HT to a link on the always interesting ‘Prince Street Terminal’ blog.

Just occasionally I come across a model railroad site that just inspires.  John Ott’s site fits all too well into this category.  He models late 19th / early 20th century American railroads and his layouts are sometimes weird (the HP Lovecraft references) but invariably wonderful.  The scenery and especially the buildings are beautifully detailed.  John Ott writes….

THE CITY OF ARKHAM
… Won’t win any civic beauty awards. The model is supposed to represent one of those smoky, dirty, busy American east coast cities at the turn of the twentieth century.  Arkham is a combination of scratchbuilt, kitbashed, and straight kit buildings. Several have been salvaged from my previous layouts. All of Arkham’s streets are kinky—they all have twists and bends, which means the blocks are irregular and the building lots are largely trapezoids— just as in real-life Massachusetts.

The rolling stock is equally interesting, much as early UK stock is, but pride of place must go to the carriages.  John Ott again says….

Until the dreaded Eastlake style simplified everything in the late 1880s-1890s, passenger cars were ostentatiously decorated with gilt, paint, carving, and marquetry in order to show off the host railroad’s financial well-being, attract patrons with superficial luxury and finally, to distract them from the very real discomforts of late 19th century train travel.

I’m not sure I’m interested in this era, but can certainly learn from an expert modeller at work!  I’ve pinched a couple of pictures of the site as a taster below.  But please do go and see for yourself.