Missouri Pacific Brownsville Depot Collection
Missouri Pacific Brownsville Depot Plans - Site plot
Identifier
Brownsville MP Depot Series 4 Site Plot Revision A 06-20-15
Files
Download Brownsville MP Depot Series 4 Site Plot Revision A 06-20-15.bmp (26.4 MB)
Creation Date
6-20-2015
Description
Computer drawing. Note: Originally, a double slip switch existed at this end of the wye. At some point, the associated legs of the wye were adjusted so that two normal switches could be installed in place of the "puzzle switch" . It may have been at that time when spring switches were installed. Logically, arriving and departing passenger trains always headed right, or counterclockwise, around the wye tracks, and never had to line a switch. The double slip was probably installed to save space, as the architect was most likely told that the wye could not be altered. Therefore, in order to fit a seven-car train in the depot, it required the slightly unusual feature, for a stub terminal anyway, of one track extending all the way to the front of the depot. This also meant not much landscaping or parking could be situated between the depot and Levee Street.
Note: All tracks have a name. Most wye tracks have something like a "North Leg" and a " South Leg", with the other going by the name of "Mainline", or if in a yard , whatever the number or name of that track is. This may have been one of the few wyes in the country that had three "leg" names. The line coming into the depot from the yard was south by timetable. Therefore, heading right would be the "West Leg". Heading left would be the "East Leg". The other leg would certainly not have been called "Mainline". Perhaps it was called the "South Leg", or maybe the "River Leg", or the "Depot Leg". If the "East Leg" was in fact called the "Mainline", then the "West Leg" would actually be the "North Leg", and the "Depot Leg" would be the " South Leg". It will probably never be known , but it is certainly food for thought.
Note: No definitive information has been forthcoming on the Valley Sanitary Milk Company, but its proximity to the head end of passenger trains parked in the station or to cars parked on the REA express track certainly hints that milk, at least in the early years, was transported on StLB&M passenger trains. Valley Sanitary Milk may have been part of, or purchased by, the Hygeia Dairy Company, which was established in 1927 (coincidentally, the same year the Brownsville Mission Revival depot was built) with the purchase of a small dairy operation in McAllen. According to the website corporation wiki, Valley Sanitary Milk was founded in 1928, but is no longer active.
The scale is 6 pixels to the foot (not the same as most of the other plans). When measuring on a printout, measure from the center of one 3-pixel width line to the center of another such line. If the line is 1 pixel in width, that is the center of the line. When using the selecting tool in Microsoft Paint to measure with, start on the center of the line, and drag the sliding rectangle until it is on the pixel next to, not on, the center of the second line.
Note: The baggage wing is correctly drawn as being slightly off center longitudinally from the main part of the building. This was confirmed by measurements taken from an almost identical station still existing in Kingsville. Bay City and Alice (on the Texas-Mexican Railway , now KCS) also have similar depots remaining, whose design can be thought of as the "Standard StLB&M Station". This design was also built at Sarita, Mercedes, and probably other towns along the StLB&M.
Note: The original station actually survived the demolition of the second station. While the second station was in use, the original station probably served as the building that housed equipment and materials used in cleaning and servicing the passenger cars as the several tracks surrounding the platform tracks were used as a coach yard. It may have also housed various railroad offices.
Physical Description
.BMP, 26.3 MB
Recommended Citation
Missouri Pacific Brownsville Depot Collection, UTRGV Digital Library, The University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley. Accessed via https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/mopacbrownsville