1920's gas Station


Larry

Larry

Long Winded Old Fart
Here's a few photo's of an old gas station in town that was rebuilt after Hurricane Charley & then abanded.
When I moved up here in 1971 there were still old gas pumps in front of the building & people were using it for a house. The building next door was a grocery store & it still had a lot of old merchandise still in the store on the shelves. Well, then came the huricane in 2004 that took off the roof. The insurance co. paid for a new roof & then the people that owned it decided Fla. wasn't the place to be & moved out overnite after living there for 2 generations. It was built in 1926 & the store was added a few years after that. Hwy. 70 was moved over 1 block in 1936 & that put an end to that gas station. On that street is an old concrete bridge about a block from the station. There's also a RR track owned by the local line just about 75 ft. from the bridge.
Well, here's what's left of it.
 
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Larry, nice pictures although it's a shame to watch these once useful structures just sitting there slowly returning to the earth. Any idea if there are pictures of it when it was still in operation? I'm not really satisfied with my current gas station and I've been looking at older pictures with the idea of maybe building an older station that has been upgraded and maintained through the years.
 
Jim,
One of the MRR mfgrs. is making an old gas station now w/the upright glass top pumps. can't remember which one though.
there's no pictures around that I know of, but I'll check w/the local historian & see what I can come up with.
I've been wanting to do a passle of pics of downtown Arcadia since I bought my digital camera, but some reason I never get it done. This town was rebuilt after a 1905 fire that burned down the whole town. They started rebuilding in 1906 & all of the brick buildings are marked w/that date.
Maybe this coming week I'll start taking pics after all of this rain from tropical storm Fay. It rains almost everyday here. Supposed to flood all of the low lying area's of surrounding Arcadia by 5pm tomorrow(sunday).
When I 1st moved here in 1971 this town was still in the back woods mode.
Old, old people that had never been out of the county their whole lives.
Their businesses were the same way. There is still a morgue of the early years on a 3rd floor of an old building here that has a manually operated freight elevator.

Larry
 
Man, there's quite a few old building like that all over florida! Dade City, Brooksville and Bushnell are ripe with buildings like that! These citys are trying real hard to bring back the old days! Larry, just jump one US301 and head north. The CSX main line follows US301 most of the way! there is some great railfanning to be had along US301!


Case in point.....San Antonio City has gone to great expence to remodel this SCL Station! This is across the street from my park, there's a SCL caboose behind it too. Any of ACL/SCL Modelers would love this little station! I like the colors too:D

The baseball league use it as a club house/office during the season!
 
The nicest older style I've seen is the Branchline kit at http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/product_p/181-687.htm. The price is right but the overhang is really too large for two pumps. You can compare it to Larry's picture and see what I mean. I'd like to find a kit with a more prototypical looking pump overhang but I think I'm going to either have to kitbash this one or try scratchbuilding one.
 
Looks like the gas station can be kit bashed by putting a large front porch on a small jim walter home!
 
If you want me to measure the one w/the photo, I can, after the rains subside for a week or so. It's quite wet where that old building sits.

Larry
 
Larry that is one awesome structure . You know I think I swa sone like it in Disny World . Might even have a picture of it . Have to check it out .
 
Larry, it's a little wet up here too. :) If you have the chance, I really would like some measurements of that overhang area.
 
Gas Station

Well Jim I found the picture of the 1920 Gas Station . My nephew is standing next to a n Old Tow Truck in front of the station . Not much but enjoy anyhow !!!!!;)


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Paul, that one is perfect. You'll notice the overhang covers the pumps so there's space on both sides of the pumps and stil be under cover. by far the most common kind of construction. I don't know why so many kits end the overhang right at the pumps. Has that place been turned into a restaurant or what? It looks like a really nice renovation job and I'd love to get a model of that tow truck, especially with that cool windshield awning.

Larry, thanks for the offer. I'll bug you after we find out where Gustav goes.
 
Larry, we got a little over 6.5 inches total so things are a little soggy up here, which isn't bad compared to the dust we had less than a week ago. I have no idea where Gustav is going now or how strong he'll be. Anything over a cat 1 making landfall from Biloxi east won't be good for us since we'll have some real flood problems.
 
Jim,
Better get out if Gustav heads your way. I have a high school friend that lives in Hattisburg,Ms & I hope he heads out before it heads his way. The next one will probably head my way which will be Hanna.
Then there's another one off the coast of Africa that needs to be watched in the coming weeks.
I was thinking if we got a few planes & loaded them down w/bags of ice & dumped them in the Gulf before Gustav headed your way it would delete it's self.
Larry
 
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