StL&D Plans - Agents Dwelling - NP RR

[GPdemayo]

I want to scratch-built some structures for the St.L&D, but I want them to patterned after real life buildings. I found a bunch of these books with all kinds of railroad related information from construction and labor costs to track, signals, operation, locomotives and rolling stock and tons of other great stuff.
 
I love most of the kits from the major kit manufacturers, but there are a lot of structures out there in the real world that will probably never be made into kits because of the difficulty or economics of translating the real world into the little people's world. Many of these real world structures could add a lot of interest to a layout if it were possible to translate these rough plans into a drawing that could be used to scratch build a model.
 
To find this information, I have been researching railroad related stuff on the internet for last few years. One of the first books I found and downloaded was:
 
  Buildings and Structures of American Railroads
  by Walter Gilman Berg, C.E.
  published by John Wiley & Sons, New York - 1893
 
The website I found this book is below.
 
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&hl=en&q=free+books+of+american+railroads
 
Another site with more railroad related books is below. Many of these can be opened as "pdf" files, then you can save them to your computer and read on screen or print selected pages to keep for reference.
 
http://books.google.com/books?q=related:LCCN15025569&lr=&id=raVyq4jzQQMC&output=html&sa=N&start=0
 
The idea is to draw the floor plan and elevations using AutoCAD and the buildings in these books as a guide, scale them down from 1:1 to HO, then use these as templates for building the structures.
 
In order to get these plans onto the forum, I purchasedf Adobe Acrobat, which allows me to easily save a "pdf" file made from the cad drawing into a "jpg" file that can be viewed.
 
The first structure I selected for this exercise is an agent's dwelling from the Spokane & Palouse Railway that was connected with the Northern Pacific System. The structure was designed by C.B. Talbot and intended to be used in a northern climate. It is a 576 sf, 1 story frame building elevated above grade with a 100 sf on-grade woodshed attached off the kitchen on the left elevation.
 
The first 2 exhibits are the pages of the dwelling from the book. The last 2 exhibits are the CAD drawings from these plans.
 
Exhibit #1 - (page 1)

 
Exhibit #2 - (page 2)

 
Exhibit #3 - (Floor Plan)

 
Exhibit #4 - (Foundation Plan)

 
continued.....

[GPdemayo]

The elevations are below.
 

Exhibit #1 - (Front Elevation)

 

Exhibit #2 - (Rear Elevation)

 
 
Exhibit #3 - (Right Elevation)

 
 
Exhibit #4 - (Left Elevation)

 
This was a simple plan and required a minimum of time to get the buillding drawn. I like the way this worked and plan on doing a few more in the future. If there is interest in this or specific building types that are of interest, let me know.
 
Bye for now.....

[ACL1504]

 
Greg,

This looks like it will be a fun build. I'll be watching.

Tom

[ak-milw]

It's nice when you can find the plans, I have to go take pictures of them and work from there.

[S&S RR]

What a great way to start - actual drawings.

[Amagic41]

What a great book with some great buildings. I see some future scratchers for me there. Thanks for finding this one

[GPdemayo]

Greg,

This looks like it will be a fun build. I'll be watching.

Tom

Hi Tom,


I like this lttle building, but I'm also looking at a few others in the books. I'll sketch up a couple more, then decide which I'm one going to start with.


Never can tell where this is going.....I have coopons!

[GPdemayo]

It's nice when you can find the plans, I have to go take pictures of them and work from there.

Andy,


These books are a great resource and a great way to learn how things were done in another era.


Thanks for looking in.

[GPdemayo]

What a great way to start - actual drawings.

Hi John,
 
Doing the drawings for the model is a way to plan out the project on paper just like I did in the 1:1 world when we were developing and building. I visualize the 3 dimensional building as I draw and this helps me work out any problems before I start the actual construction.
 
If you have any ideas, jump right in.....

[Slim Jerkins]

Where's the en suite with the built-in cachoozie tub?

-slim

[GPdemayo]

What a great book with some great buildings. I see some future scratchers for me there. Thanks for finding this one

Ken,
 
I have spent many hours going thru the books and have had a ball learning about the different approaches to building that were used back then.
 
Don't be shy about jumping in with any thoughts you might have on any of the structures.

[gnatshop]

Where's the en suite with the built-in cachoozie tub?     -slim

I agree with Slim - don't use them real-world development experiences and put cost-cuttin' as
a priority!  Treat your agent well - at least a heated tub, even is it's a horse trough with a fire under it!

[GPdemayo]

Where's the en suite with the built-in cachoozie tub?

-slim

Hi Slim,


It's in the other wing of the manse.....

[GPdemayo]

Where's the en suite with the built-in cachoozie tub?     -slim

I agree with Slim - don't use them real-world development experiences and put cost-cuttin' as
a priority!  Treat your agent well - at least a heated tub, even is it's a horse trough with a fire under it!

Hey Gnat,


Sounds OK to me, but wouldn't it be more fun with some hot babes (you might see what Candy thinks).