I am planning to build a roundhouse from scratch modeled after the Midland Terminal railroad roundhouse in Colorado Springs, Co., but as an operable roundhouse as opposed to the retail space it is today. (see link) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_Terminal_Railroad_Roundhouse#/media/File:Midland_Terminal_Railroad_Roundhouse.JPG The prototype is approximately 38,000 square-feet. I have reference photos that I found online, but I’m not sure how big to build it. What is an easy way to scale it down to HO scale?
Reduce the number of stalls Prototype has fourteen(Seven sections each with two stalls.) One way would be to make each section one stall, but keeping each section 2-stall and reducing the number of sections would be more true to the prototype.
But if you do it correctly, 38,000 square feet becomes 5.0 real square feet scaled down to HO (you have to divide 38,000 by (87 squared), since you’re talking about area. the 1/87 applies for each dimension, which in the case of square feet is two.).
Ed cited one Mel McFarland book. I’ll cite the slightly earlier “Midland Route: A Colorado Midland Gude and Data Book” (1980) No plans. I suspect some of the same material as in Ed’s, IIRC, in part because the MT took over the remnants of the CM.
Thank you everyone. This will be very helpful. I’m not sure how long it will take me to build it, (provided it’s not too big, I might have to reduce the number of stalls to fit my layout or find a smaller, similar looking prototype to model since I like the design of this one) but I plan build the model out of foam core poster board that I bought at Walmart for $0.88 each. It is strong, easy to work with, and lightweight. Then, I plan to make a facade out of a material that I haven’t decided on yet to simulate the stonework.
The roundhouse was commercially produced for a while in what I believe were 4 stall kits with add-ons. Some for sale via the usual suspects and not unreasonably priced (as of today) We had a scale model of it at the club I belonged to in Manitou Springs (just up the road) and it was by no means a large structure and was dwarfed by our model of the Midland offices.
If you want a roundhouse that larger steam will fit in you best move on as the original was built for pre 1900’s locomotives and had to have doors modified for 1907 purchaces by the Midland. The “look” could be copied I suppose but the good proportions of the building would certainly suffer in any scaleing up to fit larger stuff.
If you can round up dimensions for Midland’s class 175 locomotives you’d have an idea what size loco would fill a stall to the gills. Unfortunately my Midland books are in storage right now
Whatever you do, please include the enlarged doorways. To me, that ‘makes’ the entire roundhouse. Otherwise, it would look like dozens of other roundhouses.
It was done by Model Masterpieces back in the late 1970s, and it’s still possible to find both the basic kit and the extra kits for additional stalls. Without a doubt an affordable and good solution, but if you can examine the kit before buying, do so- they were cast from dental plaster, and it’s fragile. Some photos:
I was not sure I would like a roundhouse run through the backdrop, but then I built a 1:1 scale model of the idea to see what it looked like, and it was OK.
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I now believe this is the best way to reduce the size of a roundhouse.
