Train Order Office - Part I

As usual, I find myself awaiting on another pair of shipments to arrive in the mail before any of my projects can continue - the joys of returning to the hobby after so long without having an adequate parts/project stash!

Truth be told, I do not have that many concurrent projects, it seems that way to me from all the research on different aspects of this future layout. That being said the next area of attention is on a small structure that will make its way onto the layout no matter what year after 1978 or so. In the late 1970's, the old ACL depot at Enterprise was sold to a local historical society. However, it was an actively used train order station along the Elba branch, and a replacement would be needed.

Enter the small, concrete block office located on the west side of town, about 2 miles or so from the original depot.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3124430

This small structure is simple enough and is the center of railroad activity for the current Wiregrass Central shortline. I could not find a single reference online to this building, but at least two other known examples exist fairly close to this one:

At Elba, AL
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3492036

And Brundidge, AL
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=765365

As you can see above, all three show the same design, with the Brundidge version being built as a mirrored image of the other two. Looks like they wanted the main window to be trackside, makes sense. I strongly suspect there is a reference or engineering guide for these buildings, but I have no such materials among my collection.

The trend seems to be that these were built whenever the SCL was removed from the original depot in these towns. The original Elba depot was long ago destroyed by a flood, the fate of the Brundidge depot is unknown.

Now, down to the model. This structure is beyond easy to scratchbuild using pre-manufactured materials. The building is a simple 20'x20' cinder block construction and Pikestuff makes a perfect modular set of these in HO scale (part number 541-1006). You would need two packs to make the entire structure. I also ordered generic industrial doors and windows from Pikestuff (541-1200, 541-2104 x2, and 541-3000). At first I feared these doors would be too big or small, but Pikestuff seems to have nailed down the dimensions spot on.

I began with the concrete block walls mentioned above. The Pikestuff set includes 4 large interlocking panels, which perfectly come out to 20 scale feet. For this model I chose to cut these down horizontally to 16 blocks in height, just like the prototype. Save the scraps in case you need them later.

Next up, take the 2x4 windows, and size them up on the model. All the windows and doors on the prototype are three cinder blocks from the top.  Use the above reference photos to gauge the exact blocks distance from the edges. For the wall facing Hwy 84, I chose 1 cinder block and a half back from the left edge. The rear wall has a much smaller window, likely for a bathroom. It also has an air conditioner mounted in the window (use the BLMA detail part). Same as before, mount this window 3 blocks down, and cut along the grout lines on the cinder block wall panel.

Here is where we should be so far:

 

Note that the plastic is rather stout and takes quite a bit of cutting to get the removed sections free. Try and cut along the horizontal and vertical grout lines if possible. Work slowly. This will make for a clean look at the end. Note in the image that my lines did not come out absolutely perfect; later we will fill the small gaps with body putty to give a nice final product.

Part II will kick off when - as you may have already guessed - I receive some parts in the mail.