I think I have seen the area

Rick, for some reason, your photos make me remember a childhood memory of riding a train in the area (it stopped in Bryson City for it's stop) 

Question: is there a siding or something close to the tracks near a station with the remnants of the bus V.S. train crash from the movie The Fugitive ?

Memories

CSX,

That's the nice thing about railroading (and model railroading) it can trigger memories, even if they aren't in the same geographic area.  Many of the towns with railroads in / through them look similar if not familiar.  In this case the setting is NE (VERY North) Georgia.  As a matter of fact, the state line for GA & TN runs right though the middle of town and through the IGA grocery store.  You can be in one part of the store and literally be in Georga and be in another part of the store and be in Tenn.  I'm pretty sure that the area wasn't in any movies are they certainly would be bragging about that fact as a tourist attraction.

Rick

Passage of time

I think that's a great observation Rick.  Too often it looks like buildings are frozen in time on a layout.  The bricked up windows (and the associated contrasts in texture and color) show that the building is a "living" in the world on the layout showing passage of time and changes to the sceniced world. 

I'm not articulating my point terribly well but scenic elements like this give a scene that organic, real life feel that often eludes scenery that is too uniform.  Thanks for the post!

Interesting...

Thanks, Rick. I was wondering about that place.

Since you were in North Georgia, I'm wondering if you have been to Dillard, Ga (a beautiful small town).  I have been itching to go back to the area. The last time I was there was in Spring Break 2009, when the wether was doing the wierd stuff (like making Florida go into the low 10's) and it snowed off and on throughout our stay.

Dillard, and other Georgia destination

CSX,

No, we haven't been to Dillard and as a matter of fact we haven't explored very much of Georgia since we moved here in 2003.  We have been to Hellen, Blairsville, and that area mainly to enjoy the "mountains" (not like the real high mountains) and we have been to the Tallulah gourge area that you mentioned in one of your other posts.  Our next major exploration probably will be South to the Plains, Ga area to ride the excursion train SAM there.  Their website is: http://samshortline.com/core/item/page.aspx?s=1148.0.3.1144 .  It's a heck of a drive for us, but heh, it's a train ride - sometime you have to make sacrificies!

Rick

On the Sam short-line

I know about the SAM short line, Infact, It was my 15th birthday present (along with a 2002 Ford F-150)

Here are some sugestions I want to give you:

In Americus, next to the old theatre, there's a hot-dog restraunt. You may think "They won't be any good", but trust me, those hot-dogs ( especially the plain $0.89 ones) are the best hot-dogs you'll ever have.

In Planes, Ga, there will be a small shop which sells peanut-butter ice cream. If you don't have diebetis, go and get a cup of ice cream, it's good and just what is needed if you go in the Summer. [I have not let my mom rest about the icecream, and it's the biggest thing you'll hear from me when she brings up the subject]

If you stay the night in Cordelle, Ga try to fit some time in for rail-faning. Cordelle is a hot-bed for industry switching (a CSX local was comming through when I first got there, and throughout the night, I herd at least 20 or so trains go by the hotel, convieniantly located next to the tracks)

Oddly enough, the main things I remember of the trip was the Heart of Georgia (HOG) locomotives on both ends (like the Amtrak commuter trains) I must have about 150 or so photos of the GP-9. (I still need to get a model, so I can modify it to be HOG 1209)

[Mabe I will build a layout based on the HOG.]              -CSX railfan

Gold data!

CSX,

Thank you so much for your suggestions based on personal experience - that's what I call "Gold Data".  I'll be sure to check it out when I visit.

Rick

"Gold Data" strait from the source

Your welcome for the sugestions, Rick.

I have only been on the SAM line once, but that 1 time has given me a long-lasting memory (one of my best birthday trips,too)

I must enforce, the peanut-butter ice cream, while sounding crazy, is 20 on a scale of 1-10 of how good it tastes ( I like it even more than the ever-popular Choclate ice cream).

I know you'll enjoy it. There's nothing like riding in a 1940's vintage streamlined coach rolling through the scenery in the area. (like me) you'll whish the trip would not end.

P.S. I forgot to mention, in the old theatre in Americus, they have a pipe organ, all 100% original, dating back to I beleave the 1920's (I think) The only "new" part on the organ is a computer-controlled auto-play. It's amazing to hear it inside the old theatre. I would go back just to sit in the theatre and listen to the organ play.

Check your prototype before modeling.

That prototype is great for that building, but the method used is certainly not universal.  Often times a brick mason will cut back the bricks on either side of the openning to continue the staggered patern, and the only eivdence of the old window will be a different color on the new bricks. 

Also in California where most of the state is over one or more earthquake faults, most masonry structures have been retrofited to earthquake standards.  What you model will depend on your era, if I remember correctly, most of our understanding of how to earthquake proof masonry buildings dates to the 1933 earthquake in Long Beach, Ca.  It was following that particular earthquake that we started retrofitting buildings to withstand earthquakes.  Each time we have an earthquake, they find out more about what will work best to reinforce buidings.  If you are modeling between 1930 and 1960, some brick buildings will be retrofitted, but most probably won't have been done, yet due to cost and time required to retrofit.  Many of the old brick buildings will be abandoned, and some will be torn down rather than retrofitted.  As you get more modern, a higher percentage of the buildings will be retrofitted to earthquake standards.  The changes to cinder block construction will not be noticeable, since the strengthening is done with rebar being put in the voids and the voids filled with concrete every few feet. 

Brick is different since each brick is solid with no voids.  The typical method of reinforcing old brick buildings that seems to be pretty much universal as far as I can tell, is to cut a column of brick out from roof to foundation @ 3 feet wide about every 10 feet or so in a building.  The brick is removed from this cut, holes are drilled in the foundation and cleaned out.  Rebar is epoxied into the holes in the foundation, and then forms are constructed to fill the column with reinforced concrete.  ypically old brick buildings out here will have an obvious concrete column on the sides every few feet on the side and back walls.  I'm not sure exactly what is done to the front of the buildings since most fronts have at least some sort of store front on at least the first floor with large windows, and other architectural features that make reinforcement more complicated.