Building Zalma's Depot

Thanks to klrwhizkid I now have floor plans circa 1919 for the combination station at Zalma. You can just imagine my excitement to get these floor plans since I model the Zalma branch in the teens and twenties. All I had to go on was a poor quality photo of a train with the second floor of the depot visible just above a gondola until I got the floorplans. Anyhoos I'm using Northeastern Scale lumber and CA glue for the project. I need to order some 12 pane double hung windows but I'll scratchbuild the rest. As far as color goes I think I'll go with grey with white trim. The Frisco bought the line from the Cape Girardeau and Southwestern RY in about 1916 or so and I'm not sure exactly what colors to use. Did the Frisco repaint it to their company colors? Hmmmm. Anybody have any more accurate suggestions for a color? Here's a photo of what I've done so far. Thanks again Keith!

 

Jim, thanks for the update and pictures; I can't wait to see the finished product.

I would vote for standard gray with white trim, in lieu of any more specific information on the CG&SW manifesting itself.

Best Regards,

 

Real credit for the floor plans goes to Ron Williams, who in his generousity to another Frisco modeler, provided the plans at my request. Once you get the model completed, I would like to get some really good pictures of it for Ron.

By the way, it's looking good!

 

Thanks guys. I'll get those windows ordered soon and I'll update progress with photos.

 

Here we go. I just got the windows a few days ago and the paint on them is now dry. I have all the main wall sections cut and the window and door openings cut out which was very time consuming. I still have to make the bay window area. I have a long way to go but I thought you all might like to watch the progress. Please excuse my messy work area.

 

GO Jim, GO! I like what you are doing and I know that you will be able to string it all together.

 

I got the windows installed and the bay window section finished. The main walls aren't glued together yet but they are leaned together for the photo update. I'm not sure how far I will go towards detailing the inside but at least the floors and a wall or two. I have no good photos of this particular combination station but there are several photos of others including one at Blairstown and East Lynn so I can make a pretty good guess. Sorry for using my modeler's license but I have no choice. I only have a photo showing the roof and some floor plans. I have a long way to go.

 

Since my last post and photos I have completely started over on the Zalma depot. I got more appropriate windows and larger sections of board and batten siding so that I did not have to splice two pieces to get a wall out of it. I used Campbell shingles (very cool) for the first time and I love them for my time period. I weathered the station and added some green mildew/mossy areas on the north sides and north side shingles. The floor plans said it all sat on a piling foundation so I did my best. I did have to use modeler's license a bit for lack of good photos. I do have all interior walls in the right place but the roof does not come off any more. I have some construction photos showing these walls and other aspects of the construction if you all want to see them. It still is not quite finished and please critique this for me if you have time. Thanks for the long wait.

 

Jim, you are doing a fantastic job. If you have taken photos of all the steps along the way, I think that you may be in a position to publish an article for someone like MRC or MRR. Show us more!

 

Here's some random photos of the process. Excuse the iphone camera quality. The first photo shows the main wall sections with the windows and doors in place. Painting the windows sucked. Two photos show the interior wall layout for each floor. The upstairs was for the agent and his family. I did not model the stairs. The last photo shows shingle strips being applied to a roof section. All I used to build this was wood siding and strips, cardboard a few window and door castings and super glue. Be sure to use wood strips inside the walls to keep the siding from warping. I positioned mine to support the upper floor. This project was very fun, cheap and now I have a fairly accurate model of the Zalma depot. Everyone should give scratchbuilding a try, it's easier than it looks!

 

Jim -
That's a fine looking model. All the times we went to the Zalma Meat Locker every year to pick up our side of beef from a cattle-raising cousing...I never would have guessed that they had hosted such an interesting depot.

One question: what technique did you use for the moss?

I wish there were something to critique, but your technique(s) and the obvious end-product look pretty darn solid.

Best Regards,

 

Thanks folks! For the moss I used cheap green acrylic hobby paint from Hobby Lobby and dry brushed it onto the northern facing walls I just experimented and got lucky. The depot sat in the clearing near the west bank of the Castor River just before the bridge if your coming from Arab. Last night I built two Bar Mills baggage carts for it. I wonder what color those were for the Frisco?

 

OK. I'll wrap this up I consider the depot completed and ready to install on the future Zalma module. I went to Zalma Saturday and photographed the completed model on location just for the heck of it. It turned out to be the luckiest day ever for me as far as model railroad archeology goes. But first the pictures. You can see I added the braces for the roof eaves and the freight/baggage doors.

After taking the pictures I went into the little grocery store across the road to get a sandwich and an ice cold Dr Pepper and the owner and her husband asked out of curiosity what I was doing. I told them and the directed me to a woman in town who is the local historian. I went to the ladies' house and she showed me tons of old photos of Zalma including one of the depot! I'm glad to say that my attempt to reproduce it turned out just right. The she said to me, " Did you know that a part of that old depot was moved to a place here in town and it's still there?" I couldn't believe it. She gave me directions and there sat a storage building made from sections of the old depot's walls! Not what I had hoped but at least I could actually see and touch the original siding. What a day to go railroad exploring.

 

Jim, exceptionally fine work. I'm gonna have to plan a trip to Cape where we can take it "on location" again and stage some photos with my digital SLR where we can play with depth of field and get the picture to look like it is of the real depot. It will need some vegetation & bushes around it to help it blend in to the surroundings.

Do you by chance show it to any of the locals? If so, what was said?

 

Sounds good Keith. Let me get the module finished and maybe we could a photo in Trackside Photos or something. I showed it to everyone I spoke to but nobody was near old enough to remember the depot or the railroad but everyone knew of it. I know two men who actually remember it. They're both in their 90s but good memories.