A major player in the important daily operations of most railroads was the company owned freight depot.  Many times they were integrated with the passenger depot and in many medium to large cities a larger solution was needed to serve the community.

The Building

The example I bring to you resided in the city of Dubuque Iowa.  The building has been built in portions spanning many years, originally in 1874 by the Chicago Dubuque and Minnesota (CD&M) Railroad.   In 1881 the Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul ( CM&StP or Milwaukee Road) acquired the CD&M and this building.  Sometime prior to 1896 the CM&StP razed a depot that was attached to the freight depot and then doubled the length of the single story portion of the building.  The two story head house was the home to the freightmaster and dispatchers offices.

Design

The simple design of the freight depot is simply classified as 19th century functional.  It was not built to look pretty but to serve a utilitarian purpose of transferring freight.  It was clad in a basic red brick with simple windows and vertical plank sliding freight doors.  From when the CM&StP added on to, it remained mostly unchanged from when these photos were taken.

Modeling

Fortunately, elevations were made of this building that would serve as a great asset to the modeler.  With a foot print of 57′10″x 316′5″, you are looking at a building in N scale measuring just shy of two feet long.  However this would make a great background building behind a yard and against the sky board.  You could also remove a good portion of the single story building and leave the two story head house as is.  It has great potential.

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