Chicago Great Western Armco Stell Depot - Dodge Center, MN

[wcfn100]

I don't know if other railroads had these, but the CGW had many replacement Armco steel depots across it's system.  These were a fairly modular design as the CGW had several sizes.  I believe the one at Dodge Center was the largest at 77' long.



Here's the prototype location.



This all stems from what I referred to as 'evil thoughts' of making a Freemo-N module after seeing Mark W at the last RMTTS.  If I were to do something, I'd still want it to be CGW related and on one of the the North/South lines so my rolling stock would fit with it.  I've always like the steel depots and Dodge Center is where the CGW crossed the C&NW which could make an interesting scene.  I'm going to reach out to the CGW group to see if anyone has measurements for the Train Order signal which is a prominent detail for many CGW depots.

Not sure where this will go, but at least the drawing is done for when/if the motivation hits. 

Jason

[SSW7771]

Neat depot. Most of my railroad research is around the SP so I am not much help.

[Doug G.]

CGW tracks were removed through Dodge Center in about 1997.

Last I saw, a few years ago, the depot is still there, privately owned and painted red.

Doug

[wcfn100]

Last I saw, a few years ago, the depot is still there, privately owned and painted red.

Yeah, there's picture online.  That's the only way I was able to do the backside of the depot.

Jason

[Mark W]

Looks like the perfect job for a Silhouette Cutter!  Easy and simple, I agree would make a very interesting scene.

[cjm413]

GC Laser makes a M&NW standard depot:

http://www.gclaser.com/n-scale-elmhurst-depot-cgw/

[Dave Schneider]

When were these replacement depots built?

Best wishes, Dave

[wcfn100]

When were these replacement depots built?

Best wishes, Dave

Started in 1952, several in '55 and at least one in the '60's.

Jason

[cgw277]

Very nice work Jason.

You are correct that the CGW had a number of these stations. Most were  smaller than the Dodge Center building. Viewing your station from trackside, cut it in half and keep the left side, the side with the office and one freight door, and you have the "standard" CGW Armco station

I visited the Dodge Center station 20 years ago. It  was summer and the building was overgrown with brush and trees next to the building, made it difficult to photograph and measure.
I scratchbuilt several of these stations, but was never satisfied with the roof. The standing seam roof never looked convincing  in HO scale.
I would like to try in N scale, but again, the roof presents a problem for me.


A lot of these stations were on the Oelwein to Minneapolis/ St. Paul  section of the railroad.
McIntire Iowa was the only "reverse" station, with the office and freight sections reversed from the others
 
The station at Gladbrook Iowa was later moved to Reinbeck Iowa. I was told they cut the building in half and loaded the  two sections on flatcars to make the move.

Elma Iowa has a nice preserved CGW Armco station.

 Sycamore was a "doubled"   station similar to Dodge Center, but with a different bay window configuration, and taller windows  than used on the "standard" stations.

One former CGW employee told me these buildings were quite cold in the winter. It was common for the agents to throw their  used paperwork between the walls to increase the insulation.

I think the Green Bay and Western had similar buildings.

Keep up the CGW modelling!
Scot Mason