Here are more L.A. Union Station pics. No ruler in these. In this first one, that's the Hollywood sign on the mountain behind the station on the left. In real life the Hollywood sign is about 90 degrees to the left and hidden from view by closer hills if you're in front of the station. On the right in the background is "Grand Central Airport". There used to be an airport on Grand Central Ave. in Glendale, but I've always heard it called the "Glendale Airport". Amelia Earhart left on her flight around the world from the Glendale Airport. The real airport is gone, and again, it was nowhere near L.A. Union Station. It would also actually behind the hill and to the right the Hollywood sign.
Here are views from behind the station. I've never been behind the station, I've only seen it from the front. Does anyone know if the yard is actually raised and if there is a tunnel out the back. It doesn't feel "right" to me.
Here are side views: These images were scaled to 25% for upload. When I saw this I had to find out what the business in the parking lot near the building was. Here's detail of a movie crew at work. This is scaled 75%.
This isn't my layout. It belongs to the East Valley Lines Model Railroad Club. I'm not a member, merely a guest there. As I mentioned in a previous post, the EVL is currently redoing their layout. This layout was started over 30 years ago, and most of it has been there for a very long time. I asked a member if they ever ran trains on a mountain line that I admired very much. He told me that they cannibalized the tortoise machines from that area years ago, so its only for display. This L.A. Union Station was removed and boxed for storage minutes after I took these photos. I believe it will be reused on their new layout. The new layout will be entirely on islands, nothing against the walls. I'm looking forward to seeing it unfold. This is a very large layout, and you are only seeing about 1/5th of it in these photos. I will be visiting them again soon, and I'll try and get some images of the backdrops. I've been putting these Union Station photos up for Willyboy, because he's building an L.A. Union Station for his new layout. But if people are interested I'll post images of more areas of the East Valley Lines' layout.
Lownen, thanks again for these additional pictures. It gives me inspiration to proceed with my project. I will be using your photos to start drawing the different perspectives so that I can use them as templates and start fabricating the structures. This is going to be a long and involved process particularly for someone like me. I have spent all morning doing searches on how to constructed my layout against the wall. I saw that someone use some L brackets that would support a lot of weight. This is the approach that I will try to take if I can locate the right length of brackets required for my layout.
Willy; Glad to be of help. Wolf; I really should go down there and take a look. Honestly, I've never been inside. I've only looked at it from across the street.
Lownen, Yup, you need to go inside. It is absolutley wonderful. The smells, sights and sounds. It is really awsome. You kind of feel like your in a time warp. It's been a while for me as well. I need to go back myself. I like to take Amtrak from Santa Ana over to LAUPT.Go to Alvera st.,have a taco,then go back. Makes for a nice day. Have a good one, Wolf
Boxcab; I'm not sure about the size. Willyboy posted his first level track plan in his thread: LAUPT - First Level - TrainBoard.com It looks like the space for the station is in the lower right corner, in front of the yard (of course). The yard measures 4 ft. and it looks like the station outline takes nearly 3/4 of that. So 3 ft. x 160 would make it around 480 feet. Hopefully Willy will see this and post a more accurate number.
From looking at the photos you took with the ruler of Union Station Lownen, It added up to be a little more then four long. Does that seem accurate?
I don't know. I guess I'm going to have to go down there and look the real thing over. There must be someone there who knows. The model looks good to me, but I haven't taken my pictures and compared them to the prototype. I wonder how much measuring I can do before Homeland Security takes an interest in my activities. LOL
If it is a little larger then I can expand the layout some where it is suppose to go. When I did my preliminary layout it was just a guess. It sure looks to be a tat longer then four feet judging from your ruler measurements.
I rode the Amt Sunset Limited in and out of LAUPT back in 1993. I definitely remembered the concourse to trains was in a tunnel behind nthe station building. Passengers walked under the tracks until getting to a ramp to go up to their train. I came and went from the front of the station and did not see whether track level was above general ground level.
Good judgment on your part! I just got back from visiting the layout again. I measured the unfaded paint where the model was taken from. It was right around 54.5 inches. If the model is accurate that makes the real building about 725 feet long. Kenneth; thanks for the additional information.
Thanks again Lownen. So that would mean the building structure would be 54" because there is about a half inch of sidewalk at one end. That is why I posted my preliminary plan on the web to avoid problems such as these. Your have been instrumental in helping me get the proportions that I need to draw out. Although it will be some guess work, I think I can get it good enough to make it passable. Now I will have to extend my layout another foot or so where the station is to be placed. I am glad that BoxcabE50 asked how long it was.
This model of LAUPT was a pleasure to look at. My office is right next door to Union station and our agency (LAMTA) has a huge influence with our Red and Gold Lines terminating there. I take MetroLink home and as I walk through the station, I sometimes recall my rides aboard the Sunset Limited to Alabama as well as the Limited to Portland/Seattle. The busy days are over but there is still a lot of commuter activity as well as several major trains terminating there that still sees a lot of patrons.
Hmmmm, looks just like the Allied Model Trains building! Sorry, just couldn't resist. Beautiful model!
OK, here is a basic rough of the main building made out of pieces of scrap mat board that I have of different colors. I still have to cut out all the doors and windows, then scratch build them out of pieces of styrene. This project is going to take a very long time. I am doing this all from the photos that Lownen sent me. I measured the pitch of the roof at 30 degrees with a protractor. My pitch is 30 degrees but it looks steeper than the photos I am working from. I did not expect to do anything on this project until May but since my main computer is still down, I decided to have a go at it. The structure definitely needs reinforcement with some wood in the corners and other areas.
