1950s platform surfaces?

Hi,

I'm in the process of putting in a passenger station on my 1950s-era Southern Californian layout, and I was just wondering what sort of surface the platform would have to have on it to be accurate for the region. I'm thinking either wood boards or concrete slabs, but I would appreciate guidance on this.

Cheers, Danny B

Reply to
Danny B
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If you're modeling a class I railroad, anything larger than a whistle stop would have been built on concrete.

fl@liner

Reply to
fubar

Depends on the type of station - rural, urban, commuter, major terminal, etc.

A lot of platforms between tracks were paved with asphalt. The ones alongside rural stations were usually built of 2" to 4" thick planks set on square timbers, which in turn might be supported by timber posts, depending on ground levels. High platforms (level with the vestibules) were used almost exclusively on urban commuter lines, and even on those, the outlying stations would usually have low platforms. Larger stations, where diners or sleepers might be serviced, had service platforms between double tracks served by passenger platforms. These service platforms were narrower and lower.

Since you're modelling S. California, I assume it's based on the S.P. Look for photographs of S.P. stations. The ones I've seen showed concrete next to the station buildings, and concrete or asphalt between the tracks. A few had hard-packed crushed stone between concrete or timber curbs, by the look of it. Hard to tell, usually.

HTH

Reply to
Wolf

Concrete for anything over an old/tiny station. The only wood platforms I ever was on was in Willard, Ohio in 1968, where we had to wait after the train hit a pickup truck at high speed. The lead loco had a huge air leak, so another one had to be brought in to finish the trip to D.C.

That truck lit up the whole area when it exploded. The driver was dumb, and ran the gates for one last time.

BDK

Reply to
BDK

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