Another Project Begins

I have been thinking about building a model of the Union Pacific Depot, in Salt Lake City, UT, for some time now.  It is an old brick and stone station building, which is now part of a nice outdoor mall called The Gateway.  The station was used as such until the late 1990's, by Amtrak.  During that time, the city officials wanted to consolidate the various railroad lines in town and develop some of the neighborhoods they occupied.  At one time, Salt Lake City was home to the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, and Denver & Rio Grand Western, among other short lines.  Since these railroads were competing with each other, they all had their own yard and station facilities, as well as their own rights of way.  Downtown Salt Lake City was covered in railroad tracks.  By the late 1990's, all those different railroad lines were owned by the Union Pacific, which meant consolidation was a realistic possibility.  As the rail lines were consolidated, the right of way was moved several blocks away from the Union Pacific Depot, and an "Amshack" was built to accommodate the Amtrak trains that serve the city.

Union Pacific Station, seen from the EnergySoluntions Arena.
Photo by James Ogden

Originally the station was built by the Oregon Short Line and the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad.  It was completed in 1909.  Both railroad lines eventually were acquired by the Union Pacific Railroad, and with that, they also received the station in Salt Lake City.  The building itself is a large, French Renaissance style building.  It is constructed of brick and stone, with a copper roof.  The copper roof was installed in 1978 to replace a badly leaking slate roof.  On the top of the building, above the front entrances, there is a large, neon, Union Pacific sign, complete with the shield logo of the railroad.  The track were once located behind the building.  Today, though not used as a station anymore, the neon sign is lit every night, and the building remains a landmark in Salt Lake City.

The front entrance of the station.
Photo by James Ogden

My plan is to model this building in HO scale.  I will model it with the tracks out back, as it would have been found when in use as a station.  I am also going to model the copper roof, even though that was not added until 1978.  I do plan to model a basic interior.  I would like to have an accurate representation of the main concourse.  The whole station will be lighted, and there will be people inside.  Of course, it will get the landmark neon Union Pacific sign on the roof too.  Actually, the whole project came about because of that sign.  I had been wanting to model this for some time now, but I found a model of that very sign at a train show recently, and I bought it.  I guess that was the first piece of the project.