Here's a photo from Flickr that was sent to me recently showing a photo that a Mr. Sturm took in 1973 at North Judson, Indiana:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rrradioman/8619906365/

As explained previously, we have an N gauge layout at HVRM which shows North Judson as it appears about 1952. When I saw the photo, I quickly noticed the little boxcar-like wooden building with the 3 windows and tall smokejack just to the right of C&O diesel #8205. Aha! I quickly dropped a note to Jon, the gentleman who built the display layout, and asked why the little wooden building wasn't on the layout? Jon shot back, could I prove it was there in 1952? I hate for Jon to get off that easy. So.....anybody got any photos 1952 (or earlier) that might show the little building in place at that time? I'd like to get Jon feeling guilty and make him do a little bit of extra work!

Thanks for any help that might be offered. And yes, I know that finding such a photo is another longshot!

Les Beckman (Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/North Judson, IN)

I may be able to clue you another method. Or a few other ways to prove it.

The St Joe Model Railroad club had to move out of its old quarters years ago and found a home in the NYC Michawaka Freight depot, it was built in 1888 now with an operating layout. I wanted to research the building harder about trackage etc, so I hit the Library.
I found maps for sewage and water mains and fairly well showed plans of the buildings for the time.

If you find the year you want you might find plans in your nearby library, This data is usually public and referenceable, probably on microfiche.

The next idea is topographical maps, look for the year in question or close. The library again might have several years versions, there may also be reference books/maps for the area. As you know sometimes there are people making historical books of places doing homes, stores buildings of areas, I think thats a harder scroung but just another idea, I think the maps may help zero in.

My layout I try to be accurate in ways I can and if someone points its really this or that I'll change it...heh.

Try to see if there are Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for the area. These maps were published every 15-20 years from the late 19th Century through most of the 20th Century. They contain a wealth of information about buildings, their uses, and their construction. The maps sometimes don't cover railroad facilities in much detail, but when then do, they can be very useful.

They are often in the collection of your local library or historical society. Otherwise, some universities and libraries have a subscription to access digitized versions of the maps online.

I am not sure whether a carbody building would have rated inclusion on their maps.

Good luck.

Forget the buildings, did anyone else notice the Auto Train domes in the consist, along the extreme right edge?

Found an additional photo on Mr. Sturm's Flickr page of the two Auto Train domes in transit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rrradioman/8636724271/sizes/h/in/photostream/

Both are ex-WP Budd built dome coaches from the 1948 California Zephyr order. In the photo linked to above, the first dome behind PC insulated boxcar #362870 is AUT #461, formerly WP #812 "Silver Feather". The #812/#461 eventually ended up on BC Rail as #151 "Moonglow" for dinner train service. The #151 was later sold to Ontario Northland, and is now owned by Jon Clark. I cannot make out the number on the second dome; I'll do a further search of Mr. Sturm's pictures tomorrow to see if there's another angle.

Phil Dohmen's Web Lurker dome car website has a page on the history of WP's dome cars from the CZ order (#812 is the second car listed):

http://www.trainweb.org/web_lurker/WP/

A correction to the above post:

The #812/#461 is currently used on the Arkansas & Missouri in Springdale, AR. Located a few pictures of AM #108 "Silver Feather" via Jerry LaBoda's photo links website:

1. AM #108 before being repainted: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2888294 (Tom Beckett photo)

2. AM #108 with fresh paint: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3082956 (Jeff Carlson photo)

3. AM #108 a year later: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3557655 (Jeff Carlson photo)

Links:

1. Jerry LaBoda's website: http://passcarphotos.info/

2. Phil Dohmen's WP dome page: http://www.trainweb.org/web_lurker/WP/

Randolph and dinwitty -

To get this thread back on track, I was at HVRM today and looked over the photos we have in our depot waiting room of North Judson. There in a photo of an Erie 3300 series 2-8-4 pounding eastbound across those same diamonds, is that little building, with its very distinctive 3 window arrangement, but with a shorter smokejack. I had never noticed the building in that photo before, but it definitely was there! Jon was at the museum today too, and I gleefully pointed out the photo and the building to him, but of course, he then wondered what the REST of the building looked like, and whether it was actually a wood building or was covered in metal and what it might have been used for. I don't know if Jon will end up building a model of the structure, but at least I now have him thinking!

Les