HO scale Plans of Santa Fe's Chicago Dearborn Station

[Engineer James]

I am currently looking for HO scale plans to build a reproduction of Chicago's Dearborn station as out of "Modeling of the 1950's Railroads", put out by Kalambach a few months back. Also any tips on operations in and around Dearborn station, picture of trains or lists, and also switching roads would be appreciated. It says in the article that the Chicago and Western Indania did all for other roads except Santa Fe. Why??

Thanks for your help!!!

[Komachi]

James,

Last question first...

I'm assuming that Santa Fe decided that they wanted to switch their own stock. Some railroads are wierd/territorial like that, "nobody touches our stock but us!" kind of mentality (under the auspices of "quality assurance").

As for plans for Dearborn Station, if you read the article carefully, Gary Hoover mentions that he sent away to the Santa Fe archives for the blueprints/architectural drawings for Dearborn Station. So that's where to get them. He neglected, however, to mention how much the plans cost to print/copy and ship, and I don't model the Santa Fe, and my layout is based about 250 miles west/northwest of Chicago, so...


Here's the link to the website for the The Santa Fe Railway Historical & Modeling Society (where Hoover got his plans from)...
http://www.atsfrr.com


Contact them, they'll give you the info. on costs, etc.

[Tadman]

bro - check out your local borders/barnes and noble - there is a model railroad special about modeling Dearborn Station.

enjoy.

[Engineer James]

Are there any free resources?? I really do not want to pay for a full plan, but i wil if i have too.

[Komachi]

James,

I would suggest the City Planning/Zoning Office (or whatever it's called) in Chicago, they may have copies of the plans on file (in some cities, contractors are required to file copies of the architectural drawings of buildings with the city). However, I have a feeling that they, too, would charge a fee for digging through the archives and photocopying the plans for you.

So, where do you want your money to go? The Chicago city coffers or the Santa Fe Historical and Technical society?

[Engineer James]

Personally the AT&SF society... LOVE THE Santa FE! Its my favorite road!