Daleville Depot 1950s Daleville is just a few miles to the East of Anderson in the double-track NYC (Big Four) line. It was gone by the time I was driving 32 to Muncie for my employment at Ball State University from 1992 to 2001.
Interesting architecture. What was the purpose of the raised roof section at the near end of the building? Or is that a defect in the photo?
I'm not sure either, but perhaps its purpose was to reduce the chance of ice and snow sliding off the roof onto parked cars and waiting passengers below, though it might have also served as a gutter too. I'm glad that so many of us enjoy Roger's posts. Great stuff!
This is a normal B-4 depot . I will not say all but many had this style . Some were smaller . I just looked back through Roger's earlier photos and can't find one . Anyway it was not unusual because some had a big pipe just outside of the bay window and the jutted out . The levers to operate the signals came up and out through this raised portion to the pole ,up the pole to operate the signal. Later on the pole was anchored to the ground and the cables came out just below the top wall line . LEW
Hank, are you asking about the roof being taller where the chimney is or those raised ridges around the bottom edge of the roof?
Yup. What Hardcoaler and Boxcab E50 said. It's built that way for that structure, but if you have gutters on your house, inadvertent ice dams can build up in the winter, and then water can go where it shouldn't as the snow melts.
That's what I thought you meant, Hank. I was thinking maybe there was a different roofing material going toward the other end and it was lighter and appeared to not be there in the photo (still a possibility, I guess) but I ended up thinking that part of the roof really IS taller than the rest. Doug
It looks like that section of roof is over the passenger end of the depot so maybe raised to contain some additional equipment. Would sure be cool to see an inside photo or blueprints of this style depot.
Fascinating. Wonder if it may have been to keep the waiting area cooler in the summer, since heat rises with the windows open?????
Or to keep it warmer in winter, as the rising heat wouldn't migrate down to the freight end? But I also notice these depots have eaves over both sides of the waiting room, but only over one side of the freight house. A lower peak makes a narrower roof. They didn't want tall wagons and trucks backing up to the door and smacking the rafters?