They were often designed by engineers, but what they lacked in architectural distinction, they gained in homely practicality and in the opportunities they afforded to local carpenters to display their skills in beautifully carved barge boarding and valances. 
Even the tiniest of flag stations (where passengers stopped the train by raising a flag or changing a signal) could bear the marks of the expertise of some unsung local craftsman. 
Appropriately, such stations generally <tag "515647">derived</> their inspiration from vernacular pioneering house styles, in the `Swiss chalet", the `cottage orne&acute.", the `stick style", the `shingle lodge", or, particularly in the West, the frame store or the log cabin.   

