I have a VERY large, old book of plans of railroad construction. It says simply "Santa Fe STANDARD PLANS". I bought it while in college because it looked very interesting and was not cheap but seemed to be worth the money. I was perusing it this evening and I never realized what a treasure I have! It has blueprints of practically every section house, signal, turnout, turntable, roundhouse....you name it!!! Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else has these and what they are worth, how easy they are to come by etc. (to be clear, I will not be parting with this one any time soon) I would love to find something similar for one of the BN predecessor roads, like especially the Q.
Every railroad had a book of Standard Plans and they were revised as changes were made to the various plans. On my railroad (B&M) each division officer had a complete set while out in the field the Track Foremen, Signal maintainers and others might have only those plans that pertained to their field. Signal maintainers would have all the plans that pertained to signals but would not have those that pertained to bridges and buildings. I would have to guess that with the computer systems in place on the railroads today that much of the information would now be on computers instead of in books. You have a book that is probably quite rare today as those plans have been merged with those of other railroads that are now part of BNSF. Hang on to it.
I have the Northern Pacific standard plans book, and I agree it is a treasure trove of blueprints. One thing I noticed is that most of the prototypes are actually a little different that the plans. It seems that the railroads used "modelers license" to modify things like window placements, and sizes of the structures to better suit their needs. So... what project do you want to do first? A kit of several assorted outbuildings all laser cut per chance?
One of these days, I need to scrape up the funds to get a copy of that NP version. I've seen it's contents. indeed these are a treasure. I almost had an original about ten years ago. But just as I reached for it, a friend beat me to the grab. Rats! Boxcab E50
I got mine from the guy who runs Railway Express Minitures. (I can't remember his name, but he is a real friendly guy) A few years ago he had posted in a Yahoo group that he had the originals and was going to have some copies made, and was not selling them for profit, but to help some friends. He said there were a couple left unspoken for, so I snapped one up. A real prize to be sure, it was about $35 and printed on 11 x 17 paper, and about 1 inch thick.
I have the three-volume set of reprints of Santa Fe Standard Plans published by Kachina Press in 1978. I believe they were $15 or $20 a volume when published and they appreciated in value since then. I used a standard section house plan as a basis for a row of three houses for a club layout, built a variation on a standard station, used the standards book for placing lineside tracks and railroad crossing protection. Lettering and signage. Several others models I have built from book, can't remember which.
Fast forward 13 years (almost to the day!) and I'm now looking to sell this book. I love it, but I simply don't have space for a large book collection anymore. Anyone know what the value is for one in average condition?
I also have the 3 volume set for the Santa Fe. I would not sell them for any price. I have built cattle crossings, Bridges, section houses and several other projects. If I had time I would build every thing in the book. I have also collected bits and pieces of MKT, UP, Norfolk and Western and SP system standards. On the Yahoo user group there are a bunch of Up standards. All are worth their weight in gold.
