http://issuu.com/mr-hobbyist/docs/mrh11-08-aug2011-ol/47?viewMode=presentation&mode=embed
The above link will take you to MRH article on Dr. Nicolas Muff's Kansas City Southern layout which centers around his incredible model of Kansas City's Union Station.
Could that have been the article you remember?
Chuck
I also think there were some plans in great model railroads or track planning for realistic operation that featured passenger operations. I do not recall the issues at this time but one of them modeled I think Chicago and was rather large and another was a shelf layout if memory serves and featured passenger operations. Hope this helps, I think there were a couple of others as well.
Most recent layout design sig publication has a great plan for modeling south side of Chicago Union Station. There is also a layout in RMC a few years ago based on Chicago Union station. I plan to try to model north side since I model Milwaukee Rd and UP.
John Armstrong's article "Next to the biggest," from the April 1954 Model Railroader, pages 59-63, presents an interesting idea, modeling a Midwestern trunk line's approaches to Chicago from the west. However, it doesn't include Chicago Union Station or any union station.
What Armstrong called the Chicago & Iowa Central has suburban passenger stations and an outlying freight yard – think Lisle, Naperville, and Aurora on the CB&Q, along with Eola Yard. But the east end of the main line disappears into staging before reaching downtown Chicago or even the railroad's main city freight terminal (comparable to the Q's Cicero Yard).
It's still an interesting track plan despite a somewhat dated twice-around configuration and inadequate staging by modern standards.
So long,
Andy
Andy Sperandeo MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
John Armstrong had a track plan article in MR...sometime in the 1950's, I think...entitled "Next To The Biggest" and it was based on the union station idea.
Here's a pic of what Union Station St. Louis looks like today. The part of the shed at left that appears more closed in is where the shops and restaurants are located. It's completely closed in from the outside. The rest of the shed is open to the elements. Part of it at top covers the parking lot. There is also a pond located under the shed, as well as a Hard Rock Cafe. There are a few train tracks at upper right that usually have some stuff on display. The tan-roofed building at lower right is part of the hotel. I think part of the hotel is also located in the old station building (red roof.) This building also has the Grand Hall which is often used for receptions and other events.
[Trivia tidbit] The movie Escape From New York was partly filmed at Union Station. The scene where Snake is forced to fight big guy was filmed there.
When I was in Boy Scouts back in the '70s we took a tour of the station. It was nearly dead at that time. There was only one or two trains a day. There was talk of demolishing it. Fortunately they didn't.
Steve
Lee,
St. Louis Union Station had an arched train shed supported by pin-connected truss work, and the roof spanned 32 tracks. The concourse end was enclosed with glass, and that's the daylight at the end of the shed in that photo. There was a series of lateral clerestories across the roof that were open on the sides for ventilation and smoke removal, and that's the daylight you see above the roof trusses. The lateral clerestories were joined by a higher central clerestory that extended for most of the length of the shed.
The last time I was there, 11 years ago, some of the train shed's roof trusses were still in place, but the roof itself was incomplete. I don't recall whether any of the clerestories were still in place.
hdtvnutI'm trying to remember where I saw an article on a layout mostly dedicated to a Union station with all its platform and service tracks, etc. Not sure if it was in print or online, but reasonably certain it was within the past year. There was some online comment about it. Tried searching but no luck. Anyone? Hal
Just ran across this picture on Railpictures.net , St. Louis 1970. How's that for timing? It looks like the roof was open, but framed over for lighting.Enjoy.
Lee
In addition to Andy Sperandeo's well-researched (23 pages dedicated to stations & terminals), Model Railroader's Guide to Passenger Equipment & Operations -- I've found Modeling realistic passenger operations to be a welcome PDF-download companion piece.
The latter PDF-book has a 7-page article, Passenger Station Operations, that outlines the 3 types of prototype passenger station designs: [1] Stub-End Stations; [2] Through Stations, and; [3] Combination Station (back-to-back "stub-ends" with an outer "through-track").
There is also Chuck Hitchcock's 8-page, Twelve Hours at Argentine (Tuesday, July 14, 1953), with a track plan that resembles/parallels the Metropolitan Union Passenger Terminal track plan of Stan Sweatt.
In a sense, the location + space (like available shelf-width), helps to determine the station trackage whether it be stub-end, through, or combination.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956
Hello "tvnut,"
You may be recalling an article headlined "A track plan for passenger operations" in the January 2011 Model Railroader. Author Stan Sweatt described his "Metropolitan Union Passenger Terminal" track plan, for a 10 x 20-foot HO layout, on pages 72 and 73.
My thanks to "Stix" for remembering my NOUPT track plan and my book, The Model Railroader's Guide to Passenger Equipment & Operation. Whether it's "recent" or not is relative, I suppose, but that book was published in 2006. My NOUPT track plan aricle originally appeared in the October 2002 MR.
Those interested by "Lee's" comment on St. Louis Union Station might want to look at a track plan article, "St. Louis Union Station," by Paul W. Borthwick, for an 18 x 24-foot "E"-shaped HO layout in the October 1960 MR, p. 60.
HDTVNUT
I don't have a picture ready at the moment but the St. Louis Union Station had a large glass roofed train shed on the back of the station with several tracks. the thru tracks went across the face of the shed. The cars were all backed in from both directions. The engine would pull past the building, switch was thrown and the cars were backed in along side boarding docks, If i remember correctly. The last time I boarded a train there was 1958. It was a beautiful stone building which is now a hotel the last time I checked.
Just a little information.
In his recent book on Passenger Train operations, Andy Sperandeo had an section showing a track plan based on New Orleans big union station in the fifties/sixties. Could that be what you're thinking of?? Not sure but the plan might have been in MR at some point too.