Dakota Rails

I've only created a few structures so far. My first foray was an entirely scratchbuilt prairie skyscraper, i.e. a wooden grain elevator. It's still a little bit of a work in progress. As I get better photos and finish it, I'll update them here.  

The second model is a model of the Bates house from the movie "Psycho" made entirely out of paper. You simply download, print and assemble these paper structures. Overall I'm really satisfied with them especially for more of a background structure. If you're interested in this or other similar "haunted" models, you can visit the website where I downloaded this at this link. 

I started building kits, starting with something simple as my first try which was a cabin. I built the white/green one in the foreground, my wife built the blue/black one in the middle and my daughter built the gray/red one in the background. For all of us this was our first time ever building kits like this. My wife and I both enjoy it. My daughter liked it but her phone is still more fun than this. 

The next building I built was a little cabin structure. This one has a light inside of it. 

My wife built the Dill's market seen here. This one is lighted as well. 

My daughter started the Chinese laundry but didn't finish it so I finished it off. Interestingly both my wife and daughter are native from China and neither one said the lettering on this building made sense in Mandarin which I find funny so unsure where the manufacturer got the text for the building. This one is also lighted. 

I decided the small town would eventually need a post office so built this structure. 

My wife decided to try her hand at a larger structure and built this church. 

These structures were all built over the winter of 2024/2025. I also started a water tower and am still working on that one as of Jan 2026 and hope to finish it within the next couple of months. The instructions for the water tower left a lot to be desired and requires reading, re-reading and looking at parts and then reading and test fitting and then more of all the same before assembling anything. Unfortunately I have a couple other structures I purchased NOS (new old stock) from this same company so I'm not looking forward to putting any of them together. These may be some for retirement when I have more time to focus. Will post photos when finished with the water tower.