Marion, Va. Station

[NW Mailing List]

No, there wasn't likely a set of architectural drawings made for each
station as the 'construction' world didn't work that way in those early
times.

 

A construction firm would 'know' what and how the building should be
constructed from their experience of wood-framed construction going back
some 200 years in the Americas.  Hence, the N&W would issue the standard
plans with the necessary size changes to a company and they would execute
the plans using their knowledge of studs, sill plates, possible spans of
roof rafters and such- i.e common practice.  It wasn't until the late
1880-90's that large buildings were regularly designed and specified with
extensive architectural plans and not until the mid to late 1920's that
single family dwellings might have had plans drawn up.  The building codes,
even recently, were written so that a builders could follow a 'cook book'
method to build a home and not need a detailed set of plans. 

 

However, these buildings were over-designed and used more material and
structure that was necessary for the purpose.

 

Now, most buildings are required to have detailed plans (and possibly
testing) to meet approval for construction in zones in hurricane areas and
earthquake zones.  Lots of plans for these!  Middle America- not so much.
But things are getting tightened up there , too.  

 

Gary Rolih

Cincinnati 

 

From: NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of
NW Mailing List
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2014 4:03 PM
To: NW Mailing List
Subject: Re: Marion, Va. Station

 

Ron,
    There must have been drawings of each individual station made at some
time or at least all of the standard designs. Do we have any idea what the
Engineering Dept. may have done with the drawings?

Jimmy Lisle

On 11/14/2014 11:19 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:

Jimmy, 

There are not many station drawings for all of the reasons you list and
more. 

One thing to understand is that most stations were constructed using a
number of standard designs. 

The station at Farmville, VA is notable in that it was the first of a family
of First Class stations all built to a standard design. The drawings for the
Farmville station were also used for a number of other stations such as
Luray and Charlestown, WV. 

There is also a set of drawings for Second Class stations that were built at
smaller towns. 

The same standard drawings would be used to show basic design and
construction methods to be used. Based on traffic at a given station, the
freight and passenger areas would be enlarged or reduced from the "standard"
size to match the demand. 

Archives link to first class stations 
http://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/selectdocs.php?index=s
<http://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/selectdocs.php?index=s&id=70> &id=70 

Archives link to second class stations 
http://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/selectdocs.php?index=s
<http://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/selectdocs.php?index=s&id=123> &id=123 

These were not the only standard designs used for stations on the N&W. 

So to answer your question, there is not a set of drawings for the Marion
station specifically as it was built from a set of standard drawings that
were used for many stations using that same design. 

Ron Davis 

 



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