I’m in the procces of building a passenger station. I will use Walthers “City station” and there “Wood station/plattform”. Now how long should I make the plattform? I love my B&O heavyweights and I have eleven of them. One will be a short train consisting of three coaches and a restaurant car. The other of one parlor car, one dining and four sleepers. So to be able to have them all at the plattform would require pretty much three sets of the plattforms. Making it 178 cm long. Would this be excessive and look to big? I can fit it in but I’m afraid it might be to much. What do you usually do with the length of your plattforms?
Mine accomodate 2-4 cars. But I have seen them as small as .25 cars and as large as 12. It’s all about what you want. Although, for looks, the size of the platform should probably be proportional to the station.
The platform itself should be as long as the longest train that will stop there. However, the roofed over portion can be, and usually is, much shorter. I have been at stations where the platform could handle a ten car train, but the roof was only adequate to shelter about ten people.
In the case of an urban station which does not serve commuter trains, the platform shelters need only be large enough to shelter the usual patrons, who tend to wait indoors until their train arrives. OTOH, commuters usually wait on the platform, and tend to get petulant if exposed to the weather.
An easy way to tell whether a station is in the commuter zone around a big city is to note what percentage of the platform is roofed over.
I completely disagree. The ATSF standard platform length for small branch line depots was 300 ft (aprox 4 cars). Their standard mainline depot platform length was 480 ft. (approx 6 cars). I would guess that over 50% of ATSF mainline trains where longer than 6 cars. If it was a terminal like Chicago, KC or LA, then it was the entire length of the train. Rarely will you see that for a depot that the train just makes a stop at.
As is frequently the case, Kalmbach Books has a publication that will likely address your question. Titled “Passenger Equipment & Operation” by Andy Sperandeo, it is highly recomended for its wealth of photos and information. It would appear that station/terminal considerations may involve a bit more than “how many cars…/ how long a platform”. Or not, depending on “modelers license”.
If nothing else, it will provide fascinating reading, and serve as an inspiration to better model passenger operations.
True - for the ATSF. However, my prototype has three factors involved that MANDATE full length platforms, even at little rural stations in the approximate heart of nowhere:
Platforms were car floor height, not railhead height. (Look, Ma, no steps down in the frequently non-existent vestibules.)
On DMU and EMU sets, passengers could not walk freely between cars. Often the consist was split by unused but impassable control stations.
Even on rural lines, MU cars had rapid transit-type doors, operated en masse from the rear end by the conductor. (One button opened all.)
The net result was 200 meter plus raised platforms at all stations, with passenger shelters about the size of city bus shelters in the approximate middle at the least important ones.
I was using the ATSF as a reference, not as a rule.
He clearly stated that he is using B&O heavyweights and walthers city station/platforms. These are not car floor height platforms nor are the cars impassable. I appologize that I am not familiar with the types of Japanese trains that you are modeling but I am fairly certain the B&O’s prototypes follow closer with the ATSF than something out of Japan. In the end, the length of the platform is ultimately up to the modeler and how he wants to build it. Knowing prototype standards can give some frame of reference, but never needs to be followed exactly. I believe that saying the length of the platform “should” be the length of the largest train is a false statement given his rolling stock and platforms. If he was modeling a NYC subway I would probably agree with you.
Greetings to a fellow B&O fan. We must share many of the same Wather’s pieces for our passenger train. What power do you use for pulling it?
Although there has been plenty of info already given for the platform length, I feel that you should do a mockup of various lengths to see what is going to look good with the station. To be true to the prototype on a layout can sometimes look odd or out of place for the real estate provided on the layout.
I made some alterations to my layout and now have a new station to accomodate shorter passenger trains (4 - 6 cars). I could run 8-10 passenger cars on the old one.
I would not worry about the total length of the station itself. You would want room for the baggage car to recieve the freight and a place for the passengers to get on and off the train safely.
There are any number of stations around the Midwest that is really room for 2 or three cars out of the 10+ in the entire train. Some of those might hold the baggage car IF the engineer gets it stopped just so.
I visualize the old Mt. Claire Station out of Baltimore with the long covered platforms or the really big Liverpool out of London that can eat entire trains but have to make do with the room I have.
I would hate for a passenger train to be so long that it will hit three seperate stations at once on the model railroad: Town one baggage, Town Two Diner mid train and Town three somewhere near the Observation Car.
If I read your message correctly your longest normal traffic train is to be six coaches long in which case your platform should be the full length of the train including locomotives
If it is not your drivers will give you a lot of union trouble or you will loose passengers due to the inconvenience of having to move through the train to get off.
Platform lengths are determined by the normal max train length + a little bit more which is how I do mine.
If you will just happen to be running a longer train for some reason like its wild flower season “very popular where I live and the train is longer” or the big race is on make sure your passing tracks can handle that.
Your platforms must be long enough to handle normal traffic or its going to look real odd
On branch lines short or no platforms are OK but not on the main line
Platforms were car floor height, not railhead height. (Look, Ma, no steps down in the frequently non-existent vestibules.)
True for todays commuter train but,not so for the older days when a step stool was use to help passengers step on the coach step.I believe Amtrak still uses them.
I use P2K E8/9 AB or ABA or ABBA. I also use a F7AB from BLI. All int the beautifull colours of the B&O. Last night I ordered an aditional 11 Pullman heavyweights but in the green colours. That will be bulled by 2-10-2 from bachmann.
The VIA Rail station at Charny (near Quebec City) regularly serves trains (the Ocean and the Chaleur) that are too long for its platform. These trains are regularly 10-20 (or more) cars long. In order for passengers to board/leave the train safely and easily, the train stops first to allow access to the front half of the train. Then moves ahead in order to permit access to the rear half. I am sure this situation is not uncommon where long trains stop at short stations along the main.
How long your platform(s) should be is also determined by whether the station is a stub-end terminal; or a “through-track” station along side the main. A stub-end terminal should have platforms long enough to accomodate longer trains since a train would not be able to do the “pull-ahead” mannoeuvre I described above.
Also, a very long train can be split up. Then 2 or more segments of cars can be led into different platform tracks for passenger access, and then re-assembled for departure. This is how VIA Rail handles the boarding and departure/arriaval of its Ocean and Chaleur trains at Montreal’s Central Station (a stub-end terminal). The Ocean and Chaleur passengers board via separate platforms; but at departure the trains are joined together and travel as one long train (they split apart again several hours later when their routes diverge). (The reverse is true for their arrival at Montreal).
As for the OP’s situation… go with what you believe works and looks best for your layout.
