Abandoned Tower

This is a picture of Delray Tower, in Detroit, Michigan.  I took this photo in September 2011 when I went on a quick trip to the area with my friend Luc Sabourin. This is the picture that, even though it looks nothing like my tower, gave me the idea to build the model and scene below for my railroad.

A CN freight slowly rounding the curve across the street from Delray Tower.

Here is my yard tower, abandoned and derelect.  It's located at a double diamond crossing of my GT and JSSX lines. 

 

The model is a laser cut wooden kit made by MonsterModelworks.  I built it as abandoned because that's the type of thing that interests me.  I've situated the tower just across the tracks from a warehouse that's also abandoned and boarded up.

The concrete pad of the former parking area has become cracked and broken, and weeds now grow in them.  In what was probably a vain effort to keep vandals out, the lower floor windows have been covered over from the inside with sheet steel that has since gone rusty. The outside has been covered in graffiti.  As for the upper floor, the windows have all been broken out, and sheets of plywood now cover them.  A few shingles are missing from the roof.

The tower scene as it sits on the layout today.