There is/was a place along I-94 in Wisconsin (Kenosha or Racine county) that has a museum of military equipment. I don’t remember the name of the place. There was talk of the owner moving the museum years back. I don’t live in the area anymore.
There was an articel a while back about an N scale buiding through the eras. One stage was storage for Army Surplus. There was a siding, and a large building also served by a gated driveway. That which didn’t fit through the doors was stashed in an organized pile out back under a roof. I’ll see if I can dig it up.
EDIT: It was August 2002. “A building for a Century”
I worked at Letterkenny Army Depot in the 1990s, here are a few thoughts on DRMO (Defense Re-use and Markinging Office) operations.
As to the era of “stuff”, if you are doing the steam to diesel era, most of the items that have been surplused will be of the WWII era. MB (flatfender) Jeeps, 2 1/2 ton trucks, and a LOT of crates, in segregated areas (Jeeps with Jeeps, trucks with trucks, and such) not scattered all over the place.
Some items would be cut up for scrap, such as large naval guns, aircraft, or broken down for parts, again, aircraft were common targets for breaking down into parts. (Item, a C-119 and the Navy’s F-4U Corsair used the same engine, hence a lot of Corsairs were broken for parts, the Wright radial engines were sent back to the military supply system.)
Usually, aircraft were not located with the land based equipment. Army would stay with army, Navy would be with Navy and so on.
To model this, fence off an area, put a few rows of topless (canvas items were stored, tops would not be on the vehicles, but crated nearby, or in a warehouse) Jeeps, and Deuce and a Halfs in rows, a warehouse or better yet, a Quonset Hut and a small office and you are set!
Hope this helped!
The Baldwin VO-1000 and S-12 switchers are two more of the types that have been auctioned off since the end of WW II.
Thanks this info helped alot, just one little thing, did the army use steam shunters or was it just deseil.
There was an Army surplus store, I recall in the late ‘80s, between Portland, OR and Oregon City next to I-205 and a Fred Myer’s(now owned by Kroger’s) store. The lot was about 50’ X 120’. The parking, building and back lot each occupied roughly 1/3 of the property. The building I think was a quonset hut with a false front. I had been in a few surplus stores and this one had all the usual stuff, but the item I remember most was a Bell UH1C fuselage. It had some extensive front end damage and was without doors, engine and transmission (no rotor blades, obviously). Most surplus stores are, as mentioned earlier, organized as the inside of this one was but the back lot, where the Huey was, was little more organized than a junkyard. When I saw that Charley model I thought of an HO scale Bell UH1D I’d seen in the Walther’s catalog and thought about modeling a version of that store. I had forgotten all about that until now.
Here’s a photo of Smith and Edwards in Ogden, Utah. They started selling WWII surplus and still sell surplus and new items. The store is “neat and organized” but I don’t think that applies to the yard.
http://www.smithandedwards.com/content/popup_image.asp?i=Aerial20July120196920zoom.jpg
Thanks,
Don’t necessarily need a lot more to make it convincing. Put it near the edge of the layout so that it looks like it continues off the table. Quonset hut(s) a good idea, lots of them in surplus, could be a repair shop, warehouse or office building. I’d suggest doing something else with the Hummers.
Have fun,
MOW equitment
One prototype for an mixed surplus lot and store is Crown Surplus. It is right next to the main line of the CP railroad as it passes through central Calgary, Alberta Crown Surplus have a big lot next to ther tracks with a quonset hut as their main builing with add-ons, lean-tos and a larger shed. What might be an interesting modeling challenge are the military tents that Crown Surplus have set up on thier property such as mess tents and the like. The site is complete with old mortars and howitzers, armoured personel carriers and misc. vehicles. In the case of Crown Surplus of Calgary, they have the tail piece of an old airplane mounted at a jaunty angle protruding from the quonset hut, as if it just crashed into the building. As an aside the business does fairly good trade for outdoors types and surprisingly the film industry that occasionally comes to town. Some of the fences are draped with camouflage. Nice junkyard next door too.
Funny, I was thinking Crown Surplus would be the perfect prototype too. They have some photos on their website that might inspire you. http://www.armysurplus.com/
I haven’t been down in a while, but I seem to recall he has some bigger vehicles in his personal collection on the property as well.
Nathan
I’ve seen a few with different equipment outside.
One is in downtown Alexandria in basically a 2 story wooden building down by the river. It has a fenced yard in which I have seen German 88’s in both the AA and ATG mounts, small naval guns, US ATG’s, and a few small vehicles.
I can’t remember where (I think Georgia) there was a place off the highway that had Korean War era jets and other assorted vehicles outside what basically was a roadside stand, similar to what a farmer would use. You could get just about anything there.
One in Galveston, TX (I think) had all kinds of stuff inside. I remember a big box of practice cluster munitions from the Israelis. I can’t remember if they had stuff outside. Building was just a big building.
tsf:
Don’t forget to line up some bombs on skids, with some Russian officers browsing.
And put up a big banner. “PENTAGON BAKE SALE FRIDAY!”
There are so many possibilities.
Buy two Sherman Tanks, get a fuel truck free!
you have got to add
free bazooka with purchase of russian vehicle
bombs do not come with jet fighter
we test bullet proof vests on children who do not behave
HAY!!! better watch that. someone might consiter it offensive these days.