I’m redoing the little town of Carolton on my HO scale layout and I have a question about passenger stations back in the 1950’s. In the photo below the station is seen at on the left in front and will be accessed by a road that leads from the town’s main street and crosses the track at grade. It’s a single main line with no passenger station siding. The question is, should the station platform be brought up to or near track level for the convenience of the passengers? If so, was it prototypical for the area beteen the platform and the track to be filled in level and perhaps a concrete or asphalt pad installed?
I’ve considered putting the station on the other side of the tracks so that it is directly accessed from the sidewalk on mainstreet but there isn’t enough room. Besides, I kinda like it in it’s present location.
For small town stations, the platfom would be raised up to the height of the rail heads. Passengers would climb up three steps into the cars. Platforms might be wood, concrete or asphalt. Trackside there would be a curb running along at the edge of the car, which is several feet wider than the railheads. The purpose of the platform is to keep the passenger’s shoes out the the mud, give them a fairly clean place to stand, and to place their bags without getting them muddy. You want your passengers to stand on the platfom and place one foot on the lowest step on the car.
In northerm stations, where rain and snow is common, the railroads would provide roofs over the platforms to keep their passengers dry during inclement weather.
Thanks David for the reply, I understand what you’re descibing except maybe for the 'curb running along the edge of the car". I’m picturing that as like a sidewalk joined to the station platform on one side and wide enough to maybe touch the cross ties or even the rail on the outer side.
I’m either going to need to raise the ‘ground’ to get the station and it’s platform up to rail height or raise the station up on a low wall foundation (stone maybe?). Either is cool, makes it more interesting.
David gave you some good advice theree. By curb, I think he’s talking about how gravel or cinder platforms would have some sort of retainer curb alongside the tracks to keep this looser material from eroding into the ballast and losingthe firm, level spot to rest the porter’s step-stool on, etc the curb helps provide. Also, when passengrs alight from the train, it should be onto firm footing. The curb helps ensure that.
I agree that you’ll need to raise the station some in this case. You could even build up an embankment where it is now and have steps DOWN to it to give a bit more scenic spice. It looks like your fascia is high enough to support the back side already. Then, the reason the track curves like it does is because of the “hill” the stataion sets on the edge of, even though most of it is imaginary and off the layout, for instance.
I would also put platforms along both side of the track if there is room. In a downtown location, passengers will take the bee line to where they’re going, including getting off the train on the opposite side from the station if they have that option.
My hometown had the typical for SP type 22 depot with asphalt as the chosen material, in this instance it extended to the tie ends and once upon time spanned the entire depot front. Recently UP has been doing some major track work in conjunction with partially reopening the route after being morbid for almost 30 years, the orginal depot location was obliterated in a grade crossing reduction program several decades ago, but guess what? When installing track work for a new spur, crews uncovered that platform, the only exisitng evidence of what was once there.
The ‘platform’ can vary. Some small branch line platforms may be just cinders with a treated wool crib around them.
Most ones I have seen have brick platorms, raised about 12" above rail height, and set back 5’-6’ from the track centerline. Many of these are long gone(along with the depot). Winona, MN still has a wooden platforn that is level with the railhead and extends over the siding(old WB main track). Amtrak uses it every day for the Empire Builder! The La Crosse, WI platform is asphalt & concrete and extends to about 6’ from the track centerline. This allows for mechanized track gangs to work through the station area.
OK,. Track is 4 ft 8 1/2 inch between the rail heads. The cars are 10-11 feet wide. So there is about three feet from the rail head to the edge of the car. The platform would extend up to edge of the car, which is about 3 feet from the railhead. For a concrete or asphalt platform, there would be a curb stone edge to the platform about three feet from the railhead. For a wooden platform, no curbstones. Plus, the railroad doesn’t want to bury the ends of the ties under a concrete or dirt-with-asphalt-surface platform, it makes the ties rot faster, and makes track maintenance harder.
To shim your station up a bit, I’d use a thin base, plywood, or foam board, or something. Shape the edges down a bit, paint it, and set “grass” (dyed sawdust or ground foam) in the wet paint, and it will bled your structure right into the layout. For other structures I have cut the base to fit the structure just right, called it a masonry basement, and covered it with a cinder block or cut stone paper printed on my inkjet.
Here’s a B&O print that I had posted in an earlier thread but it clearly shows the use of the “curb” and there are some dimensions there you may be able to use…
For a small town depot, it wouldn’t be unusual just to have crushed rock (essentially ballast stones) between the depot and the track. A conductor, brakeman or porter would bring down a small step for passenger to use.
p.s. If it were me, I’d move the depot to the other side of the tracks, in the curved area to the right of the ‘notch’ in the road. That way you could have a fairly good sized parking lot around the depot, maybe with a water tank. From what I can recall, it would be more normal for the depot to be on the city side of the tracks…often the depot was there first, and the town grew up around it.
Guys,Also remember these jerk water stops wasn’t all the busy in the 50s since the passenger local was the first to go and also recall these wasn’t to fancy to begin with crush stone seem to be the norm for these small stations.As mention the conductor,brakeman or porter(if any) would place a small step by the car’s step well and would help the passengers on and off the train…
Also by the 50’s a RDC took over what was left of the slow dying passenger service on these secondary main lines…
Thanks to all for the great information and suggestions, I have a much better understanding of what I need to do now. As I mentioned earlier, I considered moving the station to the other side of the tracks but I don’t think I’d have enough room to do so directly across from where it now sits in the relatively short straight section of track. I think it would fit on the other side but down closer to where the camera was, that spot is larger but the station would be on that 22" r. curve, not that that matters a great deal. But, the great advantage to there is it would be right on the main street.
Anyway ya’ll have given me a lot of choices in how to handle the ‘curb’ and the platform and raising the station. Concrete, asphalt, crushed stone or wood, all are good modeling posiblilities. I’m going to think it over for a few days, maybe set the station on the other side and do away with the street that is, or would be, running perpendicular to Main Street and across the tracks. If no station was over there I wouldn’t need the street.
It was not uncommon to have a station some distance from the tracks, particulary when a curve was involved and no additional real estate was available.
If you wanted it on the town side, perhaps an alternate location would be where the car dealer now sits. Looks like enough room plus space for parking.
That’s true. One of them, the car dealer or the station, is going to have to be on the other side of the tracks. We just never have enough room, do we. I’ll move the dealer over there tomorrow, let it set there for a couple of days and see if I like it.
Thanks Dave, I’ll keep that in mind. There is one other spot for the station and that is behind the City Hall building, but it would require some major reworking of streets and finding a new spot for City Hall.
Jarrell,I too vote for the station’s current location.
Here’s my thought.
The present location suggests there is more town beyond the modeled downtown area probably residential since the wee folk that work in those stores and industries gotta live somewhere
Larry and Rich, it’s just about going to have to stay there 'cause it’s the only place it fits good. The above picture was taken with a wide angle lens that gives a false impression of how big those empty areas, nearer the camera, actually are. Besides, I have other ideas for the nearest area, between the track and Main St, such as a park with a statue. I really appreciate all other suggestions and ideas though, it’s tough to know where you can actually put things with only a photo like this to go by without having measurements of things.
Jarrell
By the way, Brakie… I believe you communicate with a good friend of mine in the middle Georgia area named Jack. Fine fellow and great modeler.
