Thoughts on Woodland depot

Whats nice about it is that it is small and can fit nicely along the way for an on the line depot. Most other offerings are much deeper. MTH has a building that was a nice on line depot but it had not been offered for a while. Think its in the current catalog. The Semaphore is fragile. The one I saw at a dealer had the flag broken off. It is nicely detailed. I would have liked some figures with it other than the station agent who is there for the price.

Sorry you are disappointed. I think it's a beautiful piece, with the detailed interior and that shoe shine stand. At just over 11 by 7, it will fit in about anywhere. We're selling them for $119.96 which I think is a fair price. One could easily weather it, but I think it looks fine once you get it out of the plastic box. 

I love mine, yes it is smaller, but it will fit about any where. I added a few figures to mine.

If you know their line of HO kits......it's about the size I figured it would be. The photo above installed on a layout look GREAT! 

I've seen them in person.  To me, the size is appropriate for the style of building, and the detail is amazing.  Relative to other stuff on the market, the price seems to be in line.  I'd love to have one, but unfortunately it doesn't fit my "needs".  (I just can't bring myself to say that I need anything related to toy trains.)

 When first mentioned this Depot would be coming out, was overjoyed. Plus it would fit in several places on my layout.

But then I took a second look and it looked to me "Pixie, or   cartoonish" like. Something out of a Saturday cartoon. I thought about making a new roof profile, and may still consider later.

Roger,

your pictures are wonderful and have me reconsidering my position about buying this depot. Maybe I should have never seen Harry Heike's train station (which I have neither the space or budget for). He set the bar pretty high for me. But I think the responses are on target; this is a product that is designed to fit almost anywhere and can be weathered nicely.

thanks for the responses!

JohnJr

It kinda looks like a squished version of this SAL depot I took a photo of in Franklin Va:

Very nice work Roger. Space constrained layout or not it looks like a great smaller structure to have.

Always better to go smaller than bigger. You can use a small depot on a big layout, but not often the other way around (which would be the more likely scenario)

I got to see the pilot model for this at the NMRA show in Portland last weekend and was quite impressed:

If it weren't for the following, I'd have one already:

1. I already built the depots I needed for my layout (2 kits and one scratchbuilt, my website has photos if you're curious)
2. I'd have to find a way to re-paint it with my RR's colors that they painted everything in
3. These pre-built structures are hard to personalize to your layout

Could we assume they'll make a kit version of this like they have the other structure in that line? If so, I'd bet that it would be a popular kit. I haven't seen too many small town depot kits like this in O scale before this one.

Now, the detractors have said that this structure is very toy-like and looks like a depot at an amusement park. I can sort of get their point there, especially the second point. The semaphore isn't really what I'd have on one of these (maybe a train order board would have been better) but it's still a great looking building. as for it looking like it should be at Disneyland, yeah, I can't argue that point. It does have that look. If you layout takes place in the 40s or earlier, it'll be fine. Anytime after WW2, it'd look too cartoonish and probably should be modeled as a boarded-up structure instead for a modern era layout.

Actually, the station at Disneyland was based on a circa 1890 flagstop somewhere on the Lehigh Valley's Pottsville Branch.

More on that here: (not mine)

http://1stclass.mylargescale.c...zzlyFlats/index.html

This structure is similar in style would probably have been built sometime around the turn of the century. I think its a very nice station for a small town setting.

The semaphore isn't really what I'd have on one of these

Lee,

The SAL depot photo I posted had a semaphore on the front, just like the model.  If I can find the photo I'll post it.

In the book "Crossties To the Depot, Vol. 1" by John F. Gilbert there's photos of a number of depots with the semaphore.  The Franklin depot had 2 arms/blades on theirs (page 51).

I built a HO model of the Franklin, may have to get it out and scale it up, but this one by Woodland Scenics is ready to place on the layout!

I can't think of anywhere I have seen a station with an open waiting room, except for

the few that were like schoolbus stops on the Ma and Pa.  The style looks northeastern, but the open waiting area makes you think of a warmer climate.  I would IMMEDIATELY enclose the open waiting room as a baggage room, and then might be

more comfortable with it.  However, I have no place to put some stations I have.....

We will have these in stock by Wednesday next week. We have the best price anywhere at $117.99.

Thanks

Pat

WWW.PATSTRAINS.COM

WOODLAND SCENICS The Depot - O Scale BR5852 http://www.patstrains.com/View...Details=View+Details

WOODLAND SCENICS The Depot - O Scale BR5852 PREORDER DUE JULY 2015 The Depot - O Scale BR5852 The Depot is a classic whistle stop depot suitable for any layout. It features clapboard siding, a weathered cedar shake roof, covered outside passenger waiting area and a modeled interior that includes a ticket clerk figure standing before an open ticket window. Scene-setting details include a lamppost, posted train schedule, luggage carts, benches, semaphore, pigeons sitting on the roof, signage, decals and many more. The Depot also includes three LED lights - a warm white interior light, a yellow exterior light located under the overhang in the passenger waiting area and a yellow exterior light in the light pole. Installed lights are compatible with the Just Plug Lighting System. Voltage:16-20VAC/Current: 75mA. RoHS Compliant. See photos for footprint. Colors may vary from actual product. Stock Number: BR5852 Gauge: O/O-27 Gauge Manufacturer: Woodland Scenics Product Type: Buildings & Accessories Price: $119.99 Availability: Pre-order [2]

From the looks of it in the photos, I think it looks like a very nice, small town station.  I'd be tempted to get one myself, except that I just don't have any room for it. 

If you are looking for something a bit larger, you might consider Lionel's Rico station.  It's been around a long time, and while it doesn't have the amount of detail on it that seems apparent on the WS's depot, you can add detail to your heart's content, along with lighting, people,  baggage carts, etc.  You can also paint it for any color that your RR considers as "standard".  Costs a lot less, too.

Paul Fischer

You could very easily have it as the station of another railroad near or crossing yours so no need to worry about re-painting in home road colors.

I really like it. It does kind of look like Ward Kimball's Grizzly Flats station. It also looks like it would fit in on John Allan's Gorre and Daphidid. 

The he only thing I'm not a huge fan of is the gooseneck light fixture that towers over the platform. If I get one that will come off of mine.

I just read the "Deats" (aka details) on it, the footprint is 11-13/16" long and 7-1/4" wide, but the actual building is only about 5"x6", that makes it too small for what I want/need, especially at $170.

I'll pull the plans out for the SAL Franklin depot and give it a go.

It looks like the stations on the Mainline out of Philadelphia - we lived in Wayne, PA for awhile..... Pat's got me beat by nearly $2..... Ours are $119.96 plus $12 shipping..... I can wait to sell the rest of mine until Pat's are all gone..... I'll just stand over here by the shoe shine stand..... LOL....

These were my thoughts in an earlier thread at the time of the announcement of this new WS offering...

It's a great looking station. I have seen the HO version and that looks great. I'm in for one.