Los Angeles Union Station

You probably need to find architectural drawings for LAUPT. The California State Railroad Museum might have that in their archives. So might other entities in LA.

Reach out to the Los Angeles Conservancy as they might either have plans or could point you to does. No doubt the plans/drawing exist in an archive somewhere. In fact, the actual administrative offices of the station may have access to them.

There was a book about LAUPT put out around 2014 or so that is available on Amazon too and I've seen an N scale version of the station up on Shapeways so the drawings/plans are out there somewhere. It would be a might big structure in O scale and very impressive.

Roy, perhaps Roger Farkash of TW Trainworx could help you. They've built a range of the big train stations and may have clues on the designs and dimensions. Could be worth a call or e-mail.

Thanks Ricky and Studedude. I’ll reach out to both. Paul, good suggestion but I’ve emailed them twice and all I hear is crickets… perhaps I’ll give it another shot.

@Roy MacKinnon posted:

Thanks Ricky and Studedude. I’ll reach out to both. Paul, good suggestion but I’ve emailed them twice and all I hear is crickets… perhaps I’ll give it another shot.

I've found that emailing small businesses can be hit or miss.  Unsolicited emails often go to the spam folder, and a lot of folks don't check it regularly.  If they don't reply, try calling.

That's a beautiful station - looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Are you planning to make a full-size model?  If so, you must have a lot of real estate available.  According to Wikipedia, the original ticket counter was 110 feet long - in O scale that's over two feet just for that.  The ceiling in the main hall is 62 feet - that's 1-1/2 boxcars tall, and the main tower is even taller.  Going to be huge.

The original plans are preserved at the Getty Research Institute in L.A. ; for a sample of what they have, check out this website:

httpws://www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbound/no-further-west-the-design-of-los-angeles-union-station

Go crazy!

@Mallard4468 posted:

That's a beautiful station - looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Are you planning to make a full-size model?  If so, you must have a lot of real estate available.  According to Wikipedia, the original ticket counter was 110 feet long - in O scale that's over two feet just for that.  The ceiling in the main hall is 62 feet - that's 1-1/2 boxcars tall, and the main tower is even taller.  Going to be huge.

Mallard is right. I've been though this station many times since 1966, and it is huge. Not only is the station in the front massive, but the corridor to the tracks in the back would also take up a lot of real estate in O scale. So, good luck with this project and if you decide to do it, please keep us updated with progress photos.

@Bruce Clouette posted:

The original plans are preserved at the Getty Research Institute in L.A. ; for a sample of what they have, check out this website:

httpws://www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbound/no-further-west-the-design-of-los-angeles-union-station

Go crazy!

The url above just needs one character less. Try

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows...ngeles-union-station

@Roy MacKinnon   Walthers produced a model in HO. (link below) Overall dimensions in that scale according to the webpage are: 29 x 21-7/8 x 12".

Scroll down a little and that webpage has a "Product Attachments" downloadable "Footprint" image.

In addition to the options others have suggested above, a very improbable long shot would be to contact Walthers and see if they have plan drawings for their (discontinued) HO model.

https://www.walthers.com/los-a...73-6-x-55-5-x-30-4cm

EDIT: UCLA Library may also be able to help. Here's one item, although upon a quick view I don't see that this is viewable online:

MAP Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal : plot plan at street-level & basement-plan of station, environs & approaches. Los Angeles (Calif.). Engineering Department.; Los Angeles : Engineering Dept.
1938     https://search.library.ucla.ed...alma9969383793606533
Shows plan of terminal, basement, and adjacent streets.

John

@John's Trains posted:

@Roy MacKinnon   Walthers produced a model in HO. (link below) Overall dimensions in that scale according to the webpage are: 29 x 21-7/8 x 12".

...

As large as that is, 29" is only a bit over 200 feet in HO.  According to the PBS link provided above, the front face of the station is about 850 feet (22 boxcars).  So, there must be a lot of selective compression going on.  Many buildings, even in N or HO, need to be selectively compressed - there's nothing wrong with that.

