Hello everyone. I've been working on the station when I could make time (and didn't choose to run trains instead of working!) It turned out the shingles were made by Bollinger and just to make sure I didn't have the problems I feared with humidity affecting the strength of the adhesive bond, I used Titebond in addition to the self adhesive backing. Sure was tedious! A few pics.

Still not done, the roofs are just sitting in place as are the cupola and chimneys. Still have to attach the gingerbread.
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The other side. I will replace the fascia with something more cosmetically appealing.
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A view from the left side where thee is a siding for a motorcar. I need to make a sign to hang from the roof, remove the ballast under the platform framing, and cut and stain the planks for the platform.
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Thought you may like to see what the kit would look like if built as intended. I only used three dormers per side instead of four, and wasn't going to use a cupola at all. I decided to use one, but made a different top for it, as I didn't like the tall slender one on the prototype. I have also omitted the fancy window trim. I thought it was too "foofy"
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This view with the roof off shows the interior. Because the streetside of the model sits at the edge of the benchwork near eyelevel, I thought it might be nice to detail and light the interior. I would appreciate any input anyone can offer as to what teh layout of the building may have been. I remember reading that stations built prior to the turn of the century (last century!) had separate womans and mens waiting rooms. I'm thinking both end rooms would be waiting rooms. I think I will black out the center section. Does this sound reasonable?
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Nice work JGL I agree with your decision to omit some things from the kit, it gives it a more American feel.

That's a really attractive looking station!
Ralph

What everyone else said. Awesome!

Extremely nice Gary. One of the best stations I've seen in a long time! Of course more pics requested!

Matt

If they had separate waiting rooms for men and women, did they have separate ticket counters as well? I wouldn't black out the center section. Make it a freight and baggage storage room. Leave the interior walls kind of plain and fill it with boxes, suit cases, and trunks. I suspect most people probably traveled with "steamer trunks" in the last century rather than the sort of suit cases we have now.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Russ, I've attached a link to one site where they discuss the layout of a then new passenger station, with separate mens and womens waiting rooms. There was just one ticket booth. Of course, by 1950, the time I model, the rooms would not have been segregated any longer. I'm going with the thought that there was a waiting room on each end, and baggage, ticketing and restrooms were in the center section. It would be nice for sure to see a detailed ticketing and other functions in the center section but this is being done as an afterthought and I don't want to spent too much time on it. The waiting areas shouldn't be too difficult to do, I have some passenger car siding I will use for the bottom of the walls, with a chair rail installed to separate the wallpapered upper wall. I'm ordering some benches, radiators and clocks from Scale Structures. Here is what you see thru the windows:
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Here you see I've added the cherry wood flooring, and molding to support a ceiling. I will run wires up thru the floor on the center section and thru the walls dividing the bldg into three sections above these ceilings to install lighting. I will cut a hole in the center of the ceiling sections and I need to find a globe of some type I can use as a light fixture, I plan to visit a craft store after I dig out of the snow to see what I can find. I can apply molding around the windows but am not sure how to handle the bottoms of the doors. They have no detail on the inside, and the window glazing runs their entire length. I guess I'll fabricate a panel of some type to place there.
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Here you see I've attached the interior flooring to the frame for the platform, so the bottom side of the station is open, allowing me to detail the interior walls without too much difficulty, although it would have been easier if I had planned it before assembling the station. Placing the benches and people will be very easy. Until I get some items I've ordered, all I have left to do is stain and attach the platform planking. Time to get to work shoveling now, I'm afraid!
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I didn't attach the link I spoke of, here it is:

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I think I would treat the bottom of the door inside below the window as if it were a smooth panel. Add the appropriate framing to the inside right over the glazing and then paint it to match. The clear glazing with paint over it will look just like regular styrene. I also don't think it would be too difficult to get into the building from the bottom or the top with the roof off and simply cut a hole for a ticket window and frame it, and put in a counter. Paint the center room inside and put in a bunch of boxes, suit cases, and other freight to go out in baggage cars.

Russ, you bastard. J/K! As I was working on the interior walls for the waiting room, I realized that the center room rear wall has three windows. I thought I could make the end ones the bathroom windows, adjacent to each waiting room, and I have frosted them with dullcote. The center window will provide a view of baggage located between the restrooms, with a ticket counter in the distance, near the front. Now I'll need to find suitable baggage/luggage.

