I am planning on an elevated station. I am going to use the Walthers Union Station and would like to place it above the tracks with steps down to the platforms. I would really appreciate any advice from folks that have tried this before. Photos would be great!
Thanks
My stations are subways, so all passenger access is via stairs.
In these pictures, the stairs themselves, as well as the walls and platforms, are hydrocal castings. This picture is a bit fuzzy, but it shows the stairway a bit better. The “cast-iron” fencing is from Model Power, and the young lady is by Preiser:
I put a couple of level changes on the platforms, too, and added smaller stairways:
Of course, these subway stations are filled with steelwork, using H-girders from Evergreen.
I made the molds myself, using Evergreen “Tile” and “Sidewalk” sheets as the original and WS latex rubber to make the molds. For the stairs, I used modelling clay to make an original, and then made a mold from latex.
All of these stations have scenery above them, and can only be seen from the edge of the layout. To provide illumination, I use lighting which is not visible from above:
All of the figures, as I recall, came from the same Preiser set of people climbing up and down stairs. I think they add a lot to each of the individual scenes.
Simon, out of curiosity I went to Walthers website and typed in “Union Station”.
Is this the building that you’re getting? http://walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3094
That’s the one Antonio, I have had it for a while.
What I am most interested in are strategies and solutions for the support platform when elevating it.
Thats a prtty heavy stone type building. Perhaps Plastruct’s plastic beams can be used. Yout talking like city life is under it with road traffic?
Maybe this is more what you’re looking for:
This is the Penny Lane station without the street and buildings on top. The ironwork is not structural, it’s purely there for decoration. The key is the pieces of 1x2, seen from the top. Here, they’ve been “wrapped” with hydrocal castings, which I folded around a scrap piece of 1x2 after the hydrocal set up, but before it hardened completely.
Here’s what this looks like edge-on, with the street above.
This is intentionally dark, to highlight the illumination from the buildings above. The ceiling lights hadn’t been installed in the subway station yet, so the only light there is from the train passing through.
Actually Mr.B that is exactly the kind of idea I was looking for. THanks
One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.
The “roof” of the station and the base for the structures and roadway above are the same piece of 1/4-inch masonite. It’s stiff enough to span the 6-8 inches across the station without sagging. This piece is a liftoff, by the way, in case I have a problem inside the station.
I was going to do something just like you are planning but tore out the layout and changed scales before building it started. However, I had it all worked out, so I will give you what I had in mind.
I had three tracks under the station. Also, the station was part of the above ground street level, so there were going to be a few other city buildings around it, but also space for busses and taxi’s. The street level surface was going to be Gator Foam or Luan. Both are lightweight and stiff. I was going to build a framework with 1/2 inch square pine (I cut my own on a table saw). This framework was going to go crosswise and lengthwise, and where they crossed, I was going to notch each piece halfway through so they would interlock. Then this framework would be glued and weighted to the bottom of the street surface piece until dry. I was going to have three tracks underneath, so that made two platforms in the middle with two outside edges. The framework would be lined up above these four areas. Support posts would be dowels. The holes would be drilled by laying the “street” over the tracks and platforms right-side-up and lined up with the sides and platforms. (Pencil lines marked the locations of the “beams”) The holes would be drilled through the “street” and the supports and into the platforms and sides at the “crossing points” of the supports. This insured that the dowels would be lined up correctly. The bottom and the dowels would be painted black. The dowels would be covered by Central Valley’s square Girders. These would be assembled and cut to length and then painted coach green, then slipped over the dowels, and the “street” unit set in place. (The dowels would be glued to the upper level) Of course there would be stairs and baggage elevators between the two levels. The baggage elevators would be und
Here’s one I worked up for the Delmarva Model Railroad Club.
As you can see I didn’t quite get around to getting the platforms done. The stairways were from an old Vollmer steel walk bridge kit, and the station itself was bashed out of three Con Cor/Heljan kits and some other bits and pieces.
Following the lead of several stations I’m familiar with, I made the plaza in front of the station part of a large bridge structure over the tracks.
Lee
Lee and Elmer, thanks for the responses. Lots of ideas to sink my teeth into. I appreciate the time you took to post these.
Can’t send a picture right now, 'cause I’m just taking a break from building it, but I am using Kato steps (I’m in N, but think they are also made in HO) from their elevated platform pedestrian crossing. (sorry, don’t know part numbers)
I have the Walthers Union Station sitting on masonite, supported by wood blocks painted as concrete between the track pairs. At track level, I am using the Walthers track platforms, and connecting them are the Kato covered steps.
Micro-Engineering used to have elevated stairways, and CMR has a deluxe station with decending stairwells, ala Kansas City.
Concourse & Stair wells are $89. Station is $100 more.
Hi, Simon. If you didn’t see it elsewhere already, here’s what I’ve done, which is probably along the lines of what you might be looking for.
While as yet not quite finished, the main elevated section of the station structure was kitbashed from a Walthers Cornerstone bank, with the lower mezzanine/windowed gallery below the station proper that leads to the stairwells feeding the track-level platforms, created from a Vollmer passenger bridge.
The structure(s) are supported on a platform of heavy Evergreen styrene, bolstered by styrene structural I-beams and highway bridge railings from Rix, the fencing itself not yet in place when this photo was taken. There’s an 8-inch wide, divided street infront of the station and you can just see the tops of two Yellow Cabs near the entrance doors.
CNJ831