I don't want to discourage embarking on such a project - just want to add a dose of reality.  Finding exact dimensions so that it can be 3D printed is probably unrealistic - perhaps it would be sufficient to create some plans that capture the flavor of the station.  (Or maybe the OP has a 16 foot long space for a full replica!)

Back in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Allied Model Trains in West LA built a new location that was modeled after LA Union Station.  The former owner of Allied is on the forum - @MrAllied - perhaps he has some suggestions.

Another thought...Allied Model Trains, a long closed train shop in Culver City CA and formerly owned by a gentleman named,  Alan Drucker, was a scaled down replica of L.A. Union Station. It was a famous store and several celebrity model train enthusiasts shopped there regularly due to its proximity to studios and production facilities.

My thought was if perhaps any plans of the stores' facade and structure still exist. Planning/  building dept?  Maybe local train clubs might have such information. Alot of these Southern California model train guys love history and know how to access hard to find information. Maybe worth a look?

John

This thread on a beloved Los Angeles landmark inspired the following mini memoir, thanks so very much:

"At nearly 90, I still recall vividly my first experience at the new Los Angeles Union Station on a 1939 summer evening. My uncle Freimuth was only 14 when he and the rest of my mom’s family came to America from southeast Germany in 1926. Now, with an American High School and College Diploma under his belt, Freimuth heard the call to Christian ministry and wanted to get his theology degree under a professor he admired at a Frankfort, Germany seminary.

So there I was, a five year old in the fairly new Union Station, surrounded by a mass of people seeing their friends and loved ones off to parts afar. The only railroad term I remember from the loud din of mass conversation is “Challenger.” So “Fred” apparently took a Union Pacific train to Chicago and transferred to another going to New York.

Fred reentered Germany just as Adolph Hitler attacked Poland, setting off WWII. On checking Fred’s passport, the German immigration official asked why his return to Germany as he was now a U.S. citizen. As Fred shared his Frankfort seminary aspersions, the official broke into derisive gales of laughter nearly shouting “No one believes that God stuff anymore. Join the Nazi Party instead and serve Der Fuehrer. That’s where the real future lies.”

Uncle Fred would not return to the US until fall, 1946. But return he did, along with the delightful wife he met in a Frankfort bomb shelter, together with their small daughter and son.

When I walk through Union Station today, I enjoy its lofty serenity, but I still sense that wall to wall humanity of 1939."

@Roy MacKinnon posted:

Hello,

I have scoured the Internet and cannot find any current manufacturer who currently makes an O scale version of the Los Angeles Union Station. It occurred to me that somebody on this forum might have plans for the Model.

A friend of mine has access to a high end 3D printer and has told me if I can get the plans he could get it printed through his machine. Can anybody help me with this and/or if you don’t have plans any recommendations on how I can do this Model short of making plans myself.

Roy,

I can highly recommend you speak with Richard at right on track models in Miami FL.   Web site is name . Com, also you can find them in the scenery source list.  I worked with him to help build a o scale version of the Albany NY Union Station for my layout  In addition to standard kits, he makes custom models from photos for customers.  Check out his site some very creative and nice work he has done for others like you looking for something not currently made.

Here is a link to my post on the build. https://ogrforum.com/...tion-structure-build

We started with photos from the building that I mostly pulled from the internet.  He’d did some drawings that we reviewed, and we agreed on a footprint.  He implemented some selective compression but the model is still very large.  

It came painted and assembled in three sections and a base that made the side walks. The  roof section that I placed in front of the doors came separately and I placed them after placing the three sections together - simple. The building is a combination of 3D printing and laser cut parts expertly assembled  I picked opaque window coveting instead of clear but he could do either if you wanted to detail the inside.  I added LED lights inside but he can add them if you like as well.

The price was very reasonable, in line or a bit less than some of the “standard” built up models of famous stations mentioned above.

