Hancock Depot

[Mike Trent]

I thought I'd start a new thread for this, since the Hancock Depot topic had popped up in the Harp Switchstand thread.

The article in the '76 Gazette which featured the Hancock Depot was written by Paul Schenk, a great friend of many of us, including Joe Crea. Joe may have done the drawing for Paul, but the article and the featured model were built by Paul himself.

In about 1980, Paul discovered that there were conflicting sources regarding the footprint of the Hancock Depot. As I recall, Paul came to believe that the area in question involved the baggage room, which he had represented as being smaller than it actually was, after studying available photographs. I had recently begun my conversion to On3, and Paul really wanted to build the Hancock Depot in O Scale, to represent what he had convinced himself was more accurate than his HOn3 model featured in the article. I supplied all the materials for it, and Paul did all the work, and it is a remarkably fine piece of work.

So, I dug out his fine model and snapped off three quick pictures to post here for your consideration.

RIP, Paul.

[Keith Hayes]

Very nice, Mike, and a nice tribute to a friend.

To my eye, the most impressive aspect of the model is the roof eave supports and the cantilevered fascia. Those must be EXTRA STURDY.

[Lee Gustafson]

Mike,

Thank you for sharing the photos and back story of Paul’s On3 Hancock Depot build. It’s good to read the history of C&S models the the people who built them.

Lee Gustafson

[Paul R.]

Hello Mike, With your photo's I can install some interior walls and detail. Thanks for those.
Paul R.

[Robert Stears]

Fantastic Model!

Mount Blue Company produces a South Park style depot in HO and O scale that is very close to Hancock. I have an O scale version and trying to sort out how to make the needed modifications.

[Tim Schreiner]

That’s really cool! I have seen the model in person, but only from a distance. It’s far nicer than I realized. Paul did great work.

[Mike Trent]

Thanks, all. I will get better pictures as soon as I can. It's really much better than these quickies show. We lost Paul 19 years ago. Doesn't seem possible.

[Dave Eggleston]

That is a lovely model!

So lovely in fact that I was reluctant to offer an alternate interior suggestion but feel I should, for thought.

I played with room placement a few years ago and came to this arrangement for consideration: the four rooms aligned in order along the east-west axis of the building. I used the 1886 B&B book entries for Alpine, St Elmo and Hancock depots found on this forum and this alternate worked for the given dimensions. Not saying this is conclusive or correct and I understand recorded dimensions can be off. Just offering it for thought and discussion.

In the B&B the Hancock station was listed as 16 x 48.5 and shows 5 interior spaces :

Waiting   11 x 14.5
Office     11.5 x 14.5
Bedroom   9 x 14.5
Freight   13.25 x 14.5
And adds this for the bay window: 3.5 x 9.5

The 14.5' stands out across each room, and given the 16' building width suggested this was the front to back interior room dimension so I started with that idea.

We know the building interior lengh needs to be approximately 45', to allow for the rooms and the walls to fill out the full length of 48'. The waiting room and freight rooms are known to be at each end, taking 24.25' (11' + 13.25') of interior space along the long axis, leaving a central space for the other two rooms on the same axis of about 20' =/-. So how did they fit? Trying them as in Paul's model, side by side one in front of the other, the rooms are not long enough for the space and side to side they add up to 20' +/-. Too wide.

Changing direction, I laid out the rooms in a line (minus the bay) along the length axis, in the above order. Adding up the other dimensions as width it comes to almost 45' (11+11.5+9+13.25), leaving the 5 framed outside and interior walls to fill in the missing 3 feet for overall length of 48'. The bay window fits nicely along the 11.5' width of the office. This is the general idea of this arrangement:



Running with this, the rear windows as seen in DPL WHJ-10133 work also. But their placement is interesting, not balanced between the roof supports but in actually butting against them as seen in this zoomed-in detail from that photo:



This image appears to confirm no door on the back wall to the freight room. I believe, based on all of this that the agent accessed the office, bedroom and freight room through the door next to the bay window, with doors to the office and freight area immediately inside that outside door, allowing for perhaps a more secure access. I lean to no door between the office and waiting room.

I believe the Alpine and St Elmo stations followed this room pattern though room size varies slightly in places in those buildings--a recording error or constructional variation or intentional decision of the carpenters? I don't know.

In a very odd twist on this idea of securing access to the freight room, Alpine station (which burned down around 1888) uniquely appears to have had a trackside window in the freight space.