Modular NYC Subway Layout - IRT Broadway Line meets Old San Juan

Great links and photos.  Also thanks to Steve Markowitz for sending me some links.

The colorized photo implies the original color of the columns was brown.  However, I have also seen photos of green columns in later years.  One thing I've learned in modeling these stations is that there appears to be a precedent for just about anything you can imagine.  So I'm leaning towards the same rich dark green that I used for the 42nd Street station module, because I like it more.

I agree that if someone ever models the City Hall Station, that will be a pinnacle in subway modeling!  And gap fillers are not required, since the station never had them and only end doors opened on the cars in that station.

Joe;

If you do a search on the tile work in the original stations in lower Manhattan, you will find they used a lot of browns, greens, and blues, so I think that either of your suggestions would be great. I know I shared these pics of my paintings based on actual original subway tiles somewhere recently…

I have a draft station tile sign and medallions for the station wall:

The medallion is based on artwork by Ana Santiago, a Puerto Rican artist.

Fabulous, Joe. Your draft looks like it was designed by Heins & LaFarge!!!

It was. 😁 (mostly). It's the sign on the wall of the old northbound Times Square local platform that was visible in the Times Square - Grand Central shuttle area until recently. That part of the station is undergoing some serious work now and is walled in by construction barricades. I hope they preserve it.

Joe, I fell a little behind.  Your platform work is incredible.  That's gonna be one very nice station.

Paul, 14th and Union Square, did someone say Paragon Sporting Goods?  Also did you say you painted those mosaics or did I misunderstand?

@West Side Joe posted:

Detail of one of the four mechanisms to slide the lower part of the extenders forward and back.

Here are photos of the real thing…….well done!

Gap fillers finished. I can finally move on to the platform columns.

https://youtu.be/jxz9VxJYxlg

https://youtu.be/1ajfw0oNA3Q

All I can say is wow !!

First row of holes drilled for platform columns. Columns inserted temporarily to test fit to footings.

For my sidewalk subway entrance I was planning to kitbash the Lemax subway kiosk (needs alteration as the proportions are not right) with the Modeltechstudios generic O scale vintage subway entrance kit (too wide). It bothered me that the resulting entrance in O scale would overpower my 9" wide street scene above the station. Then I came across this 3d printed "S" scale exact replica of an IRT entrance kiosk on Shapeways, and realized it is perfect for the limited space I have. S scale can work well on an O scale layout in the right circumstances.

@West Side Joe posted:

For my sidewalk subway entrance I was planning to kitbash the Lemax subway kiosk (needs alteration as the proportions are not right) with the Modeltechstudios generic O scale vintage subway entrance kit. It bothered me that the resulting entrance in O scale would overpower my 9" wide street scene above the station. Then I came across this S scale exact replica of an IRT entrance kiosk on Shapeways, and realized it is perfect for the limited space I have. S scale can work well on an O scale layout in the right circumstances.

It certainly can, great find and nice work!

Platform columns installed.

Joe

The pillars look great !!!!

@West Side Joe posted:

Platform columns installed.

This is by far no criticism at all, but the third rail is on the wrong side. The third rail at all subway stops is always on the track, side or center of the roadbed. Unless of course it’s an express stop, or a station in a turn.

Or in those stations that have a platform on either side of a single track (which will come in handy at the end of this post). I totally agree with your point. I plead extenuating circumstances:

The layout is a module that connects with two other ones, all of them the same size. On the other modules (a tunnel and an express stop) I've placed the single track on the edge away from the viewer (the "back"). Since this module was a local station, I routed the track from the connection with the other modules, to the "front" so the viewer could see the station from the platform edge all the way to the back wall, which I hope to embellish with the beautiful tile work and station signing of the original 1905 IRT stations. But the s-curve  geometrics of the Lionel tubular track placed it so close to the front edge that there was no room left for the third rail at the front.

So knowing that when necessity rears its head (such as at the station illustrated in the link below) the third rail can be located under the platform edge, I throw myself on the mercy of the court.😁

http://www.nydailynews.com/res...T47L345JGGB5HOM.jpeg

@West Side Joe posted:

Or in those stations that have a platform on either side of a single track (which will come in handy at the end of this post). I totally agree with your point. I plead extenuating circumstances:

The layout is a module that connects with two other ones, all of them the same size. On the other modules (a tunnel and an express stop) I've placed the single track on the edge away from the viewer (the "back"). Since this module was a local station, I routed the track from the connection with the other modules, to the "front" so the viewer could see the station from the platform edge all the way to the back wall, which I hope to embellish with the beautiful tile work and station signing of the original 1905 IRT stations. But the s-curve  geometrics of the Lionel tubular track placed it so close to the front edge that there was no room left for the third rail at the front.

So knowing that when necessity rears its head (such as at the station illustrated in the link below) the third rail can be located under the platform edge, I throw myself on the mercy of the court.😁

http://www.nydailynews.com/res...T47L345JGGB5HOM.jpeg

Not at all, it’s still well done and spectacular.

Actually, at the ends of the module the third rail is on the correct side of the tracks, but as the track begins to curve the third rail switches to the "wrong" side.

Laying out the station wall outline. The fare zone and the stairs to the street will be in the large middle area.

Pizza Rat sighting.

Test fitting station wall panel.

Trying out second wall panel.

Putting up station wall supports.

Wall panels glued to supports.

Curved station wall section with 1959 subway system map.

@West Side Joe posted:

Curved station wall section with 1959 subway system map.

Joe;

Fabulous model of what looks like some of the original NYC subway tile/mosaic work.

How were you able to print out a 1959 subway map so small yet still look good?

I copy the image off the internet to my laptop, insert it into Powerpoint, reduce it to the desired size, and print it on glossy or matte paper in my Deskjet printer, with the quality set to "best" and the paper to "glossy". I believe it helps to select the Internet image with the highest resolution. When you search images on the Internet, the thumbnails usually show the number of pixels in the image (for instance, 400 x 800). The higher those numbers are, the sharper the image will be.

Thanks Joe.  I never thought about PowerPoint.  I usually use Word.

Curved station wall on the other side of the station central area, with a 1960's Eastern Airlines ad.

Joe,

Looks amazing. What are you using for ballast?

@West Side Joe posted:

Curved station wall on the other side of the station central area, with a 1960's Eastern Airlines ad.

A minor quibble on an outstanding model… Haven’t been a regular subway rider since I retired 11 years ago, but, in stations, isn’t the third rail (which looks absolutely realistic!!!) always on the opposite side of the track???

Yes, you are correct. On my Times Square module the third rail is along the station wall across from the platform. On this  (Viejo San Juan) module, as the track enters and leaves the module, the third rail is in fact on the "correct" side of the track, but as the track curves around the platform, it comes so close to the edge of the module, there's no room for the third rail on the "correct" side of the track, and so I switched it over to the "wrong" side. I could have just left the third rail off, but like you I like the look of the thing, so it's on the platform side. 😁

@NJCJOE posted:

Joe,

What are you using for ballast?

Scenic Express #20 Dark Gray Blend Fine.

Station wall complete. Next, a token booth.

Freelancing a token booth.

All looking good Joe! 

Coming along bit by bit...

Mocking up for interior lighting. Waiting on a clock for over the window, and exterior lights for the window sides. It's amazing how the camera can reveal defects that are invisible to the naked eye.

I know what you mean about the camera.