I have just finished a ATSF station (laser kit, walthers no.152-803). I am going to place it on a brick pad. I am not sure how big the platform and sidewalks should be. At the moment I am planning on the front platform tobe 65 ft X 12 ft (scale feet), side walks 5ft by width of station and the back 7 ft by the length of the station. Does this sound reasonable? The reason for the 65 ft platform is that is a little longer than a passenger car. I have a little room to make it larger if you think it is necessary.
Thanks for all in puts.
Ken
Ken,
A depot that size would have a platform the length of multiple passenger cars. Most trains stopping would have more than one car. Make it as long as possible, because it will look more realistic. Typically, the platform would extend a 100' or so on either side of a building that big. Sometimes the nicer brick or whatever paving was used might give way to crushed stone for economic reasons, but passengers still need a safe spot to alight on so something needs to be down for several carlengths centered in fron of the building.
Note a couple of things. I said a "depot that size" but couldn't find a structure with that part # on walthers website. I assume it's not a tiny flag stop station, but not huge.
Most passenger cars are longer than 65' so you want a longer platform even if for a single car.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Ideally the platform should be as long as all of the passenger carrying cars in the trains. But this is rarely practical or even possible on our model railroad layouts. I would just make it as long as you can and the engineer & conductor will have to do multiple moves to get all of the passengers on and off the train.
A station of any size would have some kind of paved, wood platform. Don't forget the baggage car which required the use of baggage carts at a station.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Thanks all for the replys.
I can make it a little longer' what about the width, is 12ft. (Scale) ok . Im not sure how big a baggage cart is.
I am making the sidewalks on the side 5 ft.
Bis Thanks all for the replys. I can make it a little longer' what about the width, is 12ft. (Scale) ok . Im not sure how big a baggage cart is. I am making the sidewalks on the side 5 ft.
There were many different sizes. Google HO scale baggage cart or search Walther's. Some small stations would have had a two wheel hand cart.
I have seen some four wheel versions at an old Union Station not far from where I live.
The common 4-wheel type was about 4'x8' with a tongue protruding about 6' or so.
Thanks, perhaps l should make the sidewalks on the side of the station a little wider than 5 ft.
Baggage carts are used between the baggage car and the station's baggage room, usually through a door on the platform side of the station. The same carts were used for mail if there was more than one sack to move.
The station-to-train platform in most towns ran the full distance between the adjacent grade crossings, a full downtown block. The part used by carts would be paved. The rest was frequently nothing but a wide gravel fill.
My own case, driven by my prototype, demands platforms the full length of the longest train that will use them. They also have to be car floor height. Japanese trains don't have vestibule steps. The DMU and EMU cars that cover most of my passenger schedule don't even have vestibules.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Ach... Platforms of LION are 4' long, which in HO will accommodate a 6 car subway train.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
I wish I had room for a 4 ft. platform, it might look a little over kill since the station is only 5 1/2 inches by 2 1/4 inches.
Yeah, 4' sounds largish. But the station is roughly 40' long, so a platform that's 120' long would be perfectly appropriate if it fits. That would get one car entirely in front of it at both ends, as well as getting one end/vestibule of adjacent cars in front of it, covering three cars. Not sure how long your passenger trains will be, but 3 cars is not big, but enough to create the impression of bigger things. Even if using shorty cars (~60') a 120' platform only covers two cars.
Even in small towns with small stations railroads often went to great effort to have platforms long enough for at least 5-6 passenger cars.
At Harpers Ferry West Virginia, the B&O station platforms extend out on to the bridge over the Potomac River - with the end result being that if you get off the train on the bridge, you are in Maryland and you have to walk several hundred feet to West Virginia.....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpers_Ferry_Train_Station#/media/File:Columbian_(B%26O)_train.jpg
The station is behind the photographer in this photo.
The picture of the station on the wikipedia page below shows how small and simple the station is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harpers_Ferry_Train_Station
Sheldon
Long Island Rail Road operates trains consisting of 12 to 14 85' cars. That is a lot of platform to build. You got room for a 1020 foot long platform?
Compression happens by the number of cars that you operate. LION operates 6 car x 50' trains. NYCT operates 10 car x 60' trains for a 600' platform. LION cannot build 8' long platforms, 4 car trains just look too short and 8 car trains take up too much space. So, six car trains look just good enough.
4' platformms looks good on my layout. It is all a matter of how it looks to ewe.
BroadwayLion Long Island Rail Road operates trains consisting of 12 to 14 85' cars. That is a lot of platform to build. You got room for a 1020 foot long platform? Compression happens by the number of cars that you operate. LION operates 6 car x 50' trains. NYCT operates 10 car x 60' trains for a 600' platform. LION cannot build 8' long platforms, 4 car trains just look too short and 8 car trains take up too much space. So, six car trains look just good enough. 4' platformms looks good on my layout. It is all a matter of how it looks to ewe. ROAR
The Lion makes great points about compression - or more specificly selective compression.
Much to the contrary of current trends in the hobby, I prefer selectively compressed 65' to 75' passenger cars with station platfrom lengths, and train lengths as two of my reasons.
They three or four foot long (260-350 scale feet) passenger platforms to feel big enough, they look better on our compressed curves, and provide slightly higher car counts for the same train length.
Example - if you have room for big station with say 6' of platform, that will handle six 85' cars. But that same plateform will provide reasonable access to eight 72' cars.
Eight to nine cars makes a convincing first class passenger train - six cars looks like the local.......
Just my view....
I agree on making them as long as reasonably possible. If you working with a 4x8, you might end up making half of it into a station if you get carried away
At Durango, I have platforms that are 4 or 5 car lengths long -- standard gauge. Using narrowgauge equipment on the dual gauge does help make them look longer, but that doesn't work for everybody.
At Hesperus, the initial platform was maybe 120' but I later exetnded it another carlength or so. That definitely improved things. This pic is with the extended platform, so it's still not long...but it's also not Durango, either
As far as platforms every station varied some had rather long platforms while others not so long.
In our perfect HO world we do things railroads would not necessary do in order to save construction and maintenance costs.Why build a long platform when a short platform would suffice based on passenger use at a given station? A flag stop may not even have a platform or agent-you bought your ticket from the conductor.A small city or town station may be used as a local passenger stop only while the limited flew by.
A platform that was short the conductors would use two coaches to load or unload passengers and the baggage/mail storage car would be spotted by a gravel path.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Some Platforms are shorter than others...
Sometimes you don't even need a platform, just a flag.
Thanks everyone for your inputs. Im going to see how much I can expand the platform. My layout isn't all that big, 12 x 7 in the shape of an L