Great Northern Handcar House, Standard Plan of 1896 - HO Scale

The Great Northern Railway Historical Society Company Store is proud to offer an HO-scale, laser cut kit of the 1896 standard plan Handcar House.

Handcar houses were perhaps the most common structures along the railway for many years. There was one at every section headquarters, or about every 10 miles until the 1920’s when sections began to be lengthened. Not all section headquarters had a Section Forman’s house or a crew bunk house, but they all had a handcar house, later called a speeder shed.

This handcar house was custom made for us from official 1896 Great Northern drawings. The model in the photos is painted red, which was the standard color for frame structures in 1896. It can be modeled with the doors open or closed to display your favorite railroad maintenance equipment.  It also includes wooden ties and rails for the set-off track. 

These are great little detail items that can add life to many of your stations.

These structures lasted well into the diesel era, so they are appropriate for any GN model railroad. The building could also be used as a garage or garden shed on properties near the railroad. 

The kit

This is an unpainted, HO scale, laser-cut structure kit made of deluxe card-stock and laser-board material with peel-and-stick self-adhesive parts.  It includes three-dimensional shingle sheets for quick and easy assembly.  The directions include photos and diagrams for easy step by step construction. General modeling tools are required such as a razor knife, wood glue, tweezers, and modeling paints. 

The overall footprint of the structure itself is approximately 1-3/4”L x 1-3/8”W x 1-1/2”H (8’ x 12’ in HO scale). The supplied wooden rails are 2 1/2 inches, or 16’ 3’ in HO scale. 14 scale feet is 1.93 inches, and 12’ is 1.65 inches. We do not know what GN’s standards for set back were, but suspect that 12’ to 14’ from the rail will be close.

Paint Colors

The Great Northern Railway changed its paint scheme for wooden buildings from time to time. This makes the color of frame buildings a clue to the time frame you are modeling.

We believe that the earliest handcar houses were painted red. Beginning in 1909, GN frame structures were painted medium yellow-buff on large wall sections with a darker olive green trim on windows and doors, belt rails and corner posts. In September of 1930, the two-tone gray scheme was introduced, which was followed by the 1950 or so white with green trim. 

Explanatory notes:

Note 1:  The change to yellow-buff with olive green trim was made official with the new 1909 depot style featuring belt rails, boxed eaves, angled bay, and different siding widths above and below the belt.  

Note 2:  In Reference Sheet 402 the term “yellow-buff” was used, rather than the yellow-ochre of RS 53 which called the depot trim a “darker ochre.” That term is very confusing and not at all descriptive of a color with a definite green cast. There was some confusion among GNRHS members about these colors when these ochre descriptions were written in the 1970s.

Note 3: It took time for existing buildings to be painted in the new colors; some never were, but went directly to two-tone gray sometime after September 1930, when that standard was introduced.

Note 4:  Actual boards collected from several depots now exist in the JSRH Archives in St. Paul. These boards have colors consistent with the colors as described here. The colors stated here are also confirmed in documents and corporate files located at JSRH and Minnesota Historical Society. Martin Evoy’s extensive files preserved at JSRH have also been carefully examined, as well as paint chips collected by Martin and others.

See RS 53 about painting frame depots, RS 154 and RS 402 about paint schemes at various times.