Here's another of BarstowRick's useless posts...grin! What's up with the picture? Looks like a thumbnail. I thought it would come out the size you see on my Project Album in RailImages. Oh well...it is what it is. Craig McGinnis, has done a lot of interesting work and here is one of his latest pieces. The station is a scratch built, freelanced rendition of the early Santa Fe Railroad Station, San Bernardino, CA.. Craig is really into buildings and you can see evidence of such in a mini city that surrounds the station. Craig sold to me, his entire N scale collection including this section of his layout, for a nominal fee. He is still modeling in HO scale and you ought to see the city scapes he creates. There are more pictures on my RailImages. Feel free to visit and check them out. I'm now faced with making room for this mini city. I don't want to remove each building and relocate them. There's just no room for the sum total as is. This will require more thought and comprehensive planning. Enjoy and have fun.
More Pictures To Come Bob and all tuned in, Glad you liked it. Yes, I do like the station as well as the other buildings on the layout. We need to run track from your LAUPT to my San Bernardino Station. Hopefully, I can download some more pictures. I tried adding pic's to my RailImages, Project Album and I got a response saying not able to move pictures. Then I tried uploading an attachment here on this posting and it didn't up or down load. On my first try with my Project Album, I may have tried to download to many at one time. Our picture upload system here at Trainboard and RailImages, is extremely difficult to work with, as compared to other websites out there. We will get this fixed eventually...I hope! Anyway's more useless posts and pictures to come (grin), as I struggle with the system! That is if I can get back in...LOL! Edited add on: I was able to get through and post more pictures. Interesting buildings to say the least. Feel free to visit my Project Album. Click on the image I provided in the first post or click on my RailImages.... invite in my signature. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!
Time has not been kind to the San Bernardino Station. Made out of concrete, it was never very graceful. After decades of weathering with little maintenance, it reminds me of a huge tan frog sitting dejected amid the moldering ruins, surrounded by decay and violence. The caps on the top of the towers have the shape of poisonous mushrooms, and the vines slowly creep up into broken windows. At night, it's a battlefield. It looks a LOT better in photos than in person! :tb-biggrin: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=231837&nseq=3
The problem is that you pasted the address of the thumbnail version, which is the one that shows in the album view. Here's the same photo, just removing the "thumbs/" from the photo address. Regards Ed
Tan Frog? TonyB, You Wrote and I did a slight edit: Time has not been kind to the San Bernardino Station.... a huge tan frog... the towers have the shape of poisonous mushrooms, and the vines slowly creep up into broken windows. It looks a LOT better in photos than in person! My response: The pictures I've put out here look better then the model in person. Pretty much in keeping with the real thing. "A tan frog"? Really now? Well, I can almost agree. There was a day when it looked better and the plans were to cap the four domes with shiny brass. Of course now it would of been as green or greener then the ivy clinging to it's walls. The building has undergone renovation. As much as is allowed by law when dealing with a historical building. It is occupied by a county agency...why can't I remember the name? No longer are rail fans allowed to park in it's parking lot's and the building has 24/7 security present. Not quite what I had in mind when I first heard of plans to restore it and was part of a ad hoc committee to get the job done. Ed M, On my previous picture of the model... did you note the sad condition of the track? Not to worry the suits, engineers and crew supers are deciding on how the demolition will occur. It's more fun if we blow it up. Probably not a good idea this time. I appreciate the assistance with the picture. The tip of the day. So all I need to do is drop off the "Thumbs" word in the address. I will try that. And it worked...not bad...not bad at all. To all tuned in, You are still welcome to throw in your two cents. Take what you want and discard the rest and know I will do the same with your's. Edited add on: Flash Blackman, Thanks for providing a pictorial history resource. Dave N, Craig builds his model buildings out of Styrene. Although, some details may be lacking and the building isn't 100% accurate it will work nicely on my layout. I hope in the future to add some better detailing to the windows. For now it works. Have fun!
I'm not sure how you get your addresses. I'm guessing you looked at your album page and right clicked on the photo, then clicked on "properties", then copied the address. That would give you the 'thumb' version. If you click on the picture in your album page to full size it, then right click, then 'properties', then copy the address, you get the right address for the full size version. There may be a simpler way, but that's how I do it these days. Regards Ed
Sounds good to me Rick. Hopefully I can get back on track in June with my LAUPT. I have quite a diversity of interesting trains that works well with my theme. I just need time and there seems to be so little of it lately.
We have had some successful layout to layout photo tours here.....sounds like this has the makings of a great one!
Jerry, Thanks for the kind words. I can only hope I can get my scenery in this summer. A layout photo tour...I like the sound of that. I will provide more photos...I just need to get some new batteries in the camera and start shooting. Cool here this morning. This after summer type weather during the last three days.
Acquiring Pictures/Images Ed M., I've been going over to my Albums on RailImages and highlighting the address, cut and paste. Knowing how to drop out the "thumb" in the address is a big help. Thanks again for your assistance. .
