Trains.com

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Left handed vs Right handed depot?

4069 views
15 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    January 2014
  • 197 posts
Left handed vs Right handed depot?
Posted by ChrisVA on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 7:14 AM

I'm seeing some depot laser kits that are designated as left handed or right handed. What does that mean?
Thanks!

 

  • Member since
    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
  • 8,253 posts
Posted by mbinsewi on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 7:58 AM

I'm not getting this.  Does this have to do with which side the tracks are on?

I've never seen or heard of a station being left or right handed.  

Enlighten me.

Mike.

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 8:08 AM

The better term is left-sided versus right-sided.

For example, the depot may have a bay window which can be built with the bay window on the left side or on the right side.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 8:15 AM

Mike you have forgotten the 4 page thread on whether we should run our trains clockwise or counter clockwise.  Clockwise running requires a right station  Devil

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    May 2010
  • From: SE. WI.
  • 8,253 posts
Posted by mbinsewi on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 8:17 AM

OK, that makes more sense.  Thanks Rich.

Henry, Laugh, you posted while I typed.  Good reference!  I guess were off with page 1. 

Mike.

  • Member since
    October 2008
  • From: Canada
  • 1,820 posts
Posted by cv_acr on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 10:04 AM

richhotrain

The better term is left-sided versus right-sided.

For example, the depot may have a bay window which can be built with the bay window on the left side or on the right side.

I'm still not sure what anyone means by that.

Obviously the operator's bay window faces the tracks, but the same structure can be easily placed on either side of the tracks.

There's no "direction" to a station building. Trains pass in both directions on the tracks.

All you need to do to change a station from being on the right hand side vs. the left hand side is walk over to the other end and take a picture from the other direction...

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 10:33 AM

When a kit is right sided or left sided, it is one and the same kit. It is designed so that you can build it with certain features on either the right side or the left side.

Here is an example:

American Model Builders N Scale Laser Kit Structures | N Scale Model Trains | Fifer Hobby Supply

Scroll down to the N Scale IC Type A Depot Kit.

Also, N Scale SP Two Story Combination Depot Type 22 Kit

Rich

Alton Junction

DrW
  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Lubbock, TX
  • 371 posts
Posted by DrW on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 2:06 PM

richhotrain

When a kit is right sided or left sided, it is one and the same kit. It is designed so that you can build it with certain features on either the right side or the left side.

Here is an example:

American Model Builders N Scale Laser Kit Structures | N Scale Model Trains | Fifer Hobby Supply

Scroll down to the N Scale IC Type A Depot Kit.

Also, N Scale SP Two Story Combination Depot Type 22 Kit

Rich

 
Rich is correct. Here is a prototype example. When looking from the tracks, Santa Fe standard depots usually had the passenger portion on the right side and the freight part on the left, with the bay window in-between. E.g., here in Friona:
 
 
However, in a few cases this was reversed,like here in Dumas:
 
 
JW
  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 2:43 PM

Maybe if there was a predominant direction of travel, more people from Dumas travel east to Oklahoma City than traveled west to Albuquerque, the passenger side faced the frequented on coming loco.


It looks like either both stations were moved, or the tracks were, on Google maps.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Heart of Georgia
  • 5,406 posts
Posted by Doughless on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 3:20 PM

BigDaddy

Mike you have forgotten the 4 page thread on whether we should run our trains clockwise or counter clockwise.  Clockwise running requires a right station  Devil

 

According to the general principals fully illustrated in that thread, you've got that backwards:

Clockwise running is the norm in the UK among other places.  So is driving on the left side of the road.  

So clockwise running requires a left sided station, not a right sided station.

In the USA, where we run things counterclockwise and we drive on the right side of the road, would you need a right sided station.

Carry on.....

- Douglas

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Omaha, NE
  • 10,621 posts
Posted by dehusman on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 3:26 PM

Obviously none of you have bought a house lately.  

Floor plans can be right handed or left handed.  If you think a station there is the freight secton on the left side, the agent's office in the middle and the waiting room on the right side.  

Or.... You can build the same depot with the freight section on the right side, the agent's office in the middle and the waiting room on the left side.

Same exact floor plan but the positions of the rooms has been flipped left for right.  You can also see it in big box stores where some stores you go in and the grocery section is to the left and some the grocery section is to the right but its essentially the same floor plan.  A left hand plan or a right hand plan.  

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Maryland
  • 12,897 posts
Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 3:46 PM

And the real life reasons this might matter could be the geography of the site, shape of the available property, location of roads or best place to locate parking lots, loading areas, etc.

And similar considerations may make for a better scene on your model railroad as well.

Sheldon 

    

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 4:16 PM

Our house is flipped from the model. We did that to avoid having our driveway right next to the neighbor's driveway.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 4:27 PM

richhotrain
Our house is flipped from the model. We did that to avoid having our driveway right next to the neighbor's driveway.

Down here "right hand" and "left hand" have to do with the location of the garage when viewed from the front.

In two-lot-building-site neighborhoods, like mine, houses must alternate left, right, left, right, and so on.

Mine is a "right hand" house, my neighbors on either side are "left hand" houses.

This requirement has to do with utility entry into the house. Code requires cable, phone, electrical, and water to all enter through the garage area, and service access is in between every other building site.

I think Sheldon gave plenty of examples in real world situations where a station could be reversed from stations of the same design.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 5:27 PM

Doughless
According to the general principals fully illustrated in that thread, you've got that backwards:

I figured that out, but chose to exercise my 5th amendment rights.Big Smile

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Mpls/St.Paul
  • 13,892 posts
Posted by wjstix on Wednesday, March 17, 2021 4:20 PM

The latest issue of the Great Northern Hysterical Society "Goat" has an ad for their new 1899 GN depot kit, which is available in both right and left handed versions:

https://gnrhs.myshopify.com/collections/ho-models/products/standard-combination-depot-24-x-48-1899-left-handed-ho-scale

https://gnrhs.myshopify.com/collections/ho-models/products/standard-combination-depot-24-x-48-1899-right-handed-ho-scale

The ad says: "There were plans for left handed and right handed versions, with left or right referring to which side of the office the waiting room was on as viewed from the front, or track, side".

Stix

Subscriber & Member Login

Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!

Users Online

There are no community member online

Search the Community

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Model Railroader Newsletter See all
Sign up for our FREE e-newsletter and get model railroad news in your inbox!