Staircases for Elevated Subways

I tried to bash a stairway for my El station, but it did not work. Taking another tact, I pretend there is an underground people mover connecting a ground level train station to the El.  The kiosk covers the fantasy underground way to the El. Good luck finding a stairway that works.

The Plasticville #45974 kit works very well.  There was one for sale on this forum late last year.  Maybe the seller still has it.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...ew-most-still-sealed

@Craftech posted:

I saw ideas for cutting pedestrian walkways in half, but no one is making pedestrian walkways anymore and used ones are a fortune.

That was my technique and I was lucky to buy the last 3 plasticville pedestrian walkways at my local hobby shop a number of years ago.   Scratch building looks like the only option now that no one is making cheap walkways any longer.

If someone has a perfect intact example, it should be easy (he says not knowing what he's talking about, actually) to make them using a 3D printer, and make a fortune, since they are so rare. I'll take a few.

Stairway or escalator?

I 3D print the stairs or escalator steps and then laser cut the sides to fit on each side of the stairs or escalator steps.

You might want to check out local hobby shops when you travel. You’d be surprised at how much old/new stock is on the shelves.

Alan!!!  You sure do some nice work!!!

These were 3D printed by Alan... I would PM him your needs ...extraordinarily reasonable.

@Bob posted:

The Plasticville #45974 kit works very well.  There was one for sale on this forum late last year.  Maybe the seller still has it.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...ew-most-still-sealed

It was sold when I checked back then.

Thanks,

John

@Arthur P. Bloom posted:

If someone has a perfect intact example, it should be easy (he says not knowing what he's talking about, actually) to make them using a 3D printer, and make a fortune, since they are so rare. I'll take a few.

So would a lot of us.  When I posted in the Lionel wish list thread "Pedestrian Walkways" no one commented, but I know a lot of people want them.

John

Assembled Plasticville pedestrian bridge. Parts could be bashed into stairs to an elevated station.  John

I couldn't find them either and made mine out of Bass wood..

John, I recently kit bashed a Bachman Plasticville pedestrian bridge so the little people can access the upper level and not worry about getting run over.

Three of these currently available on Ebay. No railings, only stair treads, but it's a start:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/STAIR...349624.m46890.l49286

Thanks for the tips guys.  That one you posted looks promising Joe.  I'll check it out.

John

@AlanRail posted:

Stairway or escalator?

I 3D print the stairs or escalator steps and then laser cut the sides to fit on each side of the stairs or escalator steps.

@Dennis-LaRock posted:

Alan!!!  You sure do some nice work!!!

These were 3D printed by Alan... I would PM him your needs ...extraordinarily reasonable.

Wow, simply said.  Wow again.  Great work Alan

I never thought about escalators before, whether it be for an elevated station or otherwise.  Something for me to definitely look into in the future.

If you want Stairs or escalators or both for me to make those for you I would need the stair widths and floor to floor dimensions in inches.

Also if you want railings too I would need a sketch showing the location of the rail supports. Additionally, if you have a design for the rail supports instead of a simple  vertical post I would need a drawing or clear photo.

I don't charge to Forumites!

@AlanRail posted:

I don't charge to Forumites!

Did I mention... extraordinarily reasonable?

And stair width that's all I need for a simple stair; Landing is optional.

@AlanRail posted:

And stair width that's all I need for a simple stair; Landing is optional.

It definitely needs a landing (real ones have a support column under them).

The distance

The distance from the sidewalk to the top of the platform I think is around 33 feet (someone please correct me if that is wrong) which works out to around 8.25 scale inches.  The minimum width of the staircases is 5 feet to allow people to pass each other (again someone please verify).

The roof on these I am not sure about, but they look like this:

Some landings are offset like these, but many if not most are not.  This one has another set of stairs inside the station to go up to the platform.  Some go right up to the platform.  But I think the total 33 feet is the same.

Maybe master elevated subway craftsman Joseph Frank can correct me.  (Hint)

John

Plastruct makes some staircases and handrails in O scale that might make a good starting point.

Plastruct's items have specific dimensions that may work for you. Most times I find making my own items works better dimensionally, especially for custom models. This is because Plastruct items limit you to THEIR dimensions. Not that great things can't be built using their parts.

What is the overall length of the station that you are building? You don't want sets of stairs that make the station too long for your space.  Looking from the top, a bird's eye view, what is the dimensions of the station?

Based on the 8 1/4" height ONE-SIDE of the stair looks like:

So see below. The length of the one side without a top landing width is 8.11"  This is with an short 1.20" landing.

overall dimension with a 3" top landing is !8.54"

Is that what you are looking for?

here is a 3D view; width of stair is 1-1/4" or 5 feet scale.

Stair with canopy

stair canopy supported

added handrails

@AlanRail posted:

added handrails

That looks absolutely fabulous Alan.

The one I put in the photo (Ditmars) is the end of the N and W line in Astoria, Queens so the station is perpendicular to the tracks at the end.  I am not making end of the line stations.

@AlanRail posted:

overall dimension with a 3" top landing is !8.54"

Is that what you are looking for?

Yes.  The platform length will be around 18" - 24".  I think.  Some of them just have a single staircase on each side of the street.

John

GO Alan!   Talk about the spirit of OGR!  The OGR 3D Contributors are simply AWESOME!

John its 18.54  not !8.54

S0 with a platform of 24" the stairs length is 18.5" +24 +18.5"= it's more than 5. feet

added side stringers

I cannot believe how great that looks.

