# Freight Station



## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

I grew up in the 50's in a rural area. There were no interstate highways back then and long haul trucking had not arrived on the scene yet, so in many communities the freight station was a very important place. They supplied hardware, tools, clothing, machinery and just about everything we needed for every day life. They weren't money makers for the railroad, but a very important service for its customers. I chose to model the transition era as I have many memories of the railroad. 

This freight station was scratchbuilt because at the time I couldn't find anything that would fit into the space properly that I liked. I went into my wood supplies and put this together over 20 years ago. It does have a partially detailed interior and does have interior lighting.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Very nice work. I had just brought up 'Less than Carload' (LCL) freight stations
in another thread. A freight station like yours would receive all sorts of
freight for local businesses. It usually was only a few crates or boxes
not enough to fill the car, thus the LCL designation.
Then the car would attach to another train for the next town and
delivery of some other freight. Maybe some appliances or
furniture for a main street store, some
parts for a local auto dealer, a large machine for a factory or
new stock for a hardware store.

There was a lot of activity at these freight stations.

Don


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

We were very dependent of the freight station to bring goods in. Farming supplies were another commodity that were very important. For us, it really didn't matter because the majority of anything we got was by rail. This also brings up the Railway express Agency. There was no UPS or FedEx back then and REA would both deliver freight to the customers and also pick up outgoing freight. In some smaller communities the railroad would use small local trucking companies for these duties. I can well remember waiting for the "green" truck to show up.


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## Patrick1544 (Apr 27, 2013)

Looks really good Chet. Nice interior freight packages.


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## Burbs (Mar 28, 2014)

Incredible, very impressive.


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