3.4 Weldon Mill and Spillway √
I kept the grist mill from the Greystone for its charm factor, which was going to have an animated water wheel from the very beginning. For the mill structure, I was going to use the Branchline Laser-Arts kit as-is, but based on dozens of reference photos I'd gathered, it looked as if it was a work of pure fantasy. Worse, the kit's water wheel was, in a word, pathetic. So I bashed the building and scratch-bashed a new water wheel.
Because of its location nestled into the side of a hill (see the last reference image to get a sense of the topography), I heavily modified the mill walls, and constructed a random stone foundation from old Chooch castings.
These had to be cut and shaped with great care to exactly fit the now irregular mill walls.
Then I made the outer wall from the same random stone, which supports the outer bearing for the mill wheel shaft. The flume, bypass sluice and gates comprise a self-contained unit that gently press-fits into place, allowing access to the wheel for maintenance.
All that remained was to detail and paint the mill structure, which took place on 27 August 2020. It seems a bit dark, so I may go back and lighten it up.
Here's the mill roughly in its final position on the layout:
On 19 October 2020, I permanently installed the mill (below).
Reference Images
My research turned up these useful examples in New Hampshire. The first three are grist mills; the last two are sawmills.
Named For...
Railwire friend Lee Weldon was originally the pretend proprietor of the antique shop, but when he found Weldon Mills in North Carolina, he suggested a name change. I was happy to oblige.
