Junction Farm (BESTTrains kits)

[jbvb]

My English Barn was built to drive the team & wagon in the single side door. What they did then probably varied with the size of the wagon and temperament of the horses or oxen. If the oxen were calm & hungry, give them feedbags while hay was forked off the wagon to one or both sides. Horses are notably less patient, so unhitch and walk the team down a passway to one side of the main aisle, and then (probably) push the wagon out with humans on the shafts.

I have a hard time actually thinking through how the prototype barn was used.  There's a smaller, 6' wide door in the back at the 1st floor (above the ground floor). You could pull a horse out of that, but it's not wide enough to drive a wagon into.

B.E.S.T's description of the structure ( https://besttrains.com/premium_ho_1006.html ) says it hadn't been used for animals since before WWII.  You could give your farm a largish orchard and turn the main floor of the barn over to the cider press, with a cow or two in the cellar.

[deemery]

You could give your farm a largish orchard and turn the main floor of the barn over to the cider press, with a cow or two in the cellar.

I really like that idea!  There's not really a lot of space in that corner for 'the farm', and arguing it's really an orchard business would allow me to use those apple trees in interesting ways.  (Of course, I might have to buy some more trees   )

dave

[deemery]

A mock-up of the orchard:

I should probably remove the trunks from the base and plant each tree separately.

dave

[Jerry]

Yes I would remove the bases!

Are we having Apple Pie anytime soon!! 

Jerry

[jbvb]

Mature apple trees grown on dwarfing rootstock usually range between 12 and 20 feet tall.  The trees you show could be recently planted, but they're under 6 years old and aren't earning a profit yet.  If you don't have room for bigger trees, maybe a photo on the backdrop?  Applecrest in North Hampton NH has orchards next to public roads which could be studied next summer.

[Yannis]

Very nice orchard there, i am also in favor of removing the trunks (that's the horizontal brown sprue like pieces right?)

[VagelK]

Checking in after a while away; the barn looks really great!