I’m seeing some depot laser kits that are designated as left handed or right handed. What does that mean?
Thanks!
I’m not getting this. Does this have to do with which side the tracks are on?
I’ve never seen or heard of a station being left or right handed.
Enlighten me.
Mike.
The better term is left-sided versus right-sided.
For example, the depot may have a bay window which can be built with the bay window on the left side or on the right side.
Rich
Mike you have forgotten the 4 page thread on whether we should run our trains clockwise or counter clockwise. Clockwise running requires a right station [}:)]
OK, that makes more sense. Thanks Rich.
Henry, [(-D], you posted while I typed. Good reference! I guess were off with page 1.
Mike.
I’m still not sure what anyone means by that.
Obviously the operator’s bay window faces the tracks, but the same structure can be easily placed on either side of the tracks.
There’s no “direction” to a station building. Trains pass in both directions on the tracks.
All you need to do to change a station from being on the right hand side vs. the left hand side is walk over to the other end and take a picture from the other direction…
When a kit is right sided or left sided, it is one and the same kit. It is designed so that you can build it with certain features on either the right side or the left side.
Here is an example:
American Model Builders N Scale Laser Kit Structures | N Scale Model Trains | Fifer Hobby Supply
Scroll down to the N Scale IC Type A Depot Kit.
Also, N Scale SP Two Story Combination Depot Type 22 Kit
Rich
Rich is correct. Here is a prototype example. When looking from the tracks, Santa Fe standard depots usually had the passenger portion on the right side and the freight part on the left, with the bay window in-between. E.g., here in Friona:
http://atsf.railfan.net/depots/friona.html
However, in a few cases this was reversed,like here in Dumas:
http://atsf.railfan.net/depots/dumas.html
JW
Maybe if there was a predominant direction of travel, more people from Dumas travel east to Oklahoma City than traveled west to Albuquerque, the passenger side faced the frequented on coming loco.
It looks like either both stations were moved, or the tracks were, on Google maps.
According to the general principals fully illustrated in that thread, you’ve got that backwards:
Clockwise running is the norm in the UK among other places. So is driving on the left side of the road.
So clockwise running requires a left sided station, not a right sided station.
In the USA, where we run things counterclockwise and we drive on the right side of the road, would you need a right sided station.
Carry on…
Obviously none of you have bought a house lately.
Floor plans can be right handed or left handed. If you think a station there is the freight secton on the left side, the agent’s office in the middle and the waiting room on the right side.
Or… You can build the same depot with the freight section on the right side, the agent’s office in the middle and the waiting room on the left side.
Same exact floor plan but the positions of the rooms has been flipped left for right. You can also see it in big box stores where some stores you go in and the grocery section is to the left and some the grocery section is to the right but its essentially the same floor plan. A left hand plan or a right hand plan.
And the real life reasons this might matter could be the geography of the site, shape of the available property, location of roads or best place to locate parking lots, loading areas, etc.
And similar considerations may make for a better scene on your model railroad as well.
Sheldon
Our house is flipped from the model. We did that to avoid having our driveway right next to the neighbor’s driveway.
Rich
Down here “right hand” and “left hand” have to do with the location of the garage when viewed from the front.
In two-lot-building-site neighborhoods, like mine, houses must alternate left, right, left, right, and so on.
Mine is a “right hand” house, my neighbors on either side are “left hand” houses.
This requirement has to do with utility entry into the house. Code requires cable, phone, electrical, and water to all enter through the garage area, and service access is in between every other building site.
I think Sheldon gave plenty of examples in real world situations where a station could be reversed from stations of the same design.
-Kevin
I figured that out, but chose to exercise my 5th amendment rights.[:D]
The latest issue of the Great Northern Hysterical Society “Goat” has an ad for their new 1899 GN depot kit, which is available in both right and left handed versions:
The ad says: “There were plans for left handed and right handed versions, with left or right referring to which side of the office the waiting room was on as viewed from the front, or track, side”.