I’d been using the old Atlas station for my N scale PRR Middle Division’s fictional town of Lewisport, PA… But it always bothered me because by the 1950s, nearly every surviving depot on the PRR Middle Division was brick. Yet very few decent brick stations were offered in N that could be made to look Pennsy.
The new Walthers Pella depot is a nice little kit they offer in both HO and N. When I first saw it I thought it could be converted to look a little like a Pennsy depot (such as their plan B-2). The main thing that bugged me was the weird blank dormer. I know it’s true to the Iowa prototype, but it looks strange to me and also is unique to this model, so says loudly “I am a kit.” I decided it had to go.
Here’s the stock version as shown on the N Scale Supply website:
The main things I did were to remove the base for the dormer by shaving down the plastic tabs, sanding it flat, and hand-scribing the roof slate detail across the blank area where the dormer would go. I also painted the structure’s trim w/ PRR two-tone brown and red window sashes. Concrete trim was painted with PolyScale D&H Gray. I used that same color to paint the mortar lines; I applied the paint full-strength to the walls prior to detailing and window installation, and then buffed it off the bricks with a damp rag.
The depot signs were made in PowerPoint and printed on heavy photo paper.
Here’s the old Lewisport scene:
The platform details (benches, baggae cart, etc.) c
You did a remarkable job of filling in the roof where the dormer was!! If you can do that, you should be able to scratch build a “Pennsy” depot!![tup][tup][8D]
I see Marysville… I see Duncannon… The curved eyebrow dormers will finish it off nicely. If you bought two kits, would you have enough bits and pieces to fix the bay window issue? Seems like a little slice here, a bit of Dremel magic there and you’d be very close to a PRR station…
It reminds me a lot of a station I once saw. Greensburg? I don’t remember, but it was in between Altoona and Pittsburgh.
I tweaked the one picture a bit, quick and dirty. Gave it that “nestled up against the foot of a mountain” look that a lot of towns in that part of the state have. Hope you don’t mind.
I was one class away from being class of 06. Had to settle for 07 though.
Should check out the book Rails to Penn State if you can track it down. Its about the old Bellefonte Central, has some neat pictures of State College when there was a small cramped yard where Hammond sits now. The university had a thing up a few years ago in the library with a bunch of pictures of State College when there were rails there (some of them can be found here http://www.libraries.psu.edu/speccolls/exhibits/bcrr/bcrr.html ) and somewhere on the library’s site you can see the old Sanborn maps. 1930s State College could make a nice little shelf layout some day (from the wye out near the golf course to the stub yard downtown) . BFC ran a few ex-Pennsy H9s, I believe. The Corner Room has some pictures of trains at the station, too, on their walls. One morning I sat down for breakfast and saw that the picture at the table I was at was nothing less than Eisenhower getting off his presidential train to go to a football game with his brother.
Funny you mention that… My father and I each have copies of that book.
In fact, over on another forum I started a thread about what it might take to model the BCRR in N scale.
In the end I concluded that while it would be both spectacular from a scenery perspective and very personally meaningful, it would probably not offer enough variety to keep ops interesting. 80% of the traffic was lime and limestone from the first 3 miles of the railroad; by the 50s they were no longer hauling coal to Penn State, and the trains visited State College only a few times a week. Passenger traffic would be restricted to
I do the same thing picking out model kits, which are structurally the same as some Pennsy buildings and then adding the necessary details and paint. I just finished Walther’s Golden Valley depot, which resembled a Pennsy branch line station.
I never thought of using PowerPoint for the signs. I will have to try that.
Dave, really nice job on the Pennsy Station. You really captured the look. I see you and several others went to Penn State and have an interest in the BCRR. I live in Lamar, PA half way between Lock Haven and State College so I get to see the Bald Eagle Line & Buffalo all most daily. Also, see remnants of the out BC quite often. Your station is almost a dead ringer for the station that is still standing in Lock Haven at the end of the yard where the Buffalo and Bald Eagle lines seperate. It’s now used for NS m.o.w. Once again GOOD JOB!
