HO-Scale LS&MS Lines West Brick/Stone Station

Railroads often adopted “standard” designs for line side wood and brick/stone stations, interlocking towers and maintenance-of-way buildings.  Elsewhere in the Collinwood Shop you will find structure offerings following “Lines East” architecture.  Besides towers, stations, and section gang shacks, these include phone boxes and even privies.

Finding usable Lines West reference material took detective work.  We scoured not only our own archive, but those of the Nickel Plate Historical and Technical Society, and several historical groups occupying brick LS&MS buildings.  Photos showed us three sizes of buildings, based on the number of trackside windows used between the operator’s bay and the ends of the building – two, three or four.  For convenience, we added the word “bay” when discussing each size.  The photos above show two-bay structures at North East, PA, and Wauseon, OH.

Our first good drawing lead was the Nickel Plate’s standard painting diagram, which featured a four-bay station’s profile.  More ‘leads’ came from the Stryker [Ohio] Area Heritage Council and the National Archives [Historic American Building Survey]. 

Six months later came the “Mother Lode”.  While consolidating mainline rail routes through their downtown area, Lafayette, Indiana moved their four-bay building eight blocks.  The engineering firm doing the work prepared detailed drawings so they knew what they were dealing with.  It took eighteen sets of semi-wheels to move the building, which was mounted atop a new two-level, poured concrete sub-structure.

The N-Scale architect is offering a laser-cut HO model that includes the roof dormers, operator’s bay, and walls with decorative brick and stone courses.

The stonework is custom 3D printed "castings", while the brick courses are laser-cut into the sides.  The resulting 3D walls will readily accept washes for brick and stone color, mortar lines, and weathering.

This will be the largest four-bay HO structure will scale to 15 1/2" x 4" on your layout.  A trimmed down two-bay building would be 10" x 3".  Add space for trackside platforms AND ROOF OVERHANG during your planning.  We suggest about 3+ inches on each side.

Here are the station locations that we know about.  If you have photos of others, please let us know!