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| | North Pacific Coast Garden Railroad
NPC Depot - Pond Structure and Storage
I should never get on a plane. - especially on a 3 hour plane ride. I get
bored. Out comes the computer. Then another project gets added to the list.
Today I started flipping through the digital photos I took while in San
Francisco. Until today, I was so focused on taking, resizing, and posting the
pictures that I hadn't spent any real time going over the results. I came
across the photos of the NPC Depot in Duncan Mills. It is a particularly
appealing station because of the overhang at the front that keep overflow
passengers out of the rain. I started thinking about setting up a production
line as I'll need at least three or four of them in 1:20.3. There's a clone
sitting in Point Reyes Station for example. Take off the porch and you have
another variation on the standard NPC depot.
So I started studying the construction techniques and details. You know, it
really won't be that hard to build. Fabricating the doors and windows will be a
challenge. The ornamental trim doesn't look that bad. Then it hit me.
The Concept
I'm going to lose my 1500 square foot metal shed when the city brings in a
street on one side of my property line. The shed really doesn't get that much
use. And there is way more space than I need. But I'll miss having a place to
park my ZTR lawn mower and keep the rest of my stuff. So we'd been thinking
about constructing a smaller building down by the pond. About half the square
footage would be devoted to storage and the other half finished as a retreat to
enjoy the pond. I miss having a wood burning stove. I've been looking at
cottage plans. But, wow, I could have a NPC Depot right in the middle of my
railroad.
The prototype is 20' by 40' with a 3' by 12' bump out. The porch is 20' by
15'. Overall, the depot is 23' wide (at the bump out) and 55' long. That's 836
square feet inside, way more than I had considered. The porch adds another 345
square feet. That's just not practical.
Modeling in Scale
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But we're all modelers. We model in scale. I'd already looked at
scaling this structure to 1:20.3. How about 3:4? Let's see. Width
would shrink from 20' to 15' (18' at the bump out). Length would shrink
from 40' to 30'. Inside square footage drops to 436 square feet. Hmmm,
much more reasonable. But there's still that 15' porch, shrunk now to
11.25'. What if I take it down to 10'? Now we're talking
about a building whose length has shrunk to 40 feet including
the porch. |
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Of course the one thing you can't scale down is door heights. A 1:1
human isn't going to be happy walking through a door that has been
reduced 4:5 from 80" to 64". At least not this human. So the doors are
going to have to remain at 6'8". I figure the height of the prototype
walls to be 10'. That leaves me with two choices.
- Reduce the height of the walls 20% to 8 feet, remove the windows
from the top of the doors, drop the other windows so their top is
6'8" and reduce the height of the sofit. The result would look
somewhat like the prototype, but some of the character would be gone
- over door windows and probably the roof brackets in the baggage
area.
- Leave the walls at 10' and don't touch any of the vertical
dimensions. Would anyone notice the inconsistency between 1:1 wall
heights and 3:4 wall lengths. Given that depots came in a variety
of wall dimensions, I don't think the difference would be that
obvious.
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When you think about it, this modeling challenge isn't all that different
than those we face in 1:20.3. At that scale, structures can be too big for the
space allowed. So we selectively compress them, arriving at a model that has
the same look and feel of the prototype, but not with the same dimensions.
The Uses
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 | The baggage area could be used for tool storage, potting, yard
tools, etc. One of the two baggage doors could be faked, so wall
space on the other side could be used. The other baggage door and a
regular door would provide access to the storage area.
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| The passenger waiting area would be finished. Add a small wood
burning stove and winter days could be spent enjoying a crackling
fire. On the finished side, the wall separating the baggage area
from the passenger area would be shelves. Structures could be
stored and displayed inside to get them out of the weather. I'd add
two windows to the front wall of the depot so pond activity could be
observed.
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| It would not be difficult to fabricate screen panels that attach
to the inside of the posts. During winter and before the bugs get
unbearable, the panels would be stored in the baggage area. Once
the insects have made use of the porch unbearable, the porch could
be screened in with a few hours work. |
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Of course this is not an inexpensive project although there are lots
of materials that could be salvaged from my doomed shed.
| At least 40 10' 2" x 6" studs. These are the rafters in my shed
awaiting insulation that will never be installed.
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| Lots of ceiling and wall insulation that won't be installed in
the doomed shed. Only the passenger waiting area would be
insulated.
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| Lots of 12-2 romex, plenty of junction boxes, and quite a few
outlets and switches. |
| Two or three vinyl double hung windows.
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| More than enough pegboard for the baggage area. |
| Some industrial Holophane light fixtures - just like those often
found in depots. |
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That cuts down expenses a bit. But there are still some serious expenditures
to be made.
| That 20' by 42' hip roof. |
| A 20' by 42' concrete slab. |
| Exterior siding. It looks 8" tongue and groove to me. |
| Windows and doors. |
| Posts, roof brackets, exterior trim. |
| Gutters. |
| Interior finish material for the passenger waiting area. |
| Ceramic tile for the waiting area floor.
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Here's a floor plan
| Exterior walls and posts in black. |
| Porch soffit in blue. |
| Interior wall in brown. |
| Roof line in green. |
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Materials
| Exterior
 | Concrete pad - 4" poured concrete with 1/2 inch Rebar reinforcement
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| Walls - 10' high - 2" x 6" studs, 16" on center - sills pressure
treated
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| Hip Roof - TBD
 | Red asphalt shingles |
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| Interior Wall - 2" x 6"
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| Exterior subwall = 3/4" styrene covered by Tyvac
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| Exterior Wall covering - 1" x 6" tongue & groove.
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| Exterior door and window trim - 1" x 6"
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| Eve supports - 2" x 4"
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| Base trim - 1" x 8"
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| Posts - 1" x 6" pressure treated lumber.
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| Windows - Vinyl double hung
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| Doors - Metal 2 panel doors.
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| Baggage Doors
| Operational - Wood door sliding on barn door tracks. |
| Inoperable - Wood door fixed in place. |
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| Paint - NPC Colors
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| Screen panels - 1" x 4" screwed to lapping 1" x 3". 1" screen hold
down strip screwed to frame.
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| Lighting - Traditional depot light supplemented with landscape
lighting (solar or low voltage) |
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| Finished Interior
| Insulation - 6" fiberglass bat in walls, 10" in ceiling - finished
area only
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| Walls and ceiling- 1" x 4" Car Siding
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| Interior trim - 1" x 6"
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| Floor - Period ceramic tile.
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| Lighting - Refurbrished Industrial Holophane |
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| Unfinished Interior
| Floor - unfinished concrete pad
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| Walls and Ceiling - Pegboard |
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| Utilities
| Electrical
| Two 20 amp GFCI controlled circuits, breakers on main house
panel.
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| Provision for Solar Power
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| Adequate circuit boxes for convenient use both inside and
outside structure.
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| Plumbing - 3/4 inch water line from house for potting and similar
uses.
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| Heat - Wood burning stove or fireplace in finished area.
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Construction
This project is planned for the summer of 2008.
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