coleman

The small town of Coleman, Wisconsin is the first town modeled after FitzGerald. It represents the town of Oconto, Wisconsin, and was named to help visitors recognize its Northeast Wisconsin locale. While the real Coleman is several miles to the west and has no tie to the camping equipment company, that is not the case here in my basement. The Coleman Co. facilities will be a large part of the landscape here. I plan to use the DPM buildings that represented the Coleman Co. on my last layout, but also add two Walther's Auto Assembly Plant kits to the complex. The Coleman Co. complex will actually be on both sides of town. The Holdingford grain elevator that was on the old layout will still be in Coleman as well, as will be the grain drying complex that was the topic of a Model Railroading Magazine article from April of 2005.

This is a view of Coleman from the left, or south, side. You are looking north up the mainline at the Holdingford grain elevator. The middle track is the main, the siding is to the right, and the grain elevator track is to the left.

This is the view from the left, or north, side of town. You are looking south down the mainline towards the grain elevator. The track on the extreme right is the lead to the Coleman Co. complex on the south side of town.

This is the Holdingford Grain Elevator Co. This is a kit from my old layout. It will be recreated almost exactly as it was there. The only differences will be a slightly different surge bin above the grain dryer and the rear of the mill will face the aisle, rather than the front of it.

This is the south side Coleman Camping Co. complex. I have kept the DPM flat from the old layout, and added a modified Walther's Auto Assembly Building kit. This part of the Coleman plant will be the portion that works with plastic manufacturing, as noted by the plastic pellet hopper car on the far track. Other shipping and receiving is done here as well.

Here is the north side Coleman complex. Once again, I have used a Walther's auto assembly kit. The idea is to have the same corporate buildings and identity on opposite sides of town. I hope to create the image of a large corporation that is spread out in more than one area of town, but still with similar architecture for its buildings.