I don't think it would be all that difficult to scratch build your luggage. If you make two of the windows rest rooms, you need to put in walls and doors from the waiting rooms. That eliminates probably two thirds of the floor space in the center section. You also need enough open floor space for the station agents to move around. That probably leaves a stack of luggage on the back wall. If I'm remembering correctly from my youth, most luggage in the 1950s was hard sided squares for small cases. My mother had one that was about a 12 inch cube that was called a "train case" by Samsonite. It was designed for personal care items and toiletries. The train case would have been a carry on, so would not be in the baggage room. All of the suit cases I remember from then were rectangular in shape. They would have some sort of reinforcement in the edges, but that would be such a small detail in ho that I would not bother trying to model it. Handles are hinged to fold flat, so you would not see them either. I suspect that they would have a shelf system so that suitcases and packages could be put on the shelves. I think trying to stack suitcases on top of one another mixed in with package freight would be unwieldy. I'm thinking that the baggage shelves would be along the wall without windows, and would probably not go all the way to the ceiling. It would probably only be one shelf and the floor underneath with enough clearance to the bottom of the shelf for a hand to easily reach in and grab a box or suitcase. If you made your suitcases 1/8 inch wide in ho, that would represent a suitcase about 10 inches deep. Vary the length from 3/8 to 1/2 inch and the 3/8 inch suitcases would be about 18 scale inches tall which comes to about 0.207 inches (roughly 3/16") rounded up. The 1/2 inch suitcases would be about 1/4 inch tall. You could cut a strip of 1/8 inch thick styrene roughly 0.207 inches wide and a second strip of the same material 0.250 inches wide. Then just use a chopper on the narrower strip to cut 3/8 inch long blocks, and 1/2 inch long blocks on the 1/4 inch inch material. I would make them all leather cases because I'm too lazy to try to paint brocade fabric in ho scale. Paint the top side, one end, and 1/8 inch of each side of the 1/2 inch long boxes in various shades of blacks, greys, browns, and tans. The suitcase on each end of a shelf should have one side painted completely, and then glue the bottoms of the suitcases to the shelf like library books. Glue your completed shelf assemblies to the wall and add a couple of wooden crates or cardboard boxes to the floor in front of the shelves.

Thanks for the detailed reply Russ! And sorry not to have written sooner. I did see your post the Sunday after you posted, and my wife and I had had a discussion of 50's luggage at dinner the night before. I remembered my parents luggage was a navy blue fabric and had burgundy "piping" on the edges, and in the corners were vinyl like burgundy "gussets" which seemed too soft to be of any help. Anyway, I thought the same as you about using styrene strip cut to length, tho I hadn't yet done the math. I haven't had much time for trains lately, but have done a little work on an interior. Rather than wait till I finish, here is where things stand:
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Here is the footprint of the building. Yes, the two bathrooms take a large amount of space. The wires for the lighting will come up thru one of them. I've built a couple Scale Stuctures benches, and in the upper right corner you see I've cut two for an interior corner.
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The interior of the ticketing and luggage area. That is a shelf for luggage you see along the bathroom wall.

Edited to insert correct photo!

That's a beautiful station! I wondered if they had perhaps sent you O scale eave brackets - those are some humdingers, but then I saw the picture on the front of the box. Still, I bet folks were walking into those all the time.

Nice work with the interior detailing.

Galen

Thanks Galen, I hadn't thought of the brackets being large, but you are right!

I was at a craft store looking for something I could use as a light fixture for lighting the interior rooms. I was hoping I might find something in the dollhouse section of the store. I didn't, but found these:
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For 2 bucks I thought I'd see what I could do with them. I cut a piece of .030 styrene to make a ceiling for one of the rooms, used a drill bit to make a hole for the light. I placed one of the frosted stones (or whatever they are!) in the hole, it looks like this:
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I taped the stone on top of the ceiling and then taped a grain of wheat type bulb to the center of the flat of the stone, like this:
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I don't have a photo to show you how well this worked to light the interior. Because I have not yet routed wiring for the lamps I used alligator clips and did not have the roof on the bldg. But I put the station on the lower (and darker) lower level of the layout and I could easily see the light was even and well lit, and you can not see the source of light when looking thru the windows. I'll be working on wallpaper and walls and benches for awhile, when that is done (and luggage too!) I will run the wiring and install the ceilings. The scenes in the rooms look nice thru the windows, but I haven't been able to get photos that do it justice. Well, I've used auto mode on the camera, I'll have to see if there is a macro or something.