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Welcome to Middletown
So, where is or what is "Middletown?"
Although there are a few places on the map of North American (and perhaps even abroad) called Middletown, the Middletown I am modelling does not intend to try to model any of those. My Middletown is a fictitious small town somewhere in Nova Scotia. It is typical of many small towns of thirty, forty, perhaps fifty years ago. It is a model railroad town layout in N scale.
History of Middletown
~ ~ ~ fiction ~ ~ ~
Just about half way between East Bay and West River lies a small town called Middletown. It has a busy downtown core called Acadia Square, a feed mill, a woodworking factory, a mining and railroad museum, a number of smaller businesses, a small park, a train/bus station, and a small residential area where you will also find a small church.
Middletown was once a bustling town with an active coal mine, feed mill, and other smaller related industries. The mine shut down back in the late 60's. The feed mill is still alive and well. Middletown Woodworking is still a thriving business and between the feed mill and the woodworking business, Middletown has survived the loss of the mine.
At some point during the 70's the folks of Middletown decided they could bring some additional economic benefit to town by building a hotel/business centre and a family medicine centre. A few old Victorian style buildings in the center of downtown were bought up by the town and a plan devised.
Three old buildings on Main Street, and the Metropolitan Store on Mill Road were raised and a common underground parking facility was built underneath them. The upper floors of the Main Street buildings were converted to house Middletown Health Centre and a Law Office. The underground facility was also extended to accommodate the new hotel/business centre which was built in a style that would blend the best of Victorian and modern architecture. The whole downtown square was named Acadia Square in honor of the first European settlers in the area.
This is where we pick up Middletown in terms of building the layout. It is mid 1970's and the town is prosperous once again.
Middletown has a CN/VIA station with parcel service. It is serviced by a CN RDC-3 unit daily. Small freight trains can be seen periodically servicing the feed mill and the woodworking company. Residents enjoy a small park adjacent to Middle River. Across the river there is an art-deco style bus terminal built in the 1950's, providing a home for provincial and local bus service, a local bus tour company, and some say the finest lunch counter in town.
Lately there has been a lot of speculation about the vacant lots on Chapel Hill. Some say a mini-mall should be built up there, considering all the new housing in West River Heights just around the corner. Others are wanting a condominium development and still others say they need a new hospital to replace the old facility out on East Bay Road. There is apparently a plan afoot but the mayor, I. Didden Dewitt, and the council have been very tight-lipped about it, probably holding off an announcement until closer to the upcoming election. You know what politicians are like!
Well, whatever it is going to be built up there, or anywhere else in Middletown for that matter, you know the old fellas hanging around the park will have the last word on it ... right or wrong.
Such is life in a small town. As I said before ... Welcome to Middletown.
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