Standard Combination Depot 1899, 24x48 Right Handed - HO

Standard Combination Depot, 1899 Plan, 24x48 Right Handed

The Great Northern Railway Historical Society Company Store is pleased to offer the 24’ x 48’ “old style” combination passenger and freight depot for small towns custom made by HRM Laser Models in HO scale.

Great Northern predecessor St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba built its first 24’ x 48’ “old style“ depot in 1889 at Leeds ND. This is one of many standard depots erected to several standard designs. Researcher Harold Hall has located 72 old style depots of this size across the system, but two thirds of them were built in Minnesota and North Dakota.

We have not found drawings for Leeds in 1889. Old style depot plans were standardized with only minor modifications based on locale. They were used for new construction until 1909 when new architectural treatments were added, such as angled bay sides, enclosed eaves with special corner treatment, and external wainscoting which separated the different types of wall siding.  Old style depots were constructed in left handed and right handed versions. Right handed means that the waiting room is on the right as viewed from the front, or main track, side. Depot plans were mirrored to allow the waiting room to be placed on the side which people were most likely to approach from, typically toward a nearby street or road.  

This model of the right handed Kandiyohi, MN, depot built in 1900 is from Great Northern Railway drawings dated August 1899. It still exists at the Kandiyohi County Historical Society in Willmar MN, with substantial modifications.

This kit features:  exterior and interior walls, flooring, removable roof with soffit, and interior details that are 100 percent laser-cut from quality basswood and aircraft grade 3-ply birch plywood with custom laser-scribed siding; individual 3-tabbed style shingle strips; the 1899 depot design’s hallmark bay window with both two or three bay front windows; window and door plugs for modifying the depot for various remodels; characteristic roof access ladder for hanging on the freight room end wall; laser-cut peel & stick doors, windows with glazing, and trim – all that assemble with ease; basswood chimney; and clear concise illustrated instructions. 

This model is small enough to fit on virtually any layout. The assembled structure’s footprint measures 6.563” wide x 3.75” deep (including the bay) x 3.00” high. No platform is included.

Depots like this were placed at small towns. In many cases the Great Northern located their depot, and the towns grew up around them. In undeveloped areas stations, meaning points shown in the timetable, and typically equipped with a siding, or passing track, were usually placed at intervals of 8-10 miles. Depots of this size were placed at those stations at or near a small town.

Depots were used for both traffic control and railroad business purposes. The traffic control function was performed by the telegraph operator, and at most small stations the Agent performed that duty. Physically the Agent’s/operator’s office was in the center of the depot, between the passenger waiting room and the freight room, and had a bay window facing the track. A manually operated signal indicated to train and engine crews that train orders were, or were not, available for them to pick up. Toward one end of the depot there was a passenger waiting room with a ticket window between the office and the waiting room so passengers could buy their tickets. The other end of the depot was the freight room where freight was kept after it was received and before it was sent on a train or delivered to local customers.

Most depots serving a town were soon equipped with a house track behind the depot where box cars of merchandise could be spotted. The Agent and/or the Telegraph Operator would unload the merchandise, contact the consignee, and they would come and get their goods. Less than carload shipments also often arrived as “way freight” in the local freight or mixed train, and these shipments were placed on a baggage wagon and placed in the freight end of the depot. Less than carload lots originating from the town were handled to the depot and then to a boxcar, but more likely to the local freight. The Agent was the railroad’s local representative to the community.      

DEPOT COLORS

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

Starting before 1900 depots were painted entirely mineral red. In 1909 new frame depots were painted medium yellow-buff on large wall sections with a darker olive-green trim on windows and doors, belt rails and corner posts. Older depots were repainted into the new colors when they required it. In September of 1930, the two-tone gray scheme of light gray on the main structure and darker gray trim on windows, doors, belt rails and corner posts was introduced. Again, existing depots were repainted as required. The gray was followed after 1950 by white as the main color with green trim on windows, doors, belt rails and corner posts. Photos taken in the middle and late 1960s show many depots painted all white with green trim only on windows. A few of the two-tone gray depots were never repainted until after the BN merger. Station name boards were always white with black lettering and black trim along the edges.

See RS 35, RS 53, 154, RS 397, and RS 402.

Explanatory notes:

Note 1: No evidence has been found in AFE or corporate files for dark green or red trim, on early mineral red depots. All reference to dark green or red trim is anecdotal and not supported by any documents, but some think it is consistent with available black and white photos.

Note 2:  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 3:  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 4:  Existing “old-style” depots continued in service after 1909. It took time for existing depots 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 5:  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 History Museum. Martin Evoy’s extensive files preserved at JSRH have also been carefully examined, as well as paint chips collected by Martin and others.

Note 6: A few depots located on the branch between Alexandria, MN and St. Cloud, MN are thought to have been painted gray with mineral red trim. Examination of paint layers on the boards in the depot in Dalton, MN supports this.