Superior & Seattle Railroad Build (Volume 3) Started 7/27/19

Started by S&S RR, July 27, 2019, 08:44:50 PM

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PaulS

Quote from: S&S RR on September 03, 2020, 08:51:48 PM
My Grandson and I visited my Grandparents old farm today and took some prototype pictures of the interior of the old cow barn that I remember so well from my childhood. It was strange explaining to my Grandson that they were his Great, Great Grandparents or 2 times Great.  I plan on matching the design of the interior for the Whispering Falls build. The picture in my mind was pretty accurate - it has been at least 35 years since I was in the barn.  I will post a couple pictures when I can get them downloaded and processed. I have very limited internet here in Michigan's North country.


I was asked tonight if I know where his three times Great Grandparents lived, so we are going to take a field trip tomorrow for him to see their old farm - if it's still there.  It was a Jeep ride through the woods to get there last time I was there. I took pictures of it about 10 years ago, if it's not, that I can show him.  His three times Great Grandparents were some of the original people that settled in this area from Europe in the 1870's to 1900's. He sure took an amazing interest - he is only 4 years old.


John, sounds like an absolutely wonderful trip to the north woods and down memory lane with your grandson !!   And what a gift to be able to pass along to him his family heritage not only in stories but in retracing some of their steps like the trip to the barn to bring those stories to life.
Have a wonderful day and hope you catch a couple of fish today.
--Paul
Modeling the Atlantic & White Mtn Railway

deemery

John, you should think about recording some voice memos during that trip.  I remember going on trips like that to see family history, but I've forgotten most of what I was told :-(


dave
Modeling the Northeast in the 1890s - because the little voices told me to

S&S RR

Quote from: PaulS on September 04, 2020, 07:38:23 AM
Quote from: S&S RR on September 03, 2020, 08:51:48 PM
My Grandson and I visited my Grandparents old farm today and took some prototype pictures of the interior of the old cow barn that I remember so well from my childhood. It was strange explaining to my Grandson that they were his Great, Great Grandparents or 2 times Great.  I plan on matching the design of the interior for the Whispering Falls build. The picture in my mind was pretty accurate - it has been at least 35 years since I was in the barn.  I will post a couple pictures when I can get them downloaded and processed. I have very limited internet here in Michigan's North country.


I was asked tonight if I know where his three times Great Grandparents lived, so we are going to take a field trip tomorrow for him to see their old farm - if it's still there.  It was a Jeep ride through the woods to get there last time I was there. I took pictures of it about 10 years ago, if it's not, that I can show him.  His three times Great Grandparents were some of the original people that settled in this area from Europe in the 1870's to 1900's. He sure took an amazing interest - he is only 4 years old.


John, sounds like an absolutely wonderful trip to the north woods and down memory lane with your grandson !!   And what a gift to be able to pass along to him his family heritage not only in stories but in retracing some of their steps like the trip to the barn to bring those stories to life.
Have a wonderful day and hope you catch a couple of fish today.
--Paul


Paul


We had a great time - it was a real adventure for both of us. We didn't catch any fish - it's either too early or the Salmon run isn't coming this year.  I couldn't believe he spent the whole day in the boat with me and never lost interest.  I checked the weather report just before we left for the river - 10% chance of rain showers.  Well you guest it, full blown thunderstorm right in the middle of the morning. So my Grandson got to see how we prepare the boat - park in the middle of the river so the trees can't fall on the boat, and get under the ponchos  to weather the storm.  Right in the middle of the storm, we where eating our lunch early and keeping dry, when Isaac says Papa I think the weather man was sleeping this morning. Then says I think you need to push that button that pumps the water out of the boat. He had asked what every button the the control panel did and knew about the bulge pumps. So like I said it was a great, fun adventure for both of us.
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

Quote from: deemery on September 04, 2020, 08:45:31 AM
John, you should think about recording some voice memos during that trip.  I remember going on trips like that to see family history, but I've forgotten most of what I was told :-(


dave


Dave 


The trip following family history went very well - now Isaac's older brother and younger sister want to go see the farms.  I plan on putting the pictures I took into a file with my notes. I may even see about putting a few books together for each of the family members to preserve the history.   If you put everything together on your computer you can get books made relatively inexpensively. 


I spent some time with my mother this evening making sure I captured as much from her as I could.


I will post some of the pictures that relate to my Whispering Falls build on this thread.
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

So here are a few pictures from my Grandparents cow barn showing the stanchions that held the cows heads while they were being milked. The board is pinned on the bottom and in the open position provides access to the feed.  Once the cows are in position the board is moved into the locked position and pinned.  I remember doing that as a kid from the head side where the feed was.  You would reach in slide the board over and put the pin in position. It has been between 35 to 40 years since the cows were in this barn and you can still see how the boards are polished from them rubbing against them while they fed on the hay. I remember filling the barn with hay before the cows were let into the barn.














The wheelbarrow and shovel that was used to get the hay out of the barn after the cow was done with it is sitting where I remember it.  That wheelbarrow has a lot of miles on it going back and forth to the pile behind the barn. So many details to model. ;)
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

Here are a couple pictures from the outside.  Like most places we revisit from our childhood this barn seem much smaller than the one I remember.  In the first picture the small building on the left was the separator building where the milk and cream were separated by centrifugal force - my grandparents had two machines - one the old one had a hand crank.  The newer machine had an electrical motor that did the work.  The second building is the corn crib used to store the corn on on the cob and dried. Another machine was used to remove the corn from the cob for the chickens.


The cow barn is the tar paper shed off the hay barn which is painted the traditional barn red.  In this case it has been a long time since it has seen a coat of paint.








John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

S&S RR

So I have started scratch building the interior of the lower level of the Whispering Falls barn. I'm using the configuration from my Grandparents barn for the design. At this point the wood has been cut and stained - I will start putting it together tomorrow and should have something to take a picture of.
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

Jerry

John thanks for the pictures.


Must be a lot of great memories going back there!


Jerry
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." A. Lincoln

S&S RR

Quote from: Jerry on September 06, 2020, 10:54:21 PM
John thanks for the pictures.


Must be a lot of great memories going back there!


Jerry


Jerry


Thank you for following along, and yes lots of great memories - really cool to share them with my Grandson. I'm amazed at his interest level.
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

PRR Modeler

Thanks for the memories. I immediately thought of my great uncle and aunt that had a farm in Somerset PA back in the 60's.
Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
Freelanced PRR Bellevue Subdivision

S&S RR

Quote from: PRR Modeler on September 07, 2020, 08:41:47 AM
Thanks for the memories. I immediately thought of my great uncle and aunt that had a farm in Somerset PA back in the 60's.


Curt


You are welcome, thank you for following along.
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

Mark Dalrymple

Really enjoying this side of your modelling journey as well, John.

Cheers, Mark.

S&S RR

Quote from: mark dalrymple on September 07, 2020, 03:12:15 PM
Really enjoying this side of your modelling journey as well, John.

Cheers, Mark.


Mark


I'm glad you are enjoying my trip down memory lane. I will have some pictures later tonight of lower level of the barn.  I'm almost done with one side of the interior. 
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

cuse


S&S RR

Quote from: cuse on September 08, 2020, 06:37:41 AM
Great stuff John! Nice job weathering the barn too  ;)


John


Thank you for following along - it's real difficult to get the weathering to look prototypical in 1:1 scale, especially the nail heads. ;)
John Siekirk
Superior & Seattle Railroad

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