The stairs go up to a platform which extends along the track usually along side the stairs in both directions.  In this case there is one staircase on each side of the street.  So 9" or so.  Some have ticket windows, some stations have a ticket booth or just a metro card machine, some stations go across over the tracks or under the tracks and span across the street.  Lots of possibilities.  I have four cars so for passengers to be theoretically able to board the platform will have to be longer than 24".

In the one earlier that I showed you (Ditmars last stop for N and W) there are two on each side of the station entrance facing each other as you illustrated.  The station stop just before it is Astoria Blvd.  Extremely busy intersection and the entrance is right at the corner of the cross traffic.  There is only one staircase on each side of the street.

On Rich Battista's Toy Trains on Tracks website there are photos of his subway layout.  Two photos show the staircase in the back left of the photo on the cross street.

http://www.toytrainsontracks.c...mediaCityScenes.html

John

Other alternatives. In these examples the staircases are made from Plastruct parts.

staircases are

Thanks Jim.  Some interesting alternatives you came up with.

John

john  you can do some interesting stuff with Plastruct. But you are stuck with THEIR sizes.

I can design and build a stair that is just slightly "off" to fit a particular space that would be impossible with Plastruct.

The problem is that before 3D printing and Laser cutting , I too was stuck with Kit-Bashing and using existing parts or slicing and dicing them up. I used to love my band saw and razor saws. There is this hobby building-mentality in using exiting parts; however that mindset limits your creativity.

I have no limits, other than the size of my build platform! And even then, for bigger builds I can split builds with tabs to fit together.

The design above was just a quick design with the limited dimensions you gave me and gleaning sizes from your photos. To do it right I would more dimensions or guess-timates.

Let me know by email.

@AlanRail posted:

Absolutely fabulous Alan.

Thanks,

John

My Grand Central stair project has been 'on hold' as I redo several pressing operational failures, but wow, that is some real spiffy work Alan.  Actually, everybody who contributed to this thread added ideas and value and now I am reconsidering all of my options - Thanks everybody.

John

The delay. This stairway must be split along the height to fit the printer as it will take 22hrs to print. So I need to get it right the first time.

I added a interior pipe within the front column to run wires to the marquee to light it so if you know what the station is called,  I can 2d lasercut & engrave a station name on a translucent cut acrylic to fit as a cover.

Also I added  roofing planking.

@AlanRail posted:

John

The delay. This stairway must be split along the height to fit the printer as it will take 22hrs to print. So I need to get it right the first time.

I added a interior pipe within the front column to run wires to the marquee to light it so if you know what the station is called,  I can 2d lasercut & engrave a station name on a translucent cut acrylic to fit as a cover.

Also I added  roofing planking.

It is probably better just to leave it blank so a variety can be used.  It is basically just a horizontal fluorescent tube with a half curved metal horizontal shade behind it to direct the light on the station sign.  Pretty straight forward.   Easily done with LED lights as well.

The roof planking looks great.  The whole thing looks great.  Amazing in fact.  I can't thank you enough.

John

here is the stair SPLIT to fit the printer; Note the top and bottom tabs and insert holes to aid in assembly. Once assembled they won't be visible.

I hope to have this printed next week.

I cannot thank you enough Alan

Regards,

John

It will take maybe 19 hours to print the bottom half; the hours shown as print time is usually not very accurate as yet. I'll start the Print Sunday morning. It will not be blue, as the color resin I am using is Gray.

@AlanRail posted:

It will take maybe 19 hours to print the bottom half; the hours shown as print time is usually not very accurate as yet. I'll start the Print Sunday morning. It will not be blue, as the color resin I am using is Gray.

Fantastic.  What are the gray parts?  The part that gets cut off?

I looked up your location.  You are near a few Menards.  I have a Rebate coming from them for around $26.  There are none anywhere near NY.  Would you like the rebate card when I get it?

John

John

really not necessary, but thanks. I do this 3D printing and laser cutting for OGR members as a way of giving back for all I get from the OGR forum.

I rarely get to that store, I'm a Home Depot guy.

Alan

The whole thing is printed in gray; the gray shown is the support structure that is removed.

You are seeing it right side up but the print is printed upside-down

John I think we discussed this before; the width of the stair is 1.25" which in scale is 5 feet or 60"

@AlanRail posted:

John I think we discussed this before; the width of the stair is 1.25" which in scale is 5 feet or 60"

That sounds right.  Only two people can pass by each other on those subway staircases.

John

Printed the stair for John; then make some changes;

added railing posts and drainage

not sure of I will print this one.

Beautiful work, Alan. You are a great asset to this community.

Artie

@AlanRail posted:

Printed the stair for John; then make some changes;

added railing posts and drainage

not sure of I will print this one.

Master class work Alan.  Although I haven't painted mine yet literally everyone I have shown it to, their jaws dropped.  Even the case evoked applause.

John

Alan,

Absolutely fabulous job and appreciate your gracious contributions to this group.

OOC what is the approximate cost of the filament materials you use? Do you need to change rolls during the entire printing process? (I am ignorant of the 3D printing process.)

no rolls used; this is done on a Low Force Stereolithography (LFS) with a LPU resin tank printer. The tank fills  with resin automatically when it's too low.

Alan thank you for sharing your skills with us, through your posts and through your generous printing work for members.  You produce magnificent work.