Northern Pacific Duplex Sleeper from Lowell Smith

[Sokramiketes]

Thanks for the plan, Mike. Where did it come from?  Is that something you've been working on?

Yeah.  Well "working on" sounds so present tense and active... I was working on figuring out Dearborn Station probably 15 years ago and haven't been able to find the station drawings anywhere.  So I was piecing this together from what was still standing.  Then the Russell Crump archives for the sheds and track plan, which I also started converting to CAD.

It's a very modelable size in N scale. 

I've been keeping an eye out for more information over that time.  Hope to do a someday project.  Last one interested was Russ Higgelbottom from Red River, but understand he has passed away. 

[thomasjmdavis]

Yeah.  Well "working on" sounds so present tense and active... I was working on figuring out Dearborn Station probably 15 years ago and haven't been able to find the station drawings anywhere.  So I was piecing this together from what was still standing.  Then the Russell Crump archives for the sheds and track plan, which I also started converting to CAD.

It's a very modelable size in N scale. 

I've been keeping an eye out for more information over that time.  Hope to do a someday project.  Last one interested was Russ Higgelbottom from Red River, but understand he has passed away. 

Sorry to hear about Russ.  I also tried to talk him into doing Dearborn some years ago, but he had a long list of projects, and it would have been a major undertaking.

Up to now, I've been using drawings that were available for sketchup from 3D Warehouse-

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/3f4e6a423eb4b22012623591b9dd37cd/Dearborn-Street-Station?hl=en

That is a view as of about 10 years ago- so the various modernizations have to be ignored.  And the model appears to be built up from photos of various views, so there are some inaccuracies and bits are out of focus, but still pretty good for getting an overall idea of what needs to be there.

The biggest challenge (other than cutting out however many doors and windows, and remodeling the basement), is trying to find the "Lee Overalls" sign on the building across the street.  The only large photos I can find of it are taken from oblique angles after most of the paint had washed off.  And so far my attempts to enlarge it from various photos taken from Roosevelt Rd have not been successful. 

As to being modelable, I completely agree.  The entire area of the station from Polk to Roosevelt N-S and State to Clark E-W works out to something on the order of 12' long x 4' wide in scale.

[Wutter]

The biggest challenge (other than cutting out however many doors and windows, and remodeling the basement), is trying to find the "Lee Overalls" sign on the building across the street.  The only large photos I can find of it are taken from oblique angles after most of the paint had washed off.  And so far my attempts to enlarge it from various photos taken from Roosevelt Rd have not been successful. 

There’s some good pictures on the thread here, but the closeup picture is still very faded : https://cs.trains.com/ctr/f/3/t/182733.aspx
http://towns-and-nature.blogspot.com/2016/01/chicago-il-depot-dearborn-station.html

The best image I’ve seen ever is probably this one from 1980 after the train shed came down.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10217284301283120&set=p.10217284301283120&type=3
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3341/3561322063_1b6e422ebb.jpg?v=0
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2261426
https://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=221881

[Sokramiketes]

Well, can we reconstruct the artwork?  The lettering is one thing, finding the models is another.  But this sure looks like the image of the walking man in overalls:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353995728214

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[Sokramiketes]

And here's the bottom guy?

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[Sokramiketes]

We need a moderator to split off the Dearborn Station thread.  And then one of the local sign wizards to work up some artwork. 

[thomasjmdavis]

We need a moderator to split off the Dearborn Station thread.  And then one of the local sign wizards to work up some artwork.

Yes, we are taking thread drift to another level.  I hope Nato is OK with this. 

Mike, thanks for the magazine photos.  I think you are probably right about those being the original artwork that the sign painters enlarged- they sure are similar.  Well, this gives me an excuse to spend a few days practicing with GIMP (the "graphic image manipulation program" IIRC, sort of a poor man's photoshop for linux).  But if one of the graphic wizards here who know what they are doing wants to handle it, I am all in favor.

And thanks also to Wutter for the links.

[milw156]

While Lowell has said he won't rerun car numbers, that doesn't mean he won't run new numbers of the same cars.  I bet the coaches (for example, if that's what you missed) will be rerun with new numbers at some point.  And he's heavily hinted at domes in his Facebook live streams.  With his releases picking up steam lately, I think the lead times are going to get shorter for complete or mostly complete trains. 

I'm having a lot of fun picking up his models and combining them with existing prototype cars to model these trains.  I like doing specialty cars, the railroad's character really comes through in their diners, lounges, and tail cars.  And using good models to fill in the rest of trains.

It is no longer a hint, the slab side domes, both coaches and sleepers, will be announced in early 2023, with delivery about 1 year out. This from the man himself today at Trainfest

[samusi01]

That's most pleasing to hear, although the wallet is distinctly less happy.

[squirrelhunter]

Yes, that's very good news!

[nkalanaga]

Great news!  I can finally replace my half-century old ConCor domes.  I've been running them longer than the GN/NP/BN/Amtrak did.  And they look their age!

I didn't expect them this soon.

[Nato]

      Nato is always OK with this as long as the Thread Drift is morel rail related. Glad to hear new smooth side domes are coming. Nate Goodman. (Nato).

[nickelplate759]

It is no longer a hint, the slab side domes, both coaches and sleepers, will be announced in early 2023, with delivery about 1 year out. This from the man himself today at Trainfest

Hah! My procrastination on building these cars is paying off!   Now I have to figure out what to do with all the sides and donor-bodies I collected.