I'm working on a model of a Lehigh Valley freight depot (bayonne nj.) I'm trying to find out the distance between freight doors . If a typical boxcar was 50 or so, foot back in the day and I have 3 doors how far apart should they be? Im trying to make this depot as proto-typical as can be!
Do you have any idea when the freight house was built? It could easily pre-date fifty footers. It might even be old enough to be prior to forty footers....
Have you checked to see if there is a Lehigh Valley historical society? If there is one they may have plans for that one. If not try a Google search to see if there might have been plans published in a MR magazine.
Most pre ww2 buildings were spaced for a standard 39' boxcar door spacing. 40 cars were still more common into the early 1970s, and it was necessary to skip a door to spot 50' cars. based on that, I will assume that a LV freight house would have doors spaced for 40'. One other thing to keep in mind. Freight houses were used for LCL shipments. LCL was phased out Nationwide, from about 1962 to 1964, when TOFC door to door service replaced the freight house.
Wow! interesting fact about LCL shipments! I had no idea. I'm pretty sure this was built in 1920 or earlier. You can see it still on google earth 116 east 22nd street Bayonne nj. I grew up not far from here at # 83. I've tried to email lvrr historical society and others with no luck! Seems like a dead end! I have seen some really old maps of this area and it seems Lehigh Valley Coal Co. owned it. I've even thought of contacting the owner to see if they would let me take pics and measurements.
If all else fails, you might be able to find dimensions via local tax assessor's office, a friendly person at the appropriate fire department, the building department or even area historical society.
Historical Society seems like a great idea! I work within 20 miles of this depot at an oil refinery. Maybe I'll take a drive there after work to take some pictures! So far using google earth street view, I've been able to see images of the front and some of the sides of the depot. I actually counted the bricks and mortar both width and height to figure real dimensions of the windows on the front elevation. The two long sides and the rear are extremely sketchy!!! I'm sure i'll have to take some artistic license to complete the depot! Do you think if I emailed the current owner(Kens Marine) they would let me take pictures of the depot? I could post pics of my progress I have so far.
It never hurts to ask. They might very well give you the go ahead for taking pictures. Without permission, you can certainly take them from any adjacent public right of way.
Well , I e-mailed the the folks who currently occupy the depot on 116 E 22nd st. A week later I received an e-mail back! ( To My Amazement!) They were so interested in the fact that no one has ever approached them and basically welcomed me with opened arms!!!! I even met the President of the company that runs the business!! We even talked for a while, and he even knew of my Grandfather, and Uncle (who was a well known carpenter in town!) And even family friends WOW! I spent 4 hours there visualizing and remembering how things were when I was a child there, walking around the depot with my grandpa . I took plenty of pictures and measurements to help me in modeling and remembering this lehigh valley depot!
I completely forgot, the building I work in was a beer distributor at one time. It has roll-up doors on one side where there was a rail spur. There are 2 doors on that side spaced for rail cars. There is also a smaller door where the cooler was fed directly from a reefer. I'll try and get some measurements of the doors. Funny how you can forget things.
Sounds like the doors are too far apart for 40' cars. So you'll have to set handbrakes on all the cars. >)
Well, according to the old diagrams on this site... http://research.nprha.org/NP Box Cars/Forms/AllItems.aspx ...the length of 40' boxcars over the coupler pulling surfaces tends to run about 44' 11". So, 45' between door centers should be perfect for coupled forty footers, and 22 1/2' would be just as good if you only open half the doors.
I estimated the centers because they are behind storage racks with pallets of material stacked on them, using a measuring wheel I actuall got 45'-8". Rounded to 46 feet. I will see if I can get some clear pictures of the doors from the outside this week.
I forgot there were 3 of the roll up doors on the building. One was blocked when remodeling took place years ago. They all 3 look like this with the same spacing.
