Terrible -- II

In order to put the East Terrible Mill into more regular operation, I've been working toward ballasting the track and straightening the alignment. The track in this area is Shinohara HO-HOn3 dual gauge code 70. I've found that rail sizes under code 100 aren't necessarily the best match for cork roadbed -- the softness of the cork, combined with the lower rigidity of the track, can result in dips or tilts, where one rail gets lower than the other, and derailments can result. As a result, I've learned to shim carefully and check levels in connection with ballasting, and once glued in place, the ballast serves a prototype function in keeping the track aligned.

Here I've added a Kadee 308 under-the-track uncoupling magnet to the spur:

When I originally laid the dual-gauge track, I decided not to make any provision for magnetic uncoupling, since the HO and HOn3 couplers would be on different centers, and magnets would work only with the one gauge and not the other, depending on how they were positioned. More recently I've come to realize that most of the actual switching and operating I do is on standard gauge, so I decided to go ahead and install magnets on certain spurs aligned for standard gauge operation.

Here is a wider view of the East Terrible area as it stood a week or so ago:

Ballast and ground cover work are under way.

Terrible -- I

In my first post on Jaques, I mentioned that the East Terrible Mill was operationally linked to Jaques. My ideas on this area have slowly developed in the time I've worked on this layout. Here is the location at Terrible just after track was completed about 1995:

Since the station is on the dual-gauge section of the main line, the cars in this photo are SP narrow gauge. Several years later, I added some Paper Creek building kits, based on structures in the ghost town of Randsburg, CA:

Much more recently, I began a more comprehensive effort to upgrade the scenery:

The small building on the left in the photo above is a gas station I built from a small shack in one of the old Kibri Wild West sets:

I'll talk more about current work in this area in subsequent posts.

Jaques -- II

The photo in my last post showed a dual gauge line running through Jaques. I like all kinds of narrow gauge, and my prototype interests aren't limited to the US, which I expect to cover here as well. Not long ago, I discovered the late Jim Terrell's films of Mexican narrow gauge (DVD available here). This inspired me to photograph an Athearn National of Mexico GP38-2 on the dual gauge:

Mexico had dual gauge operations into the 1980s.

Jaques -- I

To the left of the Sunkist lead, the main line runs through the railroad location of Jaques, named for model railroader and nature painter Francis Lee Jaques. Jaques was also responsible for many of the nature dioramas in the American Museum of Natural History. He built a pioneering model railroad, the Great North Road, which was featured in the May 1962 Model Railroader. This layout has been reassembled and restored in a special building in the Minnesota Mining Museum in Chisolm, MN.

Here is the current state of the railroad location Jaques on my layout.

In the far left distance is the East Terrible Mill, which is operationally and conceptually related to Jaques. I'll be recording the progress I want to make in this area in the next several posts.

Merchandise Service Boxcars

In response to John R's post on his blog regarding NYC and PRR LCL cars, here are a couple I've done over the years. First, a Train Miniature X29, detailed following an article in the old 1970s Prototype Modeler magazine, with Champ decals in MS2 paint:

A more recent Accurail car, painted in a special edition from Third Rail Graphics. I fiddled with the side sill a little to make it look more like the modernized X29 prototype. This is MS3 paint:

I have an Athearn metal Pacemaker boxcar that I got at a swap and disassembled intending to restore it, but haven't finished the project. Maybe I need to look this over again!

The Sunkist Lead -- III

Here is where the Sunkist Lead takes off from the main:

This was originaly meant to end at this industry, a Thomas Yorke kit that I was using as the office for an oil dealer.

To the right of the Yorke kit I originally had some Grandt Line vertical oil tanks, but these suffered because any high feature at the edge of a layout is going to get knocked over. So the oil tanks have been removed, and meanwhile the oil siding was extended into a lead.

I used scrap baseboard from earlier projects to extend things:

Here's what the joint looks like now:

I'l report on further progress on this lead periodically.

The Sunkist Lead -- II

Here's a set of photos covering about 80% of the Sunkist Lead, starting at the Sunkist packing house at the far end. Keep in mind that these are in-progress shots. This is a Showcase Miniatures kit on a narrow shelf:

To its left is a feed dealer inspired by a poultry feed warehouse I found in Petaluma, CA.

Here's a shot of the prototype:

Typical of central and southern California scenery, this is working toward being an oil pump in the middle of a vineyard. The oil pump is from SS Ltd. I'm not satisfied with the commercial vineyard products I've seen and am still up in the air on how to finish this area.

A little farther to the left:

A set of culverts, partly inspired by the Sunset Railway shot in the previous post. The upper track is the main line.

Operationally, the piece of track where the pickup is located will be a team track area.

The Sunkist Lead -- I

My layout is divided into different prototype areas, broadly representing California, Colorado, and various places on the East Coast-Midwest. The most recent addition is the Sunkist Lead, which I sort of tacked onto the existing Southern California section of the layout.

I want to represent certain light-traffic leads and branchlines I'd gotten to know, mostly under Southern Pacific, now either abandoned or either Union Pacific or San Joaquin Valley lines. Below are some prototype shots that I've used as inspiration. First, the Declezville Lead, a very old industrial lead, still active under UP, that heads south from the former SP Sunset Route not far west of West Colton Yard:

The former SP Coalinga Branch in Hanford, CA, now San Joaquin Valley:

A warehouse in Arvin, CA. This line, now out of service, was formerly operated in alternate years by the Santa Fe and SP:

A San Joaquin Valley Railroad freight on its Buttonwillow Branch, ex-SP:

Some low-key scenery, on the former Sunset Railroad, now San Joaquin Valley:

I'm trying to incorporate the feel of all these things in this part of my layout.