This was a great experience, and a real focal point of my layout.  While I am a pretty decent modeler, both kits and scratch built I could not have done this level of detail without Richard, and honestly he got it done much faster than I could have by myself.

I worked on concepts for this station for years before I came across Richard, I even had designed several, laser cut walls and had prototypes cut that want no where.  Once Richard and I started it was done in a few months.  

This forum is full of posts about great structures we all want for our layouts, that we plan to build, hope to find a kit, try to find ideas how to kitbashed several other structures to make one and 95% of these never get built. As a guy who has personally built almost everything on my layout myself (a mix of kits, kitbashed, and scratch built) it took me a while to decide to get some help on this one.  Not only am I glad I did, but I wish I had done it earlier.

Impressive!

Guys, I know it's not the typical thing to say..but man, I love you guys! Every single time I post here you guys step up and provide me with thoughtful and helpful comments and this time was no exception. Several of you posted about the size if built true to scale...this was something I was concerned about and unfortunately I know I will have to have some compression as I think I have about 24 inches in length for the entire model. Thanks also to OddIsheRU for the great story about the station..loved reading that.

As a West Coast modeler, I don't have any train clubs that are convenient and less than a 1.5 hour drive so you all are my train club. I thank you for all the advice and counsel you have given me so far...trust me, I will have many more questions as my layout progresses. When I decide what Im doing about the station and/or the end result, I will be sure let you all know.

Cheers,

After reading thru the replies a couple of ideas come to mind.  The Walthers HO station is about the size you need.  Could always just find one and use it as is.  Set it back from the track (selective compression).  Or use it as a reference for your O scale version and once done sell it.

Also I took AMTRAK from NY to San Diego last year changing trains in Chicago and LA.  Had time to look at the nooks and crannies at LA.  But the station that caught my attention was San Diego.  Different style, Mission not Deco but a much more manageable size for a layout.  A few pictures I snapped last year.

Good luck however you go.

I agree with Jim about the San Diego Santa Fe/Amtrak station. That structure is also a landmark and very attractive. And being a fraction of the size the LAUPT is, this one would be much easier to put on a layout. I love this station.

...or, if San Diego is too much to bite off, there is always the ATSF station at Santa Fe NM:

😉

Well now, that’s a cute little station.

@Avanti posted:

...or, if San Diego is too much to bite off, there is always the ATSF station at Santa Fe NM:

. . . or even the old station in Cambridge, MD, a model of which I just finished scratch building for the RFC train garden in Cambridge:

@Yellowstone Special posted:

Well now, that’s a cute little station.

Yeah.

For those who don't know the back story:  Ironically, the Santa Fe mainline never made it into Santa Fe. The closest mainline station is in Lamy NM, around 15 miles SE of the city (that's where all those pictures of Oppenheimer getting off the train were taken). The city fathers weren't pleased, so the ATSF built a spur into Santa Fe, which terminated at this little station.

Did someone mention Lamy.  Sorry for poor pictures, was given 30 seconds to step off train, we were running late.

Small station how about Glorieta.

Sorry had to through in the sign, lucky I had my phone in hand as we passed it.

And link to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qBBc4lgO9I

AT&SF - All the Way!!

TW Trainworx has made a custom one for a client I have seen it on youtube. I imagine it is not cheap

@Roy MacKinnon posted:

... Several of you posted about the size if built true to scale...this was something I was concerned about and unfortunately I know I will have to have some compression as I think I have about 24 inches in length for the entire model. ...

@Roy MacKinnon One benefit of sticking with LAUPT in spite of its size is that it's mostly flat angular surfaces, easier to model and I think easier to compress. There are many broad plain surfaces that you can shrink. Looking at the Walthers model which is 29" wide, you can reduce the footprint by losing one or even two of the arches from the portico on the right, and eliminating one arch from the main wing on the left. Maybe keep the height the same. Experiment by printing the photo of the Walthers model and then trimming off an arch from each side. See if it's something you can live with. You might end up with a building that captures the spirit of the original while being greatly compressed.

John