Modeling State Line Interchange Yard & Rising Junction part 16 - Structures

Boston & Albany Railroad station building at the State Line Massachusetts interchange yard

Searching for historical and dimensional information that would be useful in building a model of the Boston & Albany station structure that once stood at the State Line interchange yard located in the town of West Stockbridge Massachusetts has not been productive. Honestly, if more time had been devoted to an in depth search maybe there is dimensional information somewhere but it is time to move on. 

A quick internet search of railroad and local historical societies provided only one article in the Berkshire Edge that has some photos of the West Stockbridge station and two photos of the State Line station, these two photos like several others discovered focus on the B&A side of the station and offer limited use for modeling the New Haven side of the structure that will be visible when installed on the layout.

The below photo of the New Haven Railroad side of the station by an unknown photographer and era is the most useful for overall modeling from a photo to date.

This Thomas J McNamara photo from the NHRHTA collection taken during a 1952 New Haven fan trip to State Line. Although mostly blocked by the RDC it offers colors, window trim and building condition closer to the era of the layout.

   

An interesting detail about this station are the very ornate Eave and Gable braces circled in the photo below. Most likely 3D printing would be the practical way to reproduce these in HO scale. Unfortunately, I do not have the design skills to create the necessary drawings for these to be printed.

The Model

The best outcome to be hoped for will be a model that is a reasonable representation of the station building working from limited photos for proportional dimensions and using readily available windows, doors and braces.

A basic full size HO pencil drawing helps deciding on proportions and roof pitch that look reasonable when comparing with photos of the prototype, layout of windows, doors and size of the foundation (already installed on the layout).

Below the clapboard sides placed over the drawing with Tichy windows and doors temporarily placed in the cutouts with Grandt Line eave brace that will be used in place of the ornate prototype braces. The doors will have to be lengthened and trim pieces added to window and door perimeters as prototype.

This build is straightforward and should go quickly.