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Geesh, I have a ton of projects on the workbench right now, but what's one more? How about Hal Carstens' Suburban Station "cut-out" from the April 1953 issue of Toy Trains magazine:



I edited the windows using MS Paint to blacken the interior while adding window-shades. Other than this change, it's printed as HC drew it. Not too many parts, so spend a bit of time with these and they usually turn out nice (for what they are). Plan is to build one for the layout and then a second one glitter-style for the Christmas display. We'll see how this goes.

American Flyer made a similar station during the prewar era which Carstens may have used for inspiration:



I suspect we'll never know.


Anybody out there working on anything? Let's see it!

Not much progress to show; I've gotten caught up in some other stuff totally unrelated that has me back on my heels a bit. I did, however, make a few design-alterations and start assembly on Carstens' suburban station:



Carstens' plan included no sort of platform; riders would just stand around in the dirt. We're not having that on my line, so a platform of some sort needed to be developed. I found an ancient paint-stirring stick in the shop that was 1-5/8 inches wide and a 1/4-inch deep. Felt about right, so I cut off a six-inch length and made that the platform. Printed off a bit of brick-paper, cut some strips, then wrapped the perimeter after painting the top "concrete" using some Howard Hues acrylic paint (#1106).

Pasted the edited windows/doors into the sides of the ticket office from inside, then assembled it using some 1/4-inch square basswood strips. I papered the corners with some scraps from a couple of additional prints of the component sheet, and glued a three-inch square piece of matt board to the masonite base to serve as a slab for the office to sit on.

Sorting out the roof is next; I hated Carstens' attempt at wood-shingle graphics, so I used the Model Builder software to print some gray slate roofing. When I printed it at 1/48-scale, the slates looked too big, so I made it a bit smaller at 1/64-scale. Looks a bit more reasonable, at least to my eye. Anyway, I'll need to apply that to the roof panels.

I'll need to come up with some roof supports; I've got a few ideas. Edit::Using a scan of the components, I took a bit of the interior-side end to fashion a partition for the end of the platform. A bit tedious using MS Paint, but not too bad. Printed it, pasted it to a scrap of matt board, cut it out, and then glued it in as pictured in the completed model.

Okay, jumping ahead, here's the completed suburban station (scale version):



Quite a few modifications, but this is basically as Hal Carstens designed it. I added a platform base (can't have passengers standing on the gravel) and an end for the platform roof that matches the ticket-office scheme. This has a nice narrow profile, so it fits trackside in some tight spaces. Not the best job of flashing the roof, but adequate, I suppose.

Now to make a smaller glitter-house version.

Okay, I'm getting back to this. Here are the components for Suburban Station 2.0, a slightly smaller version that we'll build in glitter-house style:



Matt board and USPS corrugated, assembly next.

I started assembling this version of the suburban station. There are a couple things you'll notice. First, I came to the "scale" of this thing simply by printing the component sheet in portrait rather than landscape format, thereby downsizing it some 30%. I glued the paper component sheet onto some heavy cardboard, then cut them out. This gave me the basic pattern for the build. When assembling, I just flipped everything over so the blank side is on the outside.

Second, the basic structure of the ticket office proved too small to include a hole for a light, so I cut a hole in the base and hope that by inserting a light underneath, enough light will filter through to illuminate the structure. We'll see...



Haven't quite figured out a paint scheme yet. I think I might paint it in pieces, then assemble it. Otherwise, it might get a bit fiddly.

While we're getting down to the end of the glitter version of the suburban station, a friend of mine found me a few benches for the "scale" version:



Stamped tin, likely Hornby, which would explain why they are slightly larger than 1/48-scale (presuming the station is true 1/48-scale). No matter, the pike is tinplate, so scale accuracy is largely irrelevant, lol.

Okay, here's my glittered version of the suburban station:



In keeping with the "scale" of the other putz-type carboard houses I have, this is much smaller than the layout version (just a 4" x 6" footprint). Probably should have shortened up the leading edge's distance from the platform so that the train/trolley/bus would be a bit closer to the platform.

Handing it off to the wife.