Modeling C&O's Hedges, Ky., Passenger and Freight Shelter

This is second in a series of four shelter stations I built for the 2003 C&OHS Conference. While the drawing I have is labeled for Hedges, Ky., on the Lexington Subdivision, a couple of members have told me that this design also was used elsewhere on the C&O.

Building the walls

I began construction by cutting out the exterior walls from Evergreen .125" spaced board- and-batten siding. I made some reverse templates so I was cutting on the smooth side of the siding. Setting my dial caliper to .044", I scribed a cut line on the front freight wall and the end passenger wall. Then I shaved off the battens for the trim which I added later.

On the bottom inside of the walls I glued a 2"x8". On the passenger inside end wall I also added the diagonal 2"x8" to connect the two portions of the slope. I didn't have the correct siding for the interior walls so I improvised and used 1"x12" for the inside boards. When everything was dry I sanded the mating ends of the walls to a 45degree bevel.

I then glued 4"x6" corner posts to the end walls, and one in the middle of the rear wall where the partition wall is located. I had to notch the post to clear the bottom 2"x8" trim on the rear wall and the post of the front passenger wall. Next, I glued the crossbracing in place. I did make a mistake and used 2"x8" stock for the cross-bracing, instead of 2"x4". On the exterior of the passenger end wall and the baggage shed front wall I glued 1 "x4" trim in place.

I then glued the rear wall, baggage end wall, and baggage front wall to a base scrounged from a scrap piece of plastic. I measured the width of the partition wall and cut it from the board-and-batten siding. After adding the 2"x8" floor trim, 1"x12" planks, and cross-bracing, I glued the partition wall in place.

Next, I glued the passenger end wall in place, using 4"x12" laid on the side for the top plate (do not add a top plate to the partition wall). I opted to miter the corners rather than use a butt joint.

Making the roof

I cut a piece of .020'' styrene to fit inside the opening formed by the top plate to form the sub-roof. I scribed the lengthwise center line and two diagonals to find its center line, and then made a couple of marks 5' 6'' from both sides of the center to locate where the hip former will go.

I cut the ridge former from .020'' styrene, 11' 0'' long and 2' 0'' high. The hip formers measure 7' 6'' × 2' 0''. I cut the rectangle diagonally and glued it to the sub roof, then cut out the roof panels from .015 styrene and glued them to the hip formers. I then turned the roof over to mark the rafter locations (16'' on center), then glued the root in place. (Roof templates are on page 10).

I cut a bunch of 2''×4''s about one actual inch long for my rafters, and glued them in place on the center lines, leaving them hang out past the edge of the roof. When the rafters were dry I trimmed them to length and the proper angle with a single-edge razor blade.

Painting

I airbrushed my shelter with C&O medium gray and brush-painted the trim with C&O light gray.

Finishing touches

To complete the model, I used Builders in Scale weathered black tar paper cut into 3'-wide strips. To cover the ridges I used 18'-wide strips of tar paper. When I install the shelter on my layout I'll use cinders to cover the floor.

Copyright Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society, Inc. Apr 2004
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