Kits for a small rural New England railroad depot?

Started by Searsport, January 24, 2012, 06:39:04 AM

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Searsport

Hi, I'm looking for a kit for a small depot which would not look out of place in New England?  Does anyone know whether the Walthers Cornerstone Clarkesville Depot was based on a real structure, and if so, where?  The official description is the somewhat non-specific "typical of wooden depots built throughout North America after 1900", and "The kit has alternate gable support brackets for "East" and "West".  Or does anyone have a better recommendation??  Something which would look at home in a land which expects snow in winter!!  It will be visited by New Haven, Maine Central, Boston and Maine, Bangor & Aroostook and Central Vermont engines, so as you can see the precise location changes from day to day!!!!!  But passenger services are provided by New Haven Budd RDCs, so it is for a "one RDC" sized passing station, perhaps with New Haven affiliations.

Thanks,
Bill.

skipgear

Tony Hines

Modeling the B&O in Loveland, OH 1947-1950

Paul Kremer

Yes, Europeans do model New England roads! I'm modeling the B&M in 1950's. I was in search of a credible NE-depot as well and recently found it on Ebay. Blair Line's Walnut Grove Depot (#1004) is very, very Yankee. Although it's not based on a NE prototype it comes close to the characteristic wooden structures that dotted rural B&M-country.
Blair Lines's depot is a superbly detailed laser kit. Only 200 of them produced but not impossible to find on the net. I payed some 35 Dollar for it.
An alternative could be the Laserkit depots. Check their site. They have a real nice B&M/NE yardtower too. 
The Atlas Maywood station is a very nice representation of a wooden depot, but not very B&M, nor NE. The planking is vertical and most of the depots in NE had the planking horizontal.
If you're modeling B&M (or MEC) and want to paint or airbrush the depot, consider Polly Scale's Milwaukee Road Maroon and Toronto Hamilton and Buffalo cream. They are a very close match.
Hope this is of any help.

Paul, Netherlands

GoCanes

Now that 10mm Fishmen, Deep Ones and Mutated civilian figures are available, I want to someday build an Innsmouth harbor and town  (with a train, of course)

That's New Englandy and very Lovecraftian.

;)

Searsport

Hi, thanks to all for your advice.  Some very interesting info there:

I had not previously spotted the point about New England wood stations tending to have horizontal rather than vertical planking.

I was a bit worried that the roof shape of the Walnut Grove depot looked too specific to somewhere.  But on browsing a few New England station photos, I found a very similar roof shape on the Central Vermont at Northfield MA, which I think was built by the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad, later absorbed by the Central Vermont.

I had not considered wood kits before, but having done so I found that Branchlines make one of Cannondale station on the New Haven Danbury branch.  Still standing, and the barn red paint makes for a striking model.  Also, I think it is tab and slot construction, which may be a good introduction to wood kits.  However, I have also realised that most of the web retailers pics show the HO model, and the pic of the N-scale model on Branchlines' own website has not been finished quite as neatly.  Maybe the small scale of N makes a good job in wood more difficult.  Still, I think that is where I will start.

Having found Branchlines I found they also do other prototypical New England structures, including the Crosby Coal and Grain kit from Danby, VT on the Rutland RR.

So, I shall have a go at wood kits, starting with the Cannondale station, knowing that if I fail I can fall back on the Atlas Maywood kit, which looks rather similar but has vertical planking, but would doubtless look good in Barn Red!

Finally, I was always less worried about the folks with webbed feet than about whatever was trying to get through the gabled window.  Nice to know that HPL is not forgotten.

Thanks,
Bill.

Country Joe

I built the Cannondale station in N a few years ago. It's a very nice kit and pretty easy to build. Here is a picture from my old layout. It is on the new layout but the area is not scenicked yet. As you can see I gave it a beat up and weathered look.