Union Station - an HO Diorama

[Keith Addenbrooke]

 

Just saying...

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Keith Addenbrooke
Reinstating photos

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Mistakes creep in...

 

There‘s always something I miss.  In this case I’d forgotten to paint three paved insets to the trackside doors on the base before gluing the side piece down.  Although I tried to paint these bits of the base as carefully as I could afterwards, capillary action inevitably drew the paint up to hide the join with the bottom of the door - exactly what I didn’t want here!
 

I’ve spent a bit of time trying to remedy it - so even on such a large building the magnifying glass has come out to help me!

 

This is probably as good as I can get it, as I envisage it as being at the rear of the building.

 

As the build progresses, three thoughts are coming to mind I’d not really considered:

 

1.  How to gently weather the structure without overdoing it (I don’t fancy repainting it to start again now the windows are fitted!!).

2.  Interior lighting - I’d need some HO chandeliers!  There are seven skylights, so I wouldn’t need much, but the big windows give a much better view of the interior than on the buildings I’ve made before, so I ought to consider it at some point.

3.  Interior detailing - this would be an entirely separate project for a future date - the base is only a rim so it can be done independently of the main structure.  I tend to assume the interior of New York’s Grand Central Terminal is familiar to all, but here’s a photo I took last year when in New York most recently just in case - it shows why I’m not painting the interior walls of my station, as they have come in the right colour:

 

Other US Union Stations often had rows of bench seating - the main thing they need is people though. A lot of them!

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Keith Addenbrooke
Reinstating photos

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Looking at the rolling stock again while the glue and paint dry on the station, @MAP66’s suggestion of a photo plank has another advantage.  The train looks fine in a straight line:

 

On 26/10/2020 at 20:59, Keith Addenbrooke said:

The coaches need a lot of work to make them workable (the trucks / bogies are all loose, and there are no coupling hooks), but I think they could be quite something when finished.

 

 

On 27/10/2020 at 14:30, MAP66 said:

 

Now for my thought-provoking thought for the day. We have established that dining tables make excellent model work stations, however, and after seeing your latest post, surely mantle pieces as fine as yours are to be also used as photo planks. 

But these 85’ coaches don’t look so great on curves - the track in the photos is UK 3rd radius Setrack:

 

 

No wonder some manufacturers sell them for 24” radius minimum curves (which aren’t really found in our dioramas and micro-layouts).  The original plan for my Union Station diorama just has straight track - I’m only looking at options as I’ve lost the bookcase it was designed for - and the full train is too long for the 4’ mantlepiece.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Keith Addenbrooke
Reinstating photos

[Keith Addenbrooke]

 

There's quite a bit still to do just to complete the basic kit: you can see the front isn't fastened on (I figured I'd need to be able to slide in the roof first).  The two side wings also need to be fitted and there are two small canopies to add at the ends.  Then there'll be the usual tidying up (painting over any open joints or finger marks etc.).  But I'm more than pleased to have got the skylights on without marking them all over the place (you do get one spare one).

 

I've always wanted to build a large station, and had my eye on this kit for a couple of years even before I spotted an affordable one two years ago.  The diorama still has a long way to go but, as I know I have a habit of saying - what this station really ought to have is a layout to go with it...

 

Keith.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Keith Addenbrooke
Reinstating photos

[Keith Addenbrooke]

As well as my diorama and a micro-layout, I’ve been working on a set of boards for a larger layout.  It’s a compact space (76” x 66”), so I wondered if I could work out a simple design that would have space for Union Station, as well as an alternative UK design I’ve posted in my Uphill micro-layout thread. The big problem here is that the 85’ passenger cars above really need a 24” minimum radius, so the resulting design is quite circular.  The straight lines across the bottom indicate interchanges or junctions at the edge of the city.

 

The Yard tracks only take a couple of 50’ freight cars each, but the minimum radius is 24” on all lines:

 

 

Freight trains take the outer loop - passenger services the inner track.

 

This one wouldn’t work as a set of separate Scenic cameos or dioramas - it’s more like a micro-layout for bigger trains and buildings - but there’d be plenty of opportunity for detailing instead, to try and create a big city illusion.   Only trouble is, I now have three different designs for my space - but only one set of baseboards, so I think this will remain just a doodle.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Keith Addenbrooke
Reinstating photos

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Over the weekend I was able to more or less finish Union Station and it is now on the display shelf:

 

 

Having previously found out that the Upper level tracks at Grand Central were only about 20 feet or so below street level meant I could mock-up a first look at how this might appear in a "cut-through" view:

 

 

 

I'd anticipated it might look quite odd, but these photos, especially the second one, look better than I'd expected - the coach does have wheels, they just don't show in the photo!

 

(Note: the boxfiles I've used in the mock-up are smaller A5 ones - not the standard "layout size" A4 or foolscap).

 

The original module footprint for a "Billy Bookcase" shelf required the building to sit lengthwise above the running lines (hence the first photo), but I think the second one, with the station across the tracks, looks much more natural.  This means there may be a re-plan before the next phase, as the 85' car (coach) is too long to sit sideways on my display shelf.   That's probably all for now though on this one.

 

Keith.

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Keith Addenbrooke
Reinstating photos

[Keith Addenbrooke]

So…what happened next? (I’d actually not realised it was three years ago I paused here).  The project took a back seat but was never completely closed.  Numerous changes to the space I have for modelling over the past couple of years, plus the excitement of exploring several other possible projects, meant that Union Station has just been sitting on top of a wardrobe.

 

Now however the time has come to formally close this thread - we’re moving house soon to a more accessible but significantly smaller property.  The rolling stock I had from my Dad has been returned to him and I’m making arrangements to pass on Union Station, along with a couple of other Walthers Kits I made:

 

 

Walthers Merchants’ Row I also appeared earlier in this thread:

 

 

Merchants Row II didn’t but complete the trio:

 

 

(The marks inside the second window along the frontage are much fainter in reality - I’d not noticed them before)

 

I’m part way through building an HO wooden craftsman kit for another store - when it is lined up next to these buildings it shows how carefully compressed the Walthers’ kits are: the wooden building is just one town store:

 

 

I really enjoyed building these - especially as they are very familiar from the pages of Model Railroader magazine.  Although I’m no longer planning to complete my Union Station Diorama, I’m still a fan of station kits - over the past year or so I built five:

 

 

(Moorbach is European TT, while Pagosa Jct was for a Narrow Gauge HOn30 mini-layout.  The largest one at the rear had almost 400 parts and took two months - it’s a Faller model of a Swiss BLS commuter station).

 

Tackling Union Station gave me the confidence to keep building, knowing I can do the job well enough that I can enjoy both the building and the outcome.  Hopefully - after we move - I’ll be able to take my next project further.  Thanks, Keith.