gws57

Those resources sound amazing! Now I have something else to research when I end up in Washington!

I don't know if this will help at all with answering the question "What goes on the west wall of the train shed" but this photo shot from the outside looking in shows that there might not have been much between the outside and the inside along that wall. That locomotive is sitting on a track outside the station, but there's no wall or anything behind it. (c/o "Jerry's Railroad Photo Album") at http://www.jerryapp.com/arcv_r1.html.

I am trying to (more or less) do the same thing with the Wikipedia article. I have no idea why I'm obsessing over this building as much as I am, but I'm glad I'm not alone. It really is Chicago's lost and forgotten jewel. Speaking of which, there's a neat (if not particularly helpful) high-res photo of the tower on page 48 of "Lost Chicago" by David Garrard Lowe. Re: Trains article ... I found a citation for it, dated September 1969 by George W. Hilton entitled "What's So Grand About Grand Central?" So hopefully the library people are able to come up with something. When I've done this in the past, someone somewhere scans the article and send me a .PDF copy. I asked them to use high resolution, in case there are good photos. We'll see what they are able to come up with. Additionally, I've scoured the internets looking for photos and articles and basically any kind of blurbs I could about that station. I'm sure you've done the same, but if you'd like them I could .ZIP up everything I've got and pass it all along.

Ardecila, you found the photo! That's the exact one I was talking about. I am trying to see if I can interlibrary loan that November 1969 article from my university library, as it will help me flesh out the wikipedia article on the station. I will forward it along to you if it's worth anything. Could be a few weeks, if it comes at all. The night render looks amazing. Keep up the great work!

Hey ardecila, you've done an outstanding job bringing to life a piece of Chicago's railroad history that has long languished in obscurity, and quite unfortunately as we're all beginning to see from your fine work. I can't wait to build an entire city around this one station. My only suggestion is that in my color photo, the "B&O" sign is as bright blue as the neon. However, this looks amazing as it is. I love the shadows cast by all the towers and the by the billboard. This is simply incredible. The night renders are as impressive as those in the day. Keep up the outstanding work -- any ideas what your next project will be?

I found it on page 68 of "Trains Magazine" July 2003, the neon is, indeed, about that shade of blue, the same color as the "B&O" sign afixed to the clock tower. Really, really a stunning job. I don't know how you're doing this but keep it up, it's really amazing.

Oh my goodness, that is amazing work. My comment would be to ditto the earlier comment, include one with the B&O signage (perhaps include the light-up "Capitol Limited" sign on the front with the beautiful blue neon 'Baltimore and Ohio'), and then one as-is, just like this. The nighttime rendering is going to look flippin' sweet.