More Photos

The  ends of the station were carved by the same craftsmen who carved carousel horses for Herschel.  The map shows the coal dealer just before the canal crossing.

Discovery!

I love the "discovery" part of research!

Like that small "DPM" looking structure in the you posted.

Glad it's you and not me that to face the "what to do/if to do" on that sculpture work on the depot!!

Andre

I'm Thinking....

possibly photo manipulation, or 3d printing, or maybe learn to carve(probably my fingers!) It is still beautiful and a great detail.   The station is the Historical Society building now, and that DPM looking building is the original post office and local hotel...no a nice neighborhood bar.  The vacant space was a livery and blacksmith shop, then a repair garage that a buddy worked at, until it burned to the ground in the early 80's.....

Photo

That's what I was thinking, too.

Seeing as you have access to the subject, yup, a photo could fill the bill. Square on with as minimal "keystone" as possible and then it's photo shop time.

THAT will work!

Andre

What time period?

What you have shown here looks like neat discovery and even neater fun to figure how to turn your research into 3D modeling.  I agree a photo might be the way to go with the station end carving.

What time period are you going to model?

I'll be following with interest.  Please keep posting photos, both proto and model, as you progress.

Looks like ...

The period will be between 1895 to  as late as 1920, the street running trackage was still in use, and a lot of the quaint old frame buildings were still there.  There was a tremendous amount of development after the tracks were removed and the NYC bypassed downtown.  Also canal traffic was dwindling afterwards and was less a factor.  i like the 1890's but I better sharpen my scratchbuilding skills!!  Found this online....This seems to be typical of the structures in the time and the towpath was a notorious blend of lawlessness and mayhem!!!

Clinic I did recently

My layout is more of a representation of my love for history (especially the Blue Ridge region during WW2), not the other way around as it for many in the hobby.

I'm presenting a clinic at the 4th region NMRA event in Tacoma, WA (a modified version I presented to the Olympia group a while back) in June along these lines: http://www.4dspringmeet.com

I've found that if you deeply research the place and time you're looking to model, it's amazing how fast the layout creates itself. If you write a plausible history of the layout you want, going into what it was built for and how it works, the track plan and industries become much easier to plan.

Just write the history and stick to it (removing anything that doesn't work within it, no matter how much you want to include it anyway). The rest becomes so much easier, I've found.

My most interesting find...

is that a lot of the buildings are still around albeit heavily remodeled, the research is a hoot, and I could build it all, with infinite space....would love to hear your clinic but Tacoma is bit far off for me,  maybe someday!  This has brought some interest to the hobby I've never found before, history is still my favorite subject!

Peace, Bill

Part of me still wants to

Part of me still wants to model the town closest to where I grew up after I found a black and white photo. 

The photo has the Pennsylvania railroad station that was about 1/2 a mile from their end of track. It also shows a third rail from the 3’ gauge railroad that served the town for about 10-12 years. The 3’ line was removed soon after WW1. I wonder whether the photo is that old or if the scrapper didn’t bother to remove the extra rail on the standard gauge ties. 

Unfortunately my layout plan doesn’t have space to add the town. I might build a diorama. One day. 

There are some great sources

There are some great sources for history of an area. State archives, internet, newspapers, city histories, books, maps etc. I did some research for the railroad I am planning. My historical research link is listed below in my signature if you would like to see what kinds of things I found with help from my friends.

A great thread

Most interesting..

Regards Kenn

@Rob , @Chuck

Rob thanks for pointing out the links, some great info in there, Chuck so far I'm somewhere between 1895 and 1910 so the street running is still around, not finding many railroad photos , so a lot depends on extrapolating from maps and filling in from what is still standing....funny it seems there is more info on railroads that failed than the giant NYC in western New York!  I'll keep digging, stay tuned!

Sanborn Maps

Don't forget Sanborn Fire Insurance maps which may be helpful with changes over the years.  New York is included in the Library of Congress digital archives.

https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/?fa=location:new+york

Another useful tool is "Historic Aerials" (Google it)

Robert

Carved roof peak & flute players

I do laser work,& have built a lot of scratch built structures for both for a club & for my own use. I would be glad to try this if you would be able to supply a good pic & approx sizes. I assume this is in ho scale.

If you are are interested, you can email me at lazer1@q.com

Richard

HABS/HAER & the Library of Congress - another option for you

Hi Dwilliam, all

For the US, 

try the search facility on the HABS-HAER (Historic American Building Survey - Historic American Engineering Record) website at the Library of Congress at  http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/ 

For example - Put "Tonawanda" in the Search field. You will find stuff (just checked)  

Any of the "surveys" could hold plans as well as photos.

If you are "inventive" with the Search field, then you might turn up more photos and plans for a whole lot of industries served by railroads and the railroads themselves in nearby towns. 

The Sanborn maps mentioned previously will give you a basic building shape. With HABS/HAER you might get lucky and find phtographs from your chosen modelling period for your chosen location.

The HABS/HAER site is probably my first "go to" place when I'm looking for information for stuff in the US.

The search engine for whole Library of Congress site is worth a look if you don't turn up information at HABS/HAER. There are other collections that hold photos of nearby railroads and their activities.

Happy Hunting,