Railroad architecture isn’t only stones and cement, iron and steel, vertical elevations and so on. It’s also the spirit, or as we may say, the ‘atmosphere’ of the place. And equally, it’s the culture of the lives that have used it.
If therefore you wanted to know more about major railroad stations with a long history, you could do worse than listen to the opening clip from a radio program called Grand Central Station. The program was sponsored by the Pillsbury Flour company and it aired until 1954. Every week, the listener was drawn into a world where the railroad and the station building intersected with human life.
Kansas City Southern rail bridge over the Ouachita River, Monroe (Tri-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, green filter)
Formerly Fort Miro and now the seat of Ouachita Parish, Monroe is the “big city” of north central Louisiana. The family and I used to attend theater productions at the Monroe Civic Center and have flown out of MLU airport, but otherwise have not spent much time there.
A Virginia friend asked about someplace to explore, and I suggested Monroe. We drove there on a sunny warm day and headed to the Ouachita River at the historic city core.
Quincy, Pennsylvania Station today (James Fouchard Photo)
Often close scrutiny of an old building can provide a researcher with clues to its past, like an archeologist sifting through the ruins of an ancient locale. My previous article in “The Trackside Photographer” (http://thetracksidephotographer.com/2019/09/05/station-on-the-move/) detailed my history with the small Cumberland Valley Railroad station that served Quincy, Pennsylvania, and what I knew of its past to date. I have continued this research into its history, particularly to uncover clues as to when it was originally built.
In examining the building over the years, both inside and out, I recognized that it was built in the Victorian “Stick Style” of architecture; but using the centuries-old timber frame style of construction, rather than the more modern (for the 19th century) “balloon” stud-frame method. This method of construction of the station used large 4” x 4” vertical corner posts with interconnecting horizontal beams (lintels) to form a box-frame structural skeleton of the building, including creating the openings for doors and windows. This frame is a visible feature of the exterior of the structure, with stud framing clad with horizontal boards inside and out creating wall panels added in-between the posts and beams. As with the earlier English Elizabethan half-timbered construction the Victorian style emulated, 2” x 3” visible diagonal wood framing elements helped reinforce the joints of the structure as well as providing a decorative feature.
