neo train model

"Yada, yada, yada... Sykesville, USA"

I have several reasons for being so determined to include the town of Sykesville on my layout's track plan... enough so that I converted to multi-deck to get adequate separation from the other major layout design elements. One is practical. One is artistic. And one is purely emotional, but what the hell.

First, it offers multiple operational possibilities with four different industries congested along three spurs. They represent alternative businesses from the preponderance of mill operations on the Old Main Line and provide the opportunity for varied loads and varied rolling stock. That would be nice.

Second, the town has more of a horizontal, farmland aesthetic and a smaller scale at trackside from that of my other LDEs which emphasize verticality through the valley terrain and massive mill structures. I would like that variety, too.

Third, and perhaps somewhat irrationally, I finally have procured a kit of the Sykesville station that was produced in the early 1990's. I can't let that hard-to-find icon go to waste!

This photo from the early 1980's gives some idea as to the condition of the 100 year old station once it was shut down to passenger traffic. Like most passenger depots along the Old Main Line, it became a freight house for various railroad odds and ends.

After an exhaustive, but unsuccessful search for this kit, it dawned on me to contact a local Sykesville hobby shop. Duh! ...  Presto, Glenn at the Moose Caboose sold me one from his private stash at the original retail cost of  $19.95! The kit is actually nicer, and better detailed, than the photo on the box suggests.

The station is presently  a popular restaurant specializing in steaks, burgers, Maryland crab and beer. It is known as Baldwin's Station, after well-known B&O architect Francis Baldwin. FYI, Chris Rock filmed a scene here  from his 2003 film, Head of State. I missed it.