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Upland Trains Building Review
Sep 2, 2009
By Noel Widdifield |
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Bio
The building arrived packed securely in a cardboard box with two Styrofoam packing supports holding the building firmly in place. When the building was removed from the packing, it reinforced the positive first impression of the building from the show.
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At a recent Large Scale Train show, the Upland Trains booth had a new Large Scale building on display. Since there were not many new things being shown at the show, the building attracted a lot of attention. The owner of Upland Trains, John Poole, asked LSOL.com if we would be interested in doing a product review of the building. When we said that we would, he offered to send one for a review. The building arrived packed securely in a cardboard box with two Styrofoam packing supports holding the building firmly in place. When the building was removed from the packing it reinforced the positive first impression of the building from the Big Train Show. 
John Poole started Upland Trains in 1992 and he has been a Large Scale train hobbyist since he bought his first LGB train set in 1985. He has been into trains his whole life and he has a Large Scale railroad in his backyard today. This building came about because John wanted to make a reasonably priced structure that would fit on most Large Scale layouts. The building has the potential to be used in several places on a railroad and with some slight modification/bashing multiple ones could be used on the same railroad.
The model used as the pattern for the molding of the building was scratchbuilt by a master hobby craftsman in California. The building is made of polyurethane and cast by a company in China. The mold for the building was also made in China. The prototype for the building was just the idea of a building that could be used on a railroad as a store, post office, sheriff's office or any small building built in the early 20th century.
The store measures a little over 9 inches wide, 11 inches deep and 9 1/2 inches high. The building scales out at 1/24 with the scale dimensions of 18 feet wide, 22 feet 8 inches deep and 19 feet high. The front door measures 7 scale feet high and the side door measures 6 feet 10 inches high. It is a well-proportioned building.
There is a 1/8 -inch clear Plexiglas bottom plate that is spray painted flat black and fastened to the bottom of the building with six 5/8-inch screws. The bottom is easily removed to allow constructing a wooden floor and porch area on the front of the building.
When opening the building, you see that it is molded in heavy polyurethane and the windows and doors are glued in place inside. The interior is not pretty but you cannot see that easily through the windows.
The front of the building is painted a white color with blue windows and doors. The sides and back are painted grey with white windows and doors. A second version has white siding with blue windows and doors in the front and white windows and doors on the sides and back. The sides and back are board and batten and the front is clapboard siding.
The two sides are slightly bowed, but it would not be uncommon for a real building like this to have this bowing as well.
The roof is painted a copper color and has a very nice corrugated metal look and finish. The painting is not perfect but certainly acceptable for outdoor use. The siding is nicely done with the wood grain cast in.
The windows are a heavy hazy plastic and this is glued into the window frames so that the windows appear pretty realistic and it would be easy to see inside the building if it were lighted on the inside.
Placing several different size figures next to the building allows you to judge the scale of the building pretty well. I placed scale 1/22.5, 1/29, and 1/24 figures by the front door. I also placed a 1/24-scale car in front of the building. As you can tell, the building is pretty close to 1/24.
This building is a very nice model that would make a great addition to any outdoor railroad. At the price of this one, several could be added to a railroad and by making slight modifications to each building, they could be used in different places and would appear to be unique. At the Big Train Show, Upland Trains had a bashed version illustrating what could be done with the building. It looks like Upland Trains has a hit with the building. It will be fun to see what they introduce as the next building.
Price at the Big Train Show 2009 was $40.00
Contact Upland Trains for latest pricing.
Upland Trains
1808 #E West Foothill Blvd.
Upland, CA 91786
Tues through Fri~11am-5pm, Sat~11am-4pm.
Call: 909 985-1246 - Fax: 909 985-6576
| Upland trains building |
| I've long admired Upland's buildings. I'll probably not buy one, though, because they're too big for us 1:32 modellers. John might take a lesson from Colorado Models, and make 1:32 scale doors to put in the buildings. Windows can be any size (as can freight doors) but exterior people doors are nearly alway pretty close to seven feet high by three feet wide. |
| Dick Friedman - 09/02/2009 - 10:44 |
| building review |
| I agree Dick. I've had to make all my own 1:32 buildings |
| Roy Towne - 09/02/2009 - 12:21 |
| Upland Trains Building |
| Noel. Thanks for the review. Nice building and the price is right. I have several buildings made of the same material and they hold up well outside. Several of these will make a nice addition to the CD&StL. |
| JD Miller - 09/04/2009 - 10:38 |
| Upland Trains' Building |
| JD, Thanks. I notice that the price has gone up since the BTS. They are advertised for $49.95 in GR this month. Noel |
| Noel Widdifield - 09/04/2009 - 11:04 |
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