Anyone model a Harvey House on their layout?

Lee, many Harvey houses were also housed the station itself.   But you are correct, some were really neat buildings by them selves.  Fortunately here in the Southwest there are a couple still standing such as La Posada in Winslow (beautifully restored and operating as a hotel) and La Castenada in Las Vegas, NM (still in tact, but sadly not in use) and finally Williams, AZ where the depot/Harvey House is still in use as the Grand Canyon Railway's depot and offices.

 

On my layout, here is a photo of the Seligman, AZ Harvey House/depot which was sadly torn down about five years ago after nobody in this small town could come up with the funds to maintain it after BNSF offered it for many years.

 

Thanks, that is a great looking building.  Is this the building that was named Havasu House at one time?  If so I was there way, wa, wayy back when - late 50s, 60s or early 70s. 

 

One thing I like about Harvey House is that although a chain (and a large one at that) they seemed to try to match the arhcitecture and style of the towns they built in - not like today where every chain imposes every site with "their" look.  

Lee, Yes, you are correct in its name.  It survived as an Amtrak stop until I believe about 1980 then as a crew change point for ATSF/BNSF until about ten years ago.  Although fenced off, you could easily walk though and into the building itself.  

 

I just modeled the wing of the building facing the tracks (slightly compressed to fit my space)  Most of the hotel itself was in wings perpendicular to that wing and were very undistinguished in appearance.

 

Here is a link to the demolition of the hotel:  www.dcourier.com/main.asp?Sect...&ArticleID=54315

An interesting feature of the Seligman depot/Harvey House was the door with a sign reading, "Pay Water Bills Here." Santa Fe was the "water department" for Seligman.

On my layout, here is a photo of the Seligman, AZ Harvey House/depot which was sadly torn down about five years ago after nobody in this small town could come up with the funds to maintain it after BNSF offered it for many years.

 

An interesting feature of the Seligman depot/Harvey House was the door with a sign reading, "Pay Water Bills Here." Santa Fe was the "water department" for Seligman.

 

I'm sorry to hear that the Seligman depot is gone.  There was a wonderful article in Trains a few years ago by a Santa Fe employee who lived there.  He even mentioned collecting payments for the water bills.

 

 

Peter A - I google-imaged and found pictures before and during it torn down and your model looks very much like it.  You are right that the winds added on the3 bac with more rooms were undistinguished but the main hotel you have modeled is fantastic.

 

Number 90 - when I finish my Harvey House I plant o add a small door/window and use that water depart sign idea.  Cute!

No 90, more trivia.  The well and pipe for people to use is still there, next to the tracks and in constant use today (don't know who still collects the money)  Part of the Santa Fe's problems when building across northern Arizona was despite the fact that this area is all tree covered, there is almost no water on or near the surface.  This is because there is a thick layer of sandstone from the ancient ocean and groundwater simply drains into it.  Wells often have to be thousands of feet deep to reach a reliable supply - beyond the technology of the 1880's.  Even today residents in Seligman, Ash Fork and Williams areas have to have domestic water hauled in.  Hence the standpipe in Seligman.

 

The Santa Fe did find great water at Del Rio Springs, about five miles  south of me on the Prescott branch and bought a large tract of land there.  They hauled water in tank cars as far as the Grand Canyon.  The Fred Harvey company (see I finally got back to that!) also had a major farm there to grow vegetables, beef, chickens, etc for use in their dining rooms and trains.  If you visit the Grand Canyon, go to the Bright Angel history room and you will see an egg carton labeled "Del Rio" eggs.  Enough of a history lesson.

thanks for the History - interesting stuff. 

Peter - Congratulations on your great-looking building, and thanks for the facts you brought forth.  I've stayed at the Bright Angel and been through their intriguing history room, so was quite interested in your posting.

I have a model of the Springfield, MO Frisco depot on my layout. This depot had the Harvey House on the left side, one story only of the depot. Here is a picture of the model.

 

Peter and Roger, nice stations!

Some additional info on HH,

 

http://www.harveyhouses.net/index.html

 

The Frisco depot museum in Hugo Oklahoma has a great Harvey House restaurant in it. A really nice museum.

 

Dan

If you model the Cardenas Hotel in Trinidad, I wanta see photos, plans, and dimensions!..... (what book did you say you just picked up with those photos?)

Wow, the Cardenas Hotel in Trinidad!  I like to see that.  That would be super!

 

 

 

I always wanted to model the Santa Fe station La Junta, CO.,  which existed until the late 40's (replaced by a more modern station).

 

I went inside the Harvey House Restaurant at LAUPT (what's left of it) several years ago. The door happened to be open. They were using for storage and I was told there was some consideration of re-opening it as a restaurant. Haven't been in that side of LAUPT in a few years, so I don't know its current condition/status. It was the last Harvey House (no hotel) built and replaced the one at ATSF LeGrande Station off 3rd and Santa Fe when LAUPT was built in 1939.

 

(From the website http://www.harveyhouses.net)

Wow, this is turning into an interesting thread.  I want to share with you a model of the Escalante Harvey House in Ash Fork, AZ.  Ash Fork was on the ATSF main line at the foot of the grade up to Williams and Flagstaff.  It was also where their branch line to Phoenix originally left the main line.  The grade was extremely steep and required helpers to be added at Ash Fork, thus the town had a major railroad presence.  A bypass was constructed in 1960 so today the only trains through town are on the line to Phoenix.  But during its heyday as a stop on Route 66 as well as on the Santa Fe, Ash Fork had a spectacular Harvey House and station.  

 

In Ash Fork, there is a delightful local history museum and in it is a wonderful quarter inch model of the Escalante.  It was built by a local couple and is on a table eight feet square!  As was mentioned, one of the delights of Harvey Houses is that each seemed to have a very local themed design.

 

 

 

 

Finally, I thought you might be interested in a photo of the Seligman Harvey House during its life.  In my research before starting my model I found a retired Santa Fe engineer who shared some photos with me that he took.  It was a great help as I could see details like the telephone sign which was long gone by the time I saw it.

 

that is a fantastic model!  I love the detail, and the scale - but no way would one anything like that size fit on my layout.  I've got a triangle maybe a bit longer than three feet long by two wide next to my station where it has to fit: I'm going to have to compress the one I build quite a lot.  I might just build a single station with an attached hotel and restaurant