Model Railroading > Car Barn Dimensions?

Dimensions in feet for a two or three stall carbarn? I have been doodling with this but don't know what prototype track centers would be and dimensions and location of posts btw the tracks, etc. I would assume workers would need enough space to move equipment and supplies btw the cars and an office would be located somewhere inside or attached to the building. I would like to provide details and a lighted interior to this structure.


Are there any drawings out there from early trade magazines or other sources? Would a pit or pits be appropriate? This would be a brick structure.

Victor Baird



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/26 20:08 by wabash2800.

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First - look for Sanborn Fire insurance maps of the town that you are modeling.  Outside dimensions are given on the building.


Second - search for "Street Railway Journal" "Transit Journal" and :Electric Railway Journal" on Google.There are a bunch scanned of those scanned.  .  I have seen layout of of car barns in them.

Here is a barn still standing in Charleston SC.  go to maps 645 Meeting St Charleston, South Carolina  THe overhead views shows a long building but street view shows the front.

Dimenensions are hard to see but may be able to guess.  I have the sanborn maps some where but can not find now
google "Street Railway Journal, September 1897 charleston"



Hope this helps

Tom

 

Tom Daspit
Morgan Hill, CA
Tom's Trains



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/26 22:54 by tomd.

Thanks Tom. I was looking for the names of the trade journals. That wil be helpful.

Victor Baird

Posted from Android

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dimensions in feet for a two or three stall
> carbarn? I have been doodling with this but don't
> know what prototype track centers would be and
> dimensions and location of posts btw the tracks,
> etc. I would assume workers would need enough
> space to move equipment and supplies btw the cars
> and an office would be located somewhere inside or
> attached to the building. I would like to provide
> details and a lighted interior to this structure.
>
>
> Are there any drawings out there from early trade
> magazines or other sources? Would a pit or pits be
> appropriate? This would be a brick structure.
>
> Victor Baird

What type of a system are you modelling?  Horse/Mule cars, Track gauge, Streetcars, Interurbans, Rapid Transit?  Era?  Standards for each were/are all over the place, and varied widely over space and time, as "Generally" they did not need to conform to anyone's standards but their own.  Some, not all, were subject to State regulators. Yes, pits would be very appropriate, but not necessary..  Virtually anything that would ever need to be worked on would be under the floor, except for wood rot of the carbody/roof or, perhaps, the frame.  That said, however, it's very easy to jack up a carbody and roll a truck or two out from under it and work on the truck/motors while standing on the floor without a pit, to make 'most any repairs.

-LD  

..

Larry:

It is to be modeled as a former interurban railroad (now internal combustion in the 1050s) connected to a (defunct) street car line. (After all, that is how most interurbans were able to get in and out of town.) Therefore, the car barn could have been built for the street car line or the interurban (maybe affiliated) . I want to made it brick with wooden trusses for the roof and a peaked roof hidden behind a facade in the front.  It would be long enough for two interubans on either track. So I would say about 14 inches in HO. (See my drawings. I used  2.25 in. centers which would be a little over 16 ft centers) I am told by one source, for this design, even if the trusses are timber, that I don't need supports unless the roof is flat.  I could make the trusses represent steel too.

Though the line would be modeled as an internal combustion, freight only in the 1950s, I have the option of backdating it later with overhead wires and traction power. I haven't decide whether this 1908 car barn will be two or three track.

More interior photos would help. I will go to the trade journals Tom referred to for ideas.

Victor Baird



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/26 16:54 by wabash2800.