Jefferson depot

[Jeff Young]

So I've been doing a bit of research in preparation for constructing my Builders in Scale Jefferson depot.  I've found a few mistakes in the instructions so far (they thought the outside skirting board was station colour rather than trim colour, when it's clearly trim colour).

I think I've found another, which I wanted some opinions on.  Looking at this picture, the sliding window sashes appear to be black, not trim colour (or at least much darker than the trim colour):



Most other images aren't much help, but there's also this colour one, which I've contrast-stretched.  Ignoring the new putty around the bottom two panes of glass, it appears to show the same:



What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Jeff.

[Jeff Young]

The first image, contrast-stretched and enlarged:

[Jim Courtney]

Yep, they look black to me, including the windows on the operator's bay:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/10006/rv/singleitem/rec/1



http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/10028/rec/2



http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/10026/rec/12



It doesn't seem a peculiarity with Jefferson depot, either. The original first decade C&S light grey/green depot scheme seems to include black window muntins/sash on some structures, consider Forks and Dome Rock. Other depots seem to have muntins the same color as the window frames.


http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/77677/rv/singleitem/rec/17



http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/5628/rv/singleitem/rec/8



Thanks for pointing this out Jeff, I never noticed before.

[GRUMPY]

Sashes colors for the time   Top Two Used
                  Shutter Green  [ rookwood ]
                  Dark Red        [ rookwood

[Rich Townsend]

I agree that the sashes (muntins?) look darker than the trim color, but I couldn't say whether they were black. I wouldn't be surprised to learn they were a dark red, but I have no information on that.

[Jeff Young]

Thanks, guys.

I think the one colour picture, while heavily over-saturated in GIMP, shows that at least at Jefferson, the sashes* weren't dark red.  It also suggests they weren't a dark green, although I'll admit this is more speculative.

I checked my pictures of the Kokomo depot, and while I don't have any that are as sharp as Jefferson, it would appear to not have different-coloured sashes....

Cheers,
Jeff.

* FWIW, a sash is composed of rails, stiles and muntins.

[Jeff Young]

Rats.  Found another problem.  Note this picture from the Jefferson station instructions:



Compare the inset door where the freight door originally was to this picture from the Park County Archives:



The Builders in Scale door is too short; there should be no clapboard between the top of the door and the transom.

I found a Grandt Line 30" station door in my parts box which is the correct width, but a little too tall, and with a rain board across the top.  I removed the rain board, cut the threshold off the frame, glued the door into the frame, filed about 1/8" off the bottom of the door/frame assembly, and then glued the threshold back on.

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Doug Heitkamp]

[Jeff Young]

Most interesting.  It looks like they re-used the freight door....

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Alex Hois]

Jeff,
Thanks for figuring all of this out, I've got one of those kits waiting...
Alex

[Jeff Young]

Hi Alex,

One other hint: check the clapboard walls against the wainscotting cardstock before cutting the cardstock.  One of my window holes in the clapboard walls was about 1/16” off, which doesn’t really matter as I noticed it soon enough and cut the cardstock the same 1/16” off.

I don’t know if the walls were done on a jig or not, but double-check the right window on the railroad-East (true-NE) wall.

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Robert McFarland]

Pictures of Hancock depot circa 1881-82  show window trim to be a light color.

[usairman737]

When was the depot modified to add living quarters at the end, and hence the new people-door and back-side windows?  

Gerry

[Jeff Young]

Hi Gerry,

Pictures of the back-side are few and far between, but at least the end freight door was modified by 1910.  The section house was still clearly in use at this time, so I’m not sure it was for living quarters.  (I’ve also just recently discovered that it’s a narrowed down sliding freight door, not a hinged people door.  Perhaps it was done to cut down on wind exposure?)

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Jeff Young]

Another error in the instructions:

The two 4" (actual) 1x12 (scale) gable trim pieces should be painted trim-colour, not station colour.

And I found it much easier to lay the diagonal 1x3s under the windows before the vertical 1x12s.  That way you can do the 1x3s slightly oversize and trim them after the glue sets.  (The 1x12s, being larger and not on an angle, are much less finicky to get correctly sized.)

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Jeff Young]

Here's the depot wall bits being cut to size and cleaned up:



And a close-up showing the window mis-alignment I spoke about earlier:



Cheers,
Jeff.

[Jeff Young]

Building the walls.  From top:

1) 1x10 skirting board
2) skirting board trimmed
3) 2x3 skirting board and diagonal 1x3s (note that they are oversized at this point)
4) 1x3s trimmed
5) 1x12 boards and 1x2 battens (note the battens stop short of the boards to allow for a subsequent trim piece)



The cardstock plus 1x12s is thinner than the milled clapboard siding.  That's going to make bracing the walls more difficult, so I'm adding two layers of 167 gsm heavyweight paper to the back of the cardstock to bring it up to the same width.  I've printed the second layer with some interior wainscotting from Clever Models.  (I'm not normally a huge fan of trompe l'oeil, but I think it's fine for interiors viewed through windows.)

6) interior wainscotting
7) wainscotting glued to the upper clapboard walls, with some of the trim installed



Cheers,
Jeff.

[Jeff Young]

Interior walls and corner braces painted and wainscotted.

(I'm not doing a full interior, just enough to look convincing through the windows.)



Cheers,
Jeff.

[Lee Gustafson]

Jeff,

Very nice work with small pieces that can be very difficult to align. Jefferson has always been one of if not my favorite station because of the very details you are working with right now. I look forward to your progress and the completed station.

Lee Gustafson

[Jeff Young]

Thanks, Lee!

I've made a bit more progress, but no pictures yet....

Cheers,
Jeff.