I was going through my book, Santa Fe Valley Division Depots, and the Railroad station really is a thing of beauty. There are many styles the Santa Fe used, but in the photos, both from the early 1900's-to the 1980's, just looking at the station, you could tell it was an ATSF building. The pride the Santa Fe had in it's employees could also be seen in it's equipment and it's buildings. I think keeping the 'Mission' style stations in many locations was evident of that, and many wood stations in later years were stucco'ed over. Saddly, the Antioch station buried when I was a boy. As I did so many times growing up, I had rode my bike down to the tracks, and when I saw the smoke, headed towards the station, getting there about the same time as the fire dept. Pumping right out of the river, they fought to save it, but the still wooden structure was a fiery mess. A Westbound freight rounded the corner while the battle was going on, and I rememeber men scrambling to throw the hoses off the tracks before it got there, further sealing the doom of the station. For days after the fire, I rode down there, and sat by the ruins. Even at my young age I felt a sense of loss and always wondered how much Santa Fe 'memoribilia' had been burned inside. Before the fire, I had sat on the freight platform many times, appreciating the shade the old overhang provided my young body from the CA sun. After the fire, at times it was almost painful to go down to that location and see it in ruins. Before long, they demolished what was left and removed everything. When I became a teenager I got a job bussing tables at the Riverview Lodge, and not one day went by leaving there that I didn't look to my right crossing the tracks at the area once occupied by the station and miss it. So, while our stations may not always be 100% accurate, and I am sure my Antioch station will fit that bill, I am still going to have it on my layout. It will sit there in it's N Gauge glory as Red and Silver Super Fleet diesels pass by. Yellow and Blue Warbonnet freights will salute it too. Though the real one never saw the ATSF past the 70's, my model version will live on into the future ATSF in N Scale. A reminder to me of many memories spent in it's company as a young boy. A young boy that was beginning his lifetime love affair with the Santa Fe.
Train Stations Remembered Jerry, thanks for sharing your memories. To all tuned in, I have many such memories of the Santa Fe Station/Harvey House/Casa Del Desierto in Barstow, CA. Here my family would gather for supper. Let's not forget those tasty ice cream snacks that could be relished at the lunch counter. Love those hot fudge sundaes. Something, I must eat with extreme caution today. Lucky for me she is still standing. A lonely lady of the desert, wishing her hallways and dining rooms could be once again filled with the voices of visitors enjoying her hospitality. There was a time after the Landers earthquake... I thought she was a goner. I felt a certain tightness in my chest and throat as I connected with the feelings you shared for the Antioch station. Obviously a special place in one little boys eyes. Another station: The ATSF Victorville, Ca. station. Wood construction and similar to SP's style. Here, I would meet and visit with Chard Walker, for the first time. On the day of it's demise. While out running errands, I drove by the station and saw a whisp of smoke coming up from underneath the loading dock. Before I could get turned around and back off the Apple Valley side of the Narrows, back onto D street, it was fully engulfed. Today, on my quarterly visits to my primary physician and cardiologist... I always take time out to stop at the new Amtrak flag stop to reflect on the past. I can't live in the past but there's nothing wrong with remembering. The San Bernardino Santa Fe station also holds many memories of good times for my family and I. During the years they lived in Barstow they would board one of the trains to travel to San Berdu. (short version), catch a trolley into downtown, go shopping, eat dinner-out and then catch a trolley back out to the station. All aboard, one of the many Santa Fe passenger trains for the return trip back to Barstow. When I step into the San Bernardino station...I can hear the voices of my grandparents, grandad's in particular, as he attempted to answer the stampede of questions from a curious and inquiring little boy. His stories and those told by my uncle and dad still echo through the gray matter of my mind. Today as I visit, if I halt mid-step and appear to be absent minded, looking off into space. If I don't respond to you in a way that seems appropriate. Forgive me, I was just listening to the voices and sounds from the past. Waiting to see if I can hear the soft chuffs and short blasts of the steamers and yard goats as they switch the yard. The short blast of their whistles, and the all to familiar shop whistle. Reflecting on the past and the good times shared. Then it's back to reality (yikes) and I can only hope that others have and share a similar feeling of affection for the grandeur of what once was. Jerry, before I forget...you are so right. The model doesn't need to be 100% accurate as you so aptly put it. It can come close but mainly it just needs to be... And, the SB ATSF Stations image will live on as long as my layout can be enjoyed.
Remembering When? Feel free to reflect on a train station that meant something to you. let the inner kid out. Jump right in! Now, I need to figure out how I can get the ATSF Barstow and Flagstaff stations built. And then I will have to build a mini-Cajon Pass. It's snowing in Big Bear Lake, CA. Our Mothers Day storm that we brag about. A little late. However, winter isn't over until the "Fat Lady Sings". Mother nature just sang...winter is over. Have fun!
The Western Pacific station in Oroville wasn't a big deal, in that small community I guess we just took it for granted, along with Charley's (the local really good chinese restraunt), and the unbelievable interior of the State theater. Since it mattered to me I had a feel for the train schedule "cause it could matter if I was trying to get across town at the wrong time. The Zephyr came through twice a day, (east and west ) , and one day we went to the station to see the last one and that was it.The station stayed in pretty decent shape after, and then was rehabbed into a nightclub/restaraunt operation, the arches over the platform were glassed in, and it was pretty commercial, with not much daytime action in a workaday town. Years later I played there a couple of times on a Fri. Sat. night gig, I never got the feeling that the owners were all that interested in the history of the place other than how it benefitted their interests, I'd be interested to see if Amtrak(sp) has made any difference, probably not, since many of the treasures to be found there aren't in the "metro Oroville area". I mention Charley's and the theater because they're both less than a block away. After my grandma died we spent a weekend spreading her ashes mixed with wildflower seeds in the canyon,(don't tell the beauty police), and had a good time at Hewitt Park,across the ROW, from the station,one of those informal jam sesions she would have loved.I haven't seen it since,(late nineties) I hope it's OK.
