Are the Lionel buildings too large?

You're doing an apples to oranges comparison.  The Lionel depot is a (sorta) suburban depot while the country store is a rustic backwoodsey type of structure.  Plus the Lionel depot wasn't aimed at the scale market.

I just measured my Walthers Golden Valley depot and the walls measure 3-1/4" from the top of the base to the underside of the roof at the lowest point.  Overall height of the Walthers depot is 5-3/8" from the bottom of the base to the top of the roofline. 

So, the Lionel depot may be a tad tall, but not overly so. 

Rusty

On the depot you can't actually measure the whole wall, looking at the doors, the floor inside (imagining there is one) is obviously raised. A more accurate measurement would be from the bottom of the door up.

Thanks, Rusty. I was thinking it was more visual because the measurements seem what they should be for the type of structure.

The backwoods country store looks pretty small next to a loco. My GP38-2 is 59' long, but I don't know the height. It should be 20 something feet, right? About 1 1/2 to 2 story building?

Yes, roof off, inside floor to the top of the is 3 1/4"~ 13 '. So, with a lip molded for the roof to sit on, then 3" or 12' sounds about right.

I guess the platform creates a visual difference.

So, the answer is, the Lionel buildings are close enough for a non-exact scale use.

I almost always lower Lionel accessories by embedding the huge bases in pink foam or foamcore.  Here is a half-finished example:

These sound pretty close to scale to me.  Most commercial buildings particularly stations and stores have nine to ten foot ceilings - 2.5 inches - if not twelve (3.0 inches) then add a foot of height for the ceiling structure and you're there. When I build scratch buildings I never do less than 2.5 inches and usually 2.75 to 3 minimum.  

I do think it's all in the base. the scratch scale wall materials I get are usually 3 - 3 1/2" high and it depends on what kind of building it is. within reason, (i.e. don't build a cabin that is as large as a factory) I find the walls and overall building size have a fair amount of leeway. to me, it is the doors and windows (and scale of brick or wood siding) that cues the viewer that things are in scale. in the case of that Lionel station, the base looks way out of scale from here, so you might consider removing it and replacing it with a scale base or imbed them as pete has done, which looks great. 

jerrman

Well, the base is ~1" or 4'. That sounds about right to reach a boxcar door.

But it doesn't look right. I agree. It is probably better to have a separate loading platform for freight and ground level for passengers.

I am going for the Talkeetna. AK station look with the 133.

Vulcan is spot on about measuring the door.  Whenever I'm buying a used kit from 'fleabay' or the likes, I always ask what the door height measurements are.  

D.A.