Building a complete 1841 Depot. roundhouse, shops, train shed and station.

Doctor G

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Really impressed with your persistence. Nothing like a deadline to keep a project on track. Good work.
Doc Tom
 

toptrain1

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Re-creation of a any seen from the past has it problems. As you put it together is it to long? Or maybe to short. Are the walls high enough, or to high? I am making 24 arched openings and I only know for sure what three of them were used for. The other 21, what was in them? For sure windows in some, or all,to allow natural light to brighten up the interior. Were some just architectural details there to continue the visual effect of the repetitive arches. So now i feel that i can do whatever i want within the arches. Some can be windows, some doors, some even blank brick walled up alcoves, even combinations of all these choices. Well we'll soon see what choice is made. It will even be a surprise to me.
frank
 

zathros

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When recreating the past, you have a lot of room, because the place in the time question was evolving, so you can build an "average" look of what the roundhouse look it passed through. :)
 

toptrain1

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John that is very correct especially with this Depot. I 1834 when it opened just the train shed was built. Latter when they had funds they built a head house as shown in this drawing. The drawing
( first one) shows a headhouse with a peaked roof and a Gothic bell tower. Also it occurred later because you also see the Temple like Greek Revival style facid being built but not completed yet. That is how it looked when the railroad opened to all stations except New Brunswick. The road was open to East Brunswick on the opposite side of the Raritan River from New Brunswick. They were still building the railroad bridge and completing the Jersey City Depot.
* Once all was done and the Road completely opened to New Brunswick across Bergen Hill to the Hudson the Depot there was all done. The headhouse now in 1839 ( second one) was complete with its 19 columns on three sides of of the depot. The Facid completely surrounding all four sides of the head house with its new flat roof and very different Bell Tower. If you stood on Hudson Street in front of the Ferry terminal looking west across the street this is what you would see.

first one. from 1847-8 Appleton Companion.
1 appletons companion 1848-1850.JPG This drawing tho published in 1847 isn't a view from that year. It is more 1838 or shortly after. It shows the original headhouse with peaked roof and gothic bell tower. Also only the columned facid is built only on the north side. This depot is unconstruction at this time. The 1841 Map lithograph shows a completed Depot.

second one. My Drawing.
AM&J v5 1838 p-106 1848 map tower -S.jpg

frank
 
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zathros

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Your research is paying off, and preserving a piece of History. When you have had your fun with it, it should go into a museum in ew Jersey somewhere, it is Americana at it's best! :)
 

toptrain1

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* This is not museum quality wook I am doing. I would not even say it is good work. My only saving grace is that no one have ever made this depot before. So mine is the best anyone have ever made. It doesn't matter how good or bad I am making it, it is still the best. Tho I AM trying my best. You guys have supported me all the way. To me that's what counts. It keeps me going. It get me through the disappointments. That's big to me!
* I am taking a short cut step with those two big walls to the trainshed. It is aimed at doing somethings temporarily so I can move on to the headhouse. The headhouse is very challenging to me. My mind has been working overtime on this part of the build distracting me from the trainshed. I got to go and get some sticky stuff to temporarily hold those two walls in place so I can move on to the headhouse. I need to get the depot appearing to be done structurally, but in a condition that I can go back when I have time to detail better. This will allow me to get the depot appearing to be built. easily in time for the November 2nd display date.
 

zathros

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Museum quality because it captures, in 3D, tangible reality, an era that has not been captured anywhere. That makes it very desirable. It's perfection lies in the sum of it's parts, and subject matter. IMHO :)
 

zathros

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You have completed so much. Seeing the layout compared to the pic you posted is really amazing. You have brought it to life!! ;)
 

toptrain1

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John, concerning the Appleton drawing of this depot on post 145, on this page #8 a few posts before this one. Something I've noticed about the north side of the building is that there is a track or tracks there. The tracks seem to run all the way to Hudson street. I say this because you can see three well defined passenger cars there on the north side and then a space and a box'e thing past them. That box'e thing is very close to Hudson street. The three cars are alongside the trainshed and close to the headhouse. Now these cars are different to the ones being run out of the trainshed. They seem to be shorted and have only 4 windows. I date this picture as being 1837 or 1838 because that is about when the first headhouse with the simple peaked roof is being made into the Temple like depot it will become. Even at this early time many immigrants were arriving wanting to go west from here. Their third class cars would have been these cheaply made types of converted house cars, ( house car is the original name for box cars) which provided cheap transportation on this railroad to the west and south. I could be wrong and these cars are a part of a work train. I think that track would be a nice addition to this historic representation. Those tracks are not shown anywhere but in this Appleton view. Maybe I'll make a little 2 track yard on the north side of the trainshed. Its addition would make sense of the location of the ground level freight doors in the rear of the depot building. I could tuck the two tracks in right their alongside the trainshed, running them right up to a walkway I will add in front of the freight door. That would allow me to load and unload baggage and house cars too. I have choices of how to make this a useful addition.
 
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Doctor G

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I am amazed at the overall size of this nice model. It represents just how sophisticated and advanced 1840s railroads were. The new transportation system was really taking off. Doc Tom
 

toptrain1

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Thanks Doc. I am working on the 3' track section between the buildings. The 4 Cassio made in italy switches won't convert to old time hand throws and need to be replaced. I removed the three switches in the section and painted under them. While the paint dries I have a dental appointment to make. I'll get back to the project in a couple of hours.
frank
 

toptrain1

Well-Known Member
I added a small 2 track yard to the North side of the trainshed. This is seen on the view I posted in reply 145, Sept 28 2018, on this page. I still have one more switch to replace with a manual switch throw. It is the one that goes from the main line to the turntable.

First the new yard and then the switch work.

IMG_4202 -M.JPG

IMG_4203 - M.JPG
 
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