Any suggestions on a nice American type of station . I’m looking for something in the 1930’s era up to present. Not too small . Thanks.
Not sure exactly what size you are looking for but some of the Kibri stations replicate some fairly large German stations. It is fairly easy to Americanize them by just installing a typical gable or flat roof in them. Check the Walthers catalog for ideas.
I have not looked at the Kibri catalog, but my general impression is that some big ornate German station models look like they could be modified to American stations of 1880-1910, and some modern ones could represent some of the handful of American station built since 1950 in more or less the “International” (modern- functionalist) style, but NOT stations built in 1920s-1930s.
You did not specify what scale you are modeling? (Since you didn’t say, I would assume you are assuming everybody automatically thinks HO…)
Quick way to survey is to go to www.walthers.com search and put “structures” in type of model, your modeling scale or gauge, and the keywords “station” and then another search with the keyword “depot” and no manufacturer specified, to get a good long list. Probably faster than looking in a printed catalog, since the printed catalog will everything in pages by manufacturer and you’ll have to keep looking back to the index or table of contents.
Walthers recent “Union Station” kit seems like a starting candidate for your search if you want “not too small”.
The “typical” American depot (a station is a place, a depot is a building) was a 16x32 (or so) wood frame building. Yes, there were a LOT of exceptions to this rule (brick, stucco, poured concrete, large, small, one story, two story, etc), this “rule” holds true for at least 75% of all depots ever built in this country.
Probably the best model on the market for this sort of building, at least for the central third of the country, is the Depots by John “generic” country depot:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/87-110
Most railroads had their own architectural quirks, so some were plain and some were ornate. Do a search of both “depot” and “station” in the Walthers website, looking especially hard at buildings offered by AMB, Blair Line, and Walthers.
larger than 7" in ho scale.
the Walther’s catalog www.walthers.com list several american stations from that era.
some that would fit in HO:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/150-706
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/152-141
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/200-442
and others there as well
in N:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/150-2841
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/322-640 (really has the depression era look)
now if you want a big city feel, these are wonderfiul in HO:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/272-113
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/272-115
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3094
That should give you some ideas, there’s more out there as well, so just do a search through their site for them.
Jay
NTDN
Great references. Thanks!
The Atlas depot is not too bad - but it is more of a suburban style depot. The Life-Like depot is a larger brick structure(B&O prototype?). Walthers has a nice medium size wood depot, and will be releasing a very nice larger brick depot(Milw Road - Wausau, WI???) at the end of the year. this depot is about 17" long(HO scale).
Jim Bernier
You might want to consider the old Suydam kits, later they became California Models, and now are called Alpine Division Scale Models. They offer some nice kits that are perfect for the era you mention. They come in one of 3 colors - yellow/orange, grey, or red - buy the one in the color appropriate to what proto RR you are modeling (in my case the yellow/orange works well for SP / ATSF, or the grey works well for UP). I’ve built a couple of these and they come out very nice. I even had one that was not the color I wanted, so I just painted it into the appropriate color. They’re a bit harder to build than a plastic kit, but not quite as hard as say a full blown craftsman Campbell kit (though they are close). The end results are very nice - nicer than the picture shown. You can find them at pretty decent prices on ebay, off and on (search under each of the 3 mfg’rs), or in some LHS’s. Walthers never seems to have them in stock.
I used to not know or consider them to be much of a kit, until I bought one cheap and built it. I’ve built several craftsman kits, and these are close, and the results are very nice, though like any kit (plastic or craftsman, though more so the latter) you get what you put into them. A patient, detailed effort yields excellent results. Shoddy, impatient efforts yield shoddy results.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/700-5021
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/700-7001
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/700-504
A companion frt house http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/700-5111
Don’t forget Walther’s very nice Built Up series, where the structures come painted, assmbled, and ready to use. They are also available in 3 colors for the same reasons mentioned earlier. Here’s a small depot in that line:
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2806
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. The upcoming new release of the Walthers brick depot http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-2904 caught my attention. That coupled with a covered platform or two, and some lights should make for a fine looking area in the layout.
This station looks great!! Depsite it being Europeon, the brick structure, the curves, and the colors make it look American just after WWII. Very easy to Americanize. Would easily fit in a bustling town or city with heavy passenger service.
A number of the old brick stations in the south eastern U.S that are either preserved or even used by Amtrak have similar features.
I chose DPM’s Coal River Passenger and Freight station. It reminds me of the station in my hometown, a suburb of Chicago Ilinois where I grew up in the 40’s and 50’s. Good detail and lots!! of accessories.
George
I’m looking into possibly saving up for this one
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/650-1115
Better pic of it here: http://66.241.223.134/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=SS1115&Category_Code=SS1000&Product_Count=14
I think it’ll be a perfect centerpiece for my late-1800-early-1900 planned layout.
Jay
there’s a nice little station from walther’s called the Golden Valley station.
NTDN ; that victorian station is a little on the pricey side. Bettter put in some overtime. [:)]
Yes Rororo it is, but then again, it’s got a detailed interior and looks really good. I don’t know first time i saw it, it screamed “buy me”, so as soon as i can justify the fundage, i’ll get it [:P]
Jay
There was an article in Railroad Model Craftsman, I want to say in 1973, that featured a kitbashed station from (if memeory serves me) Kibri, Vollmer, and/or Faller HO kits. The station was Victorian style, but would look at home on layouts from the late 1800s to the present.