For several years now, I have wanted to model the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Inbound Freight House at Dearborn Station in downtown Chicago. It is now long gone, torn down in the early 70’s but it was probably the most photographed of the ten large freight houses that dominated the landscape between 8th Street and 15th Street from north to south and bordered by Clark Street on the west and State Street on the east. A photo of the actual freight house as it existed in the late 1960s can be seen below.
I call it scratch bashing because it is neither a scratch build from raw material nor a combination of structure kits. Initially, I wanted to scratch build it as my second project as a follow up to the Coors Family Mansion that I built back in early 2016. But, my limitation is that I could not find the proper windows and freight doors from suppliers like Grandt Line and Tichy.
I thought about using modular kits, but the Woodland Scenics DPM Modulars were too big and the windows and doors were not a proper match. The Walthers Cornerstone Modulars seemed more suited to the task, albeit with some cutting and trimming of the walls, windows and doors to more closely match the prototype, but Walthers had long ago discontinued the modular kits and they are now extremely difficult to find, even on eBay.
So, then I decided to try making rubber molds and casting the wall sections, windows and doors in resin. That worked quite nicely, but finding the right adhesives became a challenge.
Finally, and with the help of some fellow forum members, I was able to track down enough Walthers Modular kits to construct a reasonably similar HO scale version of the C&EI Inbound Freight House.
The actual freight house consisted of four sections. The two main sections were a 1-story freight house with a peaked roof attached to a 2-story freight house w
Rich, I can’t wait for you to share your progress pics.
I spent my first 23 years in Chicagoland and that warehouse (along with Dearborn station and the “Levi” ad) were something special for this Santa Fe fan.
This is a major project, and I’m sure you will do your usual outstanding work!
What a great project, Rich. I will be watching this to see your modeling pics.
Mike.
I’m looking forward to following your progress, Rich. John Bertram sends his regards, too. [;)]
Wayne
Rich:
You have been working on this project for quite some time. I admire your perseverance. Like the rest, I will eagerly await your pictures!
Cheers!!
Dave
Thanks, guys, for the support and encouragement. This project has, indeed, been in the planning stages for a long time now, but I finally figured out the best way to do it.
I need to get some photos posted.
Rich
ahh, your usual low blow, Wayne. [(-D]
A place (space) of honor remains open on my layout for Bertram’s when you finally decide to part with it.
Rich
Probably the second biggest challenge, right behind the selection of suitable materials, was the need to find (1) smaller windows on the first floor that matched the larger windows on the second floor and (2) larger freight doors to sit along side the smaller freight doors.
I simply could not find the right combination of windows and doors. So, I decided that the only course of action was to kitbash my own by cutting and gluing the Walthers Modular wall sections in different shapes and sizes and then modifying existing windows and doors.
Here is a photo of the kitbashed material. It is probably far from perfect, but it does bear a resemblance to the actual prototype.
Rich
Most of the photos of the C&EI inbound freight house were taken from the Roosevelt Road overpass, looking down on the east side of the freight house.
The first photo below is a somewhat rare photo of the north side of the 2-story portion of the freight house, opening up onto Roosevelt Road.
The second photo below shows my scratch bash of the north side of the 2-story structure. It took a bit of kitbashing to shape the windows and to get the double door high enough in the wall section to permit direct entry onto Roosevelt Road.
Rich
[tup][tup][tup][tup][tup][tup]
Have Fun. [:)]
Thanks, JaBear. As you know, you were my inspiration to undertake this project with that thread a few years back.
Rich
I am making some pretty good progress now. Here is the 2-story portion of the structure, but no roof yet. I need to paint the foundation and hide some joints and some other refinements. The brick color is Pollyscale Dirt.
Rich
ahh, now it is starting to resemble the real thing. Still no roofs or painted foundations or loading docks, but I hope to be there soon.
Some minor flaws to fix, but what, me worry?
Rich
I went back to the original thread, October 2014, (time flies when you’re having fun!!) to look at more photos, only to find it suffering badly from photobucketitus, but then remembered that I did still have a small file saved.
Which is a long winded way of saying that after doing a comparison, I think you appear to be doing a great job of capturing the essence of the structure.
For old times’ sake, here’s my original sketch. My mistake, which I was to work out later, was that the figure of “Foreman Fred”, used for perspective, was OO scale.[banghead]
on Flickr
Keep up the good work,
Cheers, the Bear.[:)]
Thanks, JaBear. Yeah, that thread was started back in October, 2014, and it predated my scratchbuild of the Coors Family Mansion and my initial attempt at rubber molds and resin casting.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/239382.aspx?page=1
The windows and doors are HO scale pieces, so I am good there.
Right now, I am trying to establish the proper pitch for that peaked roof on the 1-story structure and whether or not to install canopies over the loading docks. I may consult the experts on the Yahoo Groups C&EI forum as I get closer to the finish.
Rich
C’mon Rich, you don’t honestly think you’re going to get away that easy, do you??? [:-^] [(-D][(-D]
ahh, you’ve got me figured out, JaBear. [:$]
I contacted the C&EI Historical Society and, indeed, at one time the loading docks and canopies extended the entire length of the freight house, so I have more work ahead of me.
At the moment, I am about to take corrective action to change the pitch on the 1-story roof. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I let the angle of the Walthers Modulars peaked wall section fool me into setting the pitch way too flat, so now I need to re-do the roof. Off to the LHS some time today.
Rich
Here is my latest progress photo with the loading docks in a temporary setup. No canopies yet. You can see where I went wrong with the peaked roof on the 1-story structure. I will have to peform some minor surgery today in order to correct the pitch of that peaked roof to a much more severe angle to match the prototype.
Rich
Rich, that is really something!
Looking at the number of floor boards it covers I can get an idea of its size, but it would be a good thing to put a yardstick along side it to get a better perspective.
I’m sure you did some compression, but it looks pretty darn realistic to me. Have to say, I especially like the “paint job”. It is so typical of the buildings of that era.
Nicely done. Freight houses provided a lot of switching back in the day. Positive for any layout of the right era.