CHB boiler and hardware was used.

Sawmills and railroads go together naturally.

Sawmills come in all sizes.

This is a sawmill I built in HO scale in 1986.

The figure in the top photo is about 3/4th inch tall.

Almost all of it is scratchbuilt.

Back in 1975 I was working in HOn3.  I had a train shop in Anchorage, Alaska, and I wanted a disply diorama for the store.  This little three stall engine house was part of it.

Unfortunately, during a move it was destroyed.

This is an O scale structure.  One of a few that will make up the little town on the layout.

I'm not really sure where all the time goes but I have been enjoying puddering around with different scales and dioramas.

My mining layout continues to take shape--but very slowly.

The mining area on the left hand side is complete enough to go ahead and work of the rest of the layout.

This little mining supply company takes care of the needs for the nearby mining community.

This shows the way I hid the light switch at the entry to the room.

This is a little Grandt 8 ton Porter kit that I did when it was first released.  One of my favorite locomotives.

Earl Martin did a nice little On20 layout in the 1970s that was featured in Finelines magazine.

He had built a neat little 0-4-0 that is now on Bob Brown's layout.

When Bachmann brought out their Davenport gas mechanical and their version of the 8 ton Porter, I combined them to make my own version of Earl little steamer.