Denver Union Station


Motley

Active Member
OK since I completed all the new trackwork, I can finally work on the Denver Union Station.

I had the Walthers wood station platforms, and they just never matched the prototype. Walthers has a new station platform kts now, and they include LED lighting. And everything is included. Resistors, wires, etc. Good directions with photos too.

Heres the kit:

I had the old platforms in between the tracks. And it looked funny when freights went by. So I decided to put the new platforms on the inside of the station tracks. Also these concrete bases are higher than the old platforms, so I need to raise the station up to the level of the platforms, by adding another layer of sheet cork.

Here is what I got laid out so far. The base will be concrete, and the platforms will be painted green to match the prototype.

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And here's the real thing.

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Actually these are the old platforms. They just completed a huge re-development project and they took out the old platforms and replaced it was a futurisitic looking platforms. It now serves passenger trains, light rail, buses. The new transportation hub for Denver now.

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Actually these are the old platforms.
Old being a relative term. These were put in during the renovation in the early 1990s when RTD took track #1 for buses. The earlier platforms were lower and had cement platform shelter covers. Going back even further in 1910 there were wooden passenger platform shelters.
 
Old being a relative term. These were put in during the renovation in the early 1990s when RTD took track #1 for buses. The earlier platforms were lower and had cement platform shelter covers. Going back even further in 1910 there were wooden passenger platform shelters.

Iron Horsemen, you never cease to amaze me, thank you for the interesting history.
 
yea mike it was the 50th anniversary of the portland rose so I got tixs for me & the wife, took us to speer & the 3985 was waiting for us , it was awesome
 
Looking forward to seeing it completed Michael. My vague memory is changing locomotives there on the Denver Zephyr on way through to Colorado Springs then boarding to come back to Chicago. I beleive it was 1966 and I was eleven.
 
Iron Horsemen, you never cease to amaze me, thank you for the interesting history.
No real surprise here. I worked downtown for almost 30 years. I drove by or road through the station every day. In the early 1980s I parked in the Union Station parking lots. Plus my model railroad club was in the basement from 1984 until just last year. So I even knew the guts (all the subterranean nooks, cranies, secret passageways) of the building before this last renovation.
 
Really? Nice I didn't know the E9s were running then. Were they UP? I need to get me some.
I don't think there has been a time since their initial purchase when the Es have not been running. They have been assigned to the executive fleet based out of Council Bluffs most of the time. In 1987 I ran into the yard master at the Embassy Suites Hotel and he let me go over and climb all over and through the 951.

They have been down at Union Station a lot. This is the Frontier Days train from 2006.
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No real surprise here. I worked downtown for almost 30 years. I drove by or road through the station every day. In the early 1980s I parked in the Union Station parking lots. Plus my model railroad club was in the basement from 1984 until just last year. So I even knew the guts (all the subterranean nooks, cranies, secret passageways) of the building before this last renovation.

I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experiences with me, thank you.
 
I completed the stryene sidewalks around the station, and also the bases for the new platforms. I left an open space there on the right side of the station, for the hotel. And on the left side will be the parking lot.

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I just picked up the new Walthers Ashmore Hotel kit today. It will go to the right of Union Station.

I'm also adding a view block backdrop with the skyline of downtown Denver. I put a piece of pink foam there where it will go.
With the Ethanol Plant right behind it, will look weird. And on the other side of the backdrop, I will have a farm photo backdrop for the Ethanol Plant.

Here's what it will look like....

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And this the hotel that is near Union Station that I am modeling this after. I need to figure out how to tint the windows blue to match this.

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Michael, look in an office supply store. You might find page protectors or dividers in tinted clear plastic that can do the trick. That's going to look awesome next to the station.
 
Michael, look in an office supply store. You might find page protectors or dividers in tinted clear plastic that can do the trick. That's going to look awesome next to the station.

Thanks Gary. I'm going to the Partytown usa store near my house, and I think they have those cellophane blue colored rolls. I'm gonna try that, by adding a sheet behind the windows. Either that, or I might try some Tamiya paint for clear plastics.
 
There is that window tinting stuff that came in sheets, a do it yourself product that you pasted on the inside of your auto glass so no one could look in. Auto supply parts store?

Maybe as easy as pasting it on the inside of your frames?
 
There is that window tinting stuff that came in sheets, a do it yourself product that you pasted on the inside of your auto glass so no one could look in. Auto supply parts store?

Maybe as easy as pasting it on the inside of your frames?

Ya but the problem with that is its smoke black/brown colored tint. I want to replicate the blue-ish tint you see in that photo. It appears the windows have a mirror finish on them, and the blue sky reflection.
 



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