THE CRANBERRY CHURCH

HO-SCALE CRANBERRY CHURCH

Cranberry, North Carolina came about because of an iron deposit. It was a mining town served by the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad Company (ET&WNC), which arrived in 1882.  The small church in town was dedicated in December, 1902, and even though the mines closed permanently in 1929, the church is still in use to this day, although considerably altered. For a more indepth history and a very entertaining description of Cranberry, I suggest you locate a copy of the spring/summer 2007 issue of The Blue Ridge Stemwinder (A Journal of Southern Appalacian Narrow Gauge Railroading), which contains an extensive article by John Waite.  Be forewarned, though, once you have read the article, you may become an afflicted “Tweetsie” fan!

This kit was developed at the urgings of the ET&WNC Historical Society. The design of the church is very common for the 19th and 20th centuries. Hundreds, if not thousands of similar structures were built throughout the country and many still exist as well cared for and useful structures. We've always wanted to add a "church" to our line of kits, and this was a wonderful example to model.

As with nearly all of our structures, the kit consists of a plywood core that makes extensive use of slots and tabs for easier assembly. The core is then covered by pre-cut, peel-and-stick clapboard walls. All the trim work is precut to length, much of it peel-and-stick. That being said, do not regard this as an easy kit to construct. The model matches the prototype in nearly every detail, and there are a lot of them.

The model includes the very elaborate windows and trim found on the prototype, all laser cut wood.

The chimney for the kit was made to match the prototype's.

The kit includes 6 sheets of our premium peel-and-stick, laser cut shingles. One of the sheets (cut just for this kit) and holds the special shakes that were used on the front wall of the prototype. Another includes special peak cap to be used on the porch roof, where normal peak cap would be too large. The material we use to make our shingles from results in a textured, prototype thickness.

Our friend John Socha-Leialoha dedicated his time to design, cut the molds, and produce the many plastic injection molded parts just for this kit. They include the tapered front porch posts, complete with top and bottom plates; the bell tower posts and railings, and the bell. The steeple's finial is laser cut from acrylic.

I couldn't resist including the above photo. It was taken on Dave Thompson's HOn3 layout. Even though the church was simply set down in the middle of a wye, it still looks good!

The kit includes a spiral bound, large type, instruction manual with at least 60 illustrations and several pages of Parts Layout Diagrams. The manual includes sections on what tools and adhesives will be needed as well as many painting and finishing suggestions.

The HO kit ($175.00) has a footprint of 5 x 6-1/2 inches. Shipping is $15 per order for US addresses; international shipping is added at actual cost.