Here’s a company house that’ll fit perfectly on the gritty blue-collar side of the tracks on most model railroads. Made by City Classics, this easy styrene structure kit follows the form and function of numerous dwellings commonly found around industrial centers from the late 1800s to the present.
Small two-story frame houses such as these were constructed throughout North America beginning in the late 1800s. Often built and owned by large companies such as steel mills and mines to house their employees conveniently nearby, the style of dwelling quickly earned the nickname “company house.” They were typically built in such quantities that they formed whole company towns.
The Spartan houses were constructed from standardized plans and provided only basic living necessities for the workers, usually lacking most comforts such as electricity and plumbing. Most have a living room across the front of the first floor with a small kitchen in back. The second floor was divided into several bedrooms.
After World War II, many corporations began selling their company houses to the occupants. These new owners often expanded the original dwellings through various additions like porches and back or side rooms. The most common upgrade was to provide indoor plumbing by enclosing the back porch. City Classics’ kit is easy to build and comes with flat plastic parts and a few .060″ square styrene strips for bracing corners. The wall sections are made of injection-molded white plastic and include nice window and door detail, as well as siding and a simulated fieldstone foundation. The styrene roof sections feature rolled tarpaper roofing. All parts were fairly clean of flash and fit together well with only minor adjustments. The kit can be assembled in less than an hour and includes parts for an optional covered front porch, an enclosed rear addition, steps, and an outhouse. It also includes a sheet of clear window glazing. The finished model, with the porch and rear addition, has an approximate 2¼” x 5″ footprint.
The instruction sheet provides an exploded-view diagram of the structure, a very detailed set of instructions for assembling and painting the model, and a brief history of company houses. I assembled the kit with liquid styrene cement and finished it with Polly Scale paints. I started by painting the whole house with a base coat of Reefer White. Next I painted the porch and steps UP Harbor Mist Gray and the roof UP Dark Gray. I brushed a coat of Polly Scale Concrete on the stone foundation, then darkened the mortar lines with a wash of UP Dark Gray.
City Classics has produced a great kit. Because of its simple construction and nice molding detail, the company house looks good as is, or it can be easily kitbashed into other structures with a “family” appearance. Combining two kits into an L-shaped building could represent a more ambitious owner’s one- or two-story addition. The model can also be cut down to create a single-story house. With the addition of a few detail parts and some extra styrene strips, you could easily customize a whole neighborhood of company houses to fill those residential streets near your railroad’s main line.
Price: $18.98 each
$49.98 per three-pack
Manufacturer
City Classics
P.O. Box 16502
Pittsburgh, PA 15242
412-276-1312
Description
Injection-molded styrene kit
with optional parts
