NEB&W Guide to Cohoes, NY - Depot & South

Last Update: 2008-12-15

Cohoes Table of Contents
Layout Photo Gallery Table of Contents

The Depot

  • There was a little park on the street side of the depot. Across from it were a bunch of buildings we need to model.

  • Two of the five major churches show in this c. WWI postcard. Looking southwest, there was St. John's right next to the track (church and rectory) and the Baptist Church on the next block.

  • The wild dome and roof on the Baptist Church has since been simplified.

  • Just down from the Baptist Church was another building, at the point where Canvass runs into Mohawk. (I don't think we have room to model this and besides, it would be hidden by St. John's.)
    • [Photo of the rear on Canvass, c. 1980's.]
    • [Photo further back, with houses on Mohawk Street visible.]
    • [Photo of the side looking north.]

    New Freight House

    Peck's Coal

    Mohawk Street Houses

    • Mohawk Street to the south of the depot area crossed the tracks at a very shallow angle. There was a line of houses along the west side of the street. The track in the foreground, I believe, is the trolley track. (There were a lot of houses and we only have room to model a few.)

    • We gathered some house models and set them in our Cohoes scene to suggest these houses as sort of well detailed mockups. (We do plan to eventually model the specific buildings, as close as we can, so don't judge the scene by these stand-ins.)

    • The frame house at 206 Mohawk. According to my calculations, the Sanborn map indicates this is about 15 feet wide and 28 feet deep. (But in checking this dimension against other ones, it seems the Sanborn is wrong for once. The width is more like 18 or 19 feet wide. Also, the map shows the front flush with the front of 204 Mohawk, but all the photos show it set back about 10 or more feet.)
      • [Photo, c. 1919, Val. photo photocopy. The fact these houses were part of the valuation process indicates the D&H owned them c. WWI, as also indicated on the Valuation map, above. Note the addition of the fence since 1914, and one of the side windows looks like it has been converted to a door. And some of the side windows are extremely narrow.]
      • [Photo, c. 2005 of the front.]
      • [Photo, c. 2005 of 206 and 204.]
      • [Photo, c. 2005 of 206, 204, and 200.]
      • [Photo, c. 2005 of the side.]
      • [Photo, c. 2005. Close-up of the back porch.]
      • [Photo, c. 2005 of the rear.]
      • [Model photo, Jan. '05, with a mockup of this house.]

    • The brick house at 204 Mohawk. According to my calculations, the Sanborn map indicates this is about 22 feet wide. This house is strange as the door is on the left side, but the stairs are on the right.

    • No. 200 Mohawk Street was not a valid address. The house numbers went from 204 to 200.

    • The frame house at 200 Mohawk. According to my calculations, the Sanborn map indicates this is about 19 feet wide.

    • The two story brick house at 198 Mohawk. According to my calculations, the Sanborn map indicates this is about 20 feet wide. As of 2005, this had been torn down. (It is interesting that most of these houses are frame, but this brick building is the one that goes.)
      • [Photo, c. 1919, 198 Mohawk St, Val. photo photocopy.]
      • [Photo, c. 1919, rear of 198 Mohawk St, Val. photo photocopy. (Don't know why they felt it necessary to take a photo of the rear of this building, but not the others in this row.)]
      The house was still standing c. 1970's, at which time it had gained a front porch.

    • The frame house at 196 Mohawk. According to my calculations, the Sanborn map indicates this is about 20 feet wide.

    • The frame house at 194 Mohawk. According to my calculations, the Sanborn map indicates this is about 20 feet wide and 42 feet deep.

    • The three story brick house at 192 Mohawk. According to my calculations, the Sanborn map indicates this is about 22 feet wide and 60 feet deep. It is being kitbashed, starting with a side wall of the Walthers Crown Paint & Hardware kit (no. 3032) donated by Kevin Endriss. The bathroom windows were opened up to make full height windows, and the roofline altered.

    • The gate tower at Mohawk Street.
      • [Valuation photo looking north. Note the trolley track.]
      • [D&H photo. I believe this is the same site, only looking south. By the time of this photo, the trolley tracks had been taken out and the short fence used to narrow the width of the crossing.]
      • [Looking south, 2005.]

    Columbia Street

    • Columbia Street ran into Mohawk right at the grade crossing.

    • There was a concrete retaining wall just south of Mohawk Street.
      • [Valuation photo c. 1919, looking north.]
      • [Photo c. 2005, looking north.]
      • [Photo c. 2005, looking north.]
      • [Photo c. 2005, looking south.]
      • [Photo c. 2005, looking south from Mohawk.]

    On The Layout

    • Our model is just up to the mock-up stage. A number of the mockups have been covered with a picture of the intended prototype. A couple of Walthers freight house kits are being kitbashed as a stand-in model for the 1914 building. A Walthers waterfront building is being used as a typical large Cohoes mill to cover the hole through the backdrop on the far right, even though Star Woolen Mills didn't have anything this high.