E. L. Moore's Bunn's feed and seed plant

[E. L. Moore's Bunn's feed and seed plant; J. R. Fisher collection]

It  turned out that Bunn’s Feed and Seed was one of the buildings I saw that day. It was that project from way back in the August ’73 issue of Model Railroader that got me started in the hobby, so learning that it still existed and was in good condition was a pleasant surprise.

Back in the spring I was provided access to a copy of Mr. Moore’s manuscript for Bunn’s. The  article was originally titled Grandpa Bunn’s Feed and Seed Plant and  included a story about Grandpa Bunn that was edited out of the published article.

You see all those posters on that wall? If you've got a copy of the article handy, compare them with the posters on the same wall on the last page of the article. They're identical.

That's important because - look at the date on the bottom - below E. L. Moore's signature it says: '74. The article was published in August '73, and submitted to Model Railroader in January '73. My guess is it was built in late '72. I think this is the original because the postering would be difficult - if not unlikely - to be identically replicated on a later version. Guessing again: it was signed and dated when Mr. Moore gave it to Fred Kelley.

Here's the view from railside. There seems to be a tilt on the metal-sided building.

There's some more posters on these walls too and they also match the ones on the published photos.

A few years ago when I got back into the hobby, building a new model of Bunn’s was a top priority :-) Unlike E. L. Moore’s I made use of styrene for the basic structure, and made a number of other modifications. Here are the posts in the series,

How I built E. L. Moore's Bunn's Feed and Seed Plant

Basic Structure

Metal Siding

Windows and Doors

Silo

Roofs

Final Details