# Rest Areas?



## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

Does anyone know of an n-scale structure or structure kit of a highway rest area? I've looked all over modeltrainstuff.com and hobbylinc.com, and all I've found are "hillbilly outhouse" kits.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

From my travels, the design of rest areas on
Interstate highways run the gamut of architectural
design. You could easily adapt some restaurant
or drive ins, some civic buildings. Look at what
is out there and imagine it as a rest area building.
You can paint over bright colors and make it look
more typical 'park like'.
Add the usual signs, no smoking, no pets,
Pet Walk, Handicapped parking. Vending Machines.
and of course, Men & Women.

Don


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## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

None of the travelers on my layout are allowed to rest!  
Absolutely NOT......I crack the whip and keep 'em moving at all times!! 
Rest areas are for wimps. hwell:
Bob


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

I have no experience of rest areas in the US so I decided to google it. It's true the styles are many and varied. If you want to be true to prototype I should just select one and try to replicate it. Maybe build it out of card before cutting out the embossed brick sheet.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

John

One of the few truly worth while US government
programs is out Interstate Highway system. 

You can usually find a very nicely maintained park
like setting with, as you have noted, some very
attractive buildings often every 35 to 50 miles apart.

While the Interstates make vehicle travel easy, safe and
convenient, it is one of the reasons Amtrak is
not any more popular than it is.

Don


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*Thank you*

Thank you. Having driven many of the highways of the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, my thought about the buildings was "seen one, you've seen 'em all". And I suppose many people model periods when you stopped for this at gas stations, and there are plenty of those. Re-purposed railroad equipment is also a possibility - when I was a kid there were a pair of restrooms in an retired Northern Pacific caboose at the zoo in Seattle. 

There's an old Northern Pacific dining car turned Italian restaurant in my city. There are pics at rrpicturearchives.net under Richland, Washington USA. Mine's "under construction", but I have a Bachmann AmCafe and an old Atlas Pennsy baggage car to use. Isn't model railroading fun?


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Back in the 40's, 50's and 60's, a lot of rest areas in the east along all the big roads (turnpikes) were Howard Johnson's restaurants.
Some of the restaurants along the secondary roads (that used to big the big roads before the turnpikes) had the motels attached.
Ho Joe's had a distinctive orange roof.










I don't know about the Ho Joe's out west?
Where they out there?
I know they were big in the east.




Portsmouth, N.H. circa 1940s


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## RonthePirate (Sep 9, 2015)

Big Ed said:


> Back in the 40's, 50's and 60's, a lot of rest areas in the east along all the big roads (turnpikes) were Howard Johnson's restaurants.
> Some of the restaurants along the secondary roads (that used to big the big roads before the turnpikes) had the motels attached.
> Ho Joe's had a distinctive orange roof.
> 
> ...


Howard Johnson's practically owned the highways back then. They had an air-tight contract with the Highway Division.
But if you look, now McDonald's own it.









My favorite rest areas are the ones along the interstates with the teepees and the lean-to's with the picnic benches.

Nevada has one out here on the road to Las Vegas, it's brand new.
The main building is a replica of an old gold mine. Complete with mine shaft, mine cars and everything else.
There are many old gold mines in that area, some still have all the accessories attached.


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## Mark Boyce (Jul 22, 2015)

Yes, I remember Howard Johnson was at all the Pennsylvania Turnpike rest stops and they had a motel and restaurant at the Rt 8 exit where we got on the Pike.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ShaderMike (Jan 23, 2016)

I've been to rest stops that are nothing more than a parking lot, a field, a few picnic tables, and some porta-potties.

One slightly more "official" looking with a gazebo that sits under the shadows of a few flags honoring the US Armed Services.

Or one that's not toll subsidized but still has a small building with tourist info and restrooms.

Then there's the big honkin' ones that have been getting rebuilt along the I95 corridor, like Chesapeake House in Maryland.


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## outlaw bill (Apr 3, 2013)

Before the rest stops, here on the west coast we also had Stuckey's. Not sure if they are still around, but they pretty much were the rest stops of the day.


Bill


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*Jogged my memory*

When I was a kid (1960's), my brother and I would have sworn that my dad knew the location of every Dairy Queen in the State of Washington, and that's where we would have stopped. He could smell an ice cream cone 50 miles away. There are plenty of n-scale ice cream stands. 

Thank you again. When I talked to my dad last Father's Day, what did we talk about? His railroad (the UP) - and my railroad (the BNSF) like we were talking about rival sports teams.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

GNfan said:


> When I was a kid (1960's), my brother and I would have sworn that my dad knew the location of every Dairy Queen in the State of Washington, and that's where we would have stopped. He could smell an ice cream cone 50 miles away. There are plenty of n-scale ice cream stands.
> 
> Thank you again. When I talked to my dad last Father's Day, what did we talk about? His railroad (the UP) - and my railroad (the BNSF) like we were talking about rival sports teams.


As long as you didn't fight all is good.

My father flipped out one time and tossed me out of the house.
All I said was that the WWF, (now the WWE) and all the wrestlers like Hulk Hogan were actors....fake wrestlers.:dunno:

He was mad at me for a month talking about his heroes like that.


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## MikeB (Feb 11, 2016)

RonthePirate said:


> Howard Johnson's practically owned the highways back then. They had an air-tight contract with the Highway Division.
> But if you look, now McDonald's own it.
> 
> 
> ...


That's about an hours drive from me....
It was just rebuilt this past year.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*using a caboose*

I took the trucks off an old Atlas caboose (Penn Central) and it sits flat on the steps and underframe, so I'm going to use that for now, and add an ice cream truck and a food cart. 

This is from the Seattle zoo's website, dated 1961: "Northern Pacific donated caboose #1313. It was converted into a zoo restroom and was located near the current site of the entrance to the Elephant Forest." I remember it fondly.


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## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

Both Stuckey's and Howard Johnson's were big around Michigan and Indiana in the 50's and 60's. None left now that I know of.
Many of the Michigan rest areas sit back in the woods with lots of shade, picnic tables, and more than adequate parking for both cars and trucks.
Not quite as scenic in Indiana, but extremely clean and well maintained.
Bob


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

The rest areas in NV are not much to speak about. The McDonalds ones, and the motel ones, they are more of tourist spots (a.k.a. trap). The true "rest areas" that I know of, are along the freeway, and were just restrooms, water fountains, and a few picnic tables. With parking on one side for trucks and one side for cars. 

I also remember rest areas not being very safe places after dark.....not somewhere as an average traveler, I would want to spend the night anymore. When I went to Houston TX as a teenager, I lived in a rest area just outside of town for almost three weeks. Very different place after dark.


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## WaltP (Jan 21, 2013)

Now you guys got me interested in creating a 1960's style rest stop TTrak module. The ones where they put a building over a hole in the ground. 

Just can't seem to find many pix from before the 'modern' days.


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## ShaderMike (Jan 23, 2016)

WaltP said:


> Just can't seem to find many pix from before the 'modern' days.


It may not be easy or efficient, but you could peek through the Library of Congress' Flickr offerings to see if there's anything you can use.

The album view might help a little.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*Rest Areas*

To be honest about it, I don't think rest areas came to Washington State before the late 1960's - early 1970's as the I-5 and I-90 corridors were built. A lot of us remember stopping at gas stations, restaurants, and such before then. And as people have mentioned, modern state run Rest Areas from Washington State to Northern California (at least) look like small-town city parks with parking spaces for tractor-trailers and "doggie areas"; but without the playground equipment.


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