Two Stations and Two Scales

Two Stations and Two Scales are seen in this picture. 

The 4 mm scale (OO) Southern Railway station in Padstow, Cornwall, England is on the left. The track layout is for this station. The latest project is an ex-London and South Western now Southern Railway 10 Ton Diagram 1406 van at the lower left of the photo.  It is a Cambrian Model Railways kit. Getting the right Southern Railway brown led me after a lot of trials to Vallejo Model Color paints (not Vallejo Model Air paints) and of all things a color called German Camouflage Black Brown.

The train at the station platform is the 11:18 AM Padstow to Bodmin local via Wadebridge, Grogley and Nanstallon halts, diverging at  Boscarne Junction into the Bodmin (Central) SR station arriving about noon. The Great Western Railway also had a station at Bodmin and trackage rights from Boscarne Junction to Wadebridge. The GWR trackage diverged at Boscarne Junction to go to Bodmin (General) GWR station and then to Bodmin Road station on the GWR mainline to Penzance. You can ride today from Bodmin Road to Boscarne Junction on the preserved Bodmin and Wenford Railway. Often behind Southern Railway steam.

In my model world the GWR is allowed to continue to Padstow twice daily although this was not allowed until after nationalization of all British railways on January 1, 1948. My British side follows the common Ready to Run standard using 4 mm to the foot scale and HO 16.5 mm track gauge. 

The train at the platform consists of a Kernow/DJM Adams O2 0-4-4 and two of the new Hornby 1935 Maunsell rebuilds of LSWR non-corridor coaches. A clarification to Americans; English locomotives and passenger car classes usually include the name of the reigning Chief Mechanical Officer of the railway at the time the cars and engines are built. Hence Bulleid, Adams and Maunsell were all at one time CME's of the Southern Railway.  

The 3.5 mm scale (HO) Southern Pacific Walnut Creek station mock up is on the right. When in full Padstow mode, the long fish dock and loading sheds occupy this location. Progress on a full model of the Walnut Creek station is currently stalled until I find solutions for the Queen Anne architectural style details of the building.

In front of the SP station on the through track are a pair of (close enough) SP 60-CC-1 Chair Cars bashed from Model Power Harrimans.  I invested heavily in these inexpensive toy cars to give them an SP look with Star Brand SP-UP Olive paint, Microscale and Thinfilm decals, Prescision Scale seats and roof Globe vents, Walthers Pullman trucks, Cal-Scale UC brake sets and scratch built generators and battery boxes.

More Information on the Windows

I am fortunate that the restored SP Type 18 Depot at Danville is only 8.6 miles away. I have recently taken pictures of the windows which are identical to the ones in the Walnut Creek Depot. Both were built by the same contractor in 1890-1891 at the same time or within a few months of each other. The Danville station is the mirror image of the Walnut Creek station. Walnut Creek's freight house is on the left of the depot facing the station from the track.  Danville's is on the right.

Note that the Southern Pacific referred to the side by the tracks as the "Platform Side" and the other side of the depot and freight house were called the "Team Side".

The Danville Windows pictures:
North Side Upper Story Depot Windows

North Side Lower Story Windows

 Platform Side Baggage Room Door

 Platform Side Baggage Room Door

 Platform Side Standard Depot Door better light

 Platform Side Train Order Office Side Window

 Platform Side Train Order Office windows and depot door

 Platform Side Train Order Order Window

 Platform Side Upper Story Windows and Train Order Signal

Platform Side Upper Story Windows

 Team Side Baggage Door and Depot Window

 Team Side Depot Doors and Depot Window

 Team Side Upper Story Windows

The Windows Problem (Not Microsoft)

I am searching for the Queen Anne period architecture windows and doors that are distinctive features of the SP Type 18 building.  (see http://srandsp.blogspot.com/ )

I have had little success. Neither Grandt Line or Tichy have any that are close enough to use outright or with cutting and rejoining parts. I have scoured the offerings of other manufacturers such as Campbell, Northeastern Scale and AMB with no acceptable castings. I have scoured the listing at Branchline Trains to no avail. 

The attached somewhat crude drawing of the windows I am looking for :

Click on drawing to see it at a readable size.

Initial Comments

This is a an attempt to find a platform for blogging my triumphs and tragedies as an HO and 00 modeler.

Up until now I have been using a layout topic on RMWEB.com to convey my efforts on a 4mm/OO miniature of  Padstow, Cornwall, England.  But I have been doing  a lot more on the Southern Pacific San Ramon branch Walnut Creek station and feel it is not really appropriate for a UK website.  Plus I have been an avid follower of Tony Thompson's Modeling the SP blog and feel the need to express my own creative talents.

In spite of 60 years at it I am a clumsy modeler. I make a lot of mistakes that I painfully see only after the model reaches an almost finished state.  My latest major project is to recreate in HO the Walnut Creek (California) Southern Pacific Type 18 depot. This will eventually be part of a modular representation in compressed form of the Walnut Creek station area with associated industries that were present between 1947 and 1954.

Most of the depot building is still in existence. It has been re-located a few hundred yards south and east of of it's location when it was an active station. It is now a Vic Stewart's steak house.  Only the "Team" side is visible from South Broadway in Walnut Creek.  The team side is not the track side.  I am fortunate that 8 miles south of Walnut Creek is the Danville Type 18 station which has also been relocated and restored as the Museum of the San Ramon Valley.

This far I have constructed only an HO scale mock-up.

best

Ken Adams