And then it grew!

Dear friends,

In my last post I mentioned setting up the modules and getting everything ready.  Well, the administrator of the neighboring rail empire kept insisting that I add more and more.  It has now grown from a simple 8x9 layout to a 6x40+ layout. It will have a huge yard and many sidings and businesses.

The view from the south.

As you can see it stretches off into the distance.  At this end it will have a mountain with some logging and mining along a narrow gage track.  Circling the entire layout will be dual gage rail.You can see some of it in this picture.

The view from the North

With this view you can see the dual gage track, which winds up a 2% grade to the shelf at the back of the layout.  This shelf is very important as it will eventually connect with the layouts that you see on the opposite side of the room.  This requires a bridge across the entrance from the South, complete with flashing RR crossing sign and an alarm that will sound if the door is opened while the bridge is in place.

Another view

This is again from the South and shows the HO layout in the NW corner of the room.  Access from that layout will be possible to my layout through a narrow gage layout, across the doorway and up the wall to my layout.  Three different DCC controllers are involved.  Digitrax and two manifestations of NCE.

Left end of the layout

Right end of the layout

The two ends are almost mirror images.  The major differences being that the left end does not have a WHYE required at the right end for the connection to the other layouts.  Additionally, the left end will not have a mountain as such, but will climb a ridge behind a city scene with a few industries nestled in the basin.  The right end will be mountain with a dry stream-bed running through Rose Gulch (have to keep the name in there someplace - after all, I now have a significant number of rolling stock with that name on them).

The Yard and connecting rail

of the adjoining Empire

Looking through the opening in the wall on can see the narrow gage yard with the dual-gage track running through.  In the middle picture on can see the rolling stock of the narrow gage railroad.  This road is set in the late 1800's.  At the right the dual gage rail passes through the wall of the room to travel behind the wall toward the other end of the narrow gage railroad and the beginning of the other standard gage railway.

The Great WHYE

This is more of a picture of the track going behind the wall, but it is also the Whye that allowed trains to turn around on the narrow gage railway and for engines to turn around for the standard gage railway.  When my layout is complete they will be able to turn around the longest trains they can muster as I will have both a WHYE and a reversing loop.

Golden State

Today was to be a day filled with pounding and drilling, nailing and screwing as I tied all the modules together and leveled them in preparation for the first laying of new track for the revived Rose Gulch and Portland RR.  I'm not even sure it will retain that name.  Well, no work was done because Fr. Leo and I went on a journey.

The first part of the journey involved "Just Trains" in Concord, CA.  I was thinking about going out there some day to pick up another grade set so that I could have two smooth inclines, one up and the other down.  Fr. Leo was working on the curved trestle that keeps demanding so much attention, bending model timber into the perfect curve in preparation for attaching ties and then rails.  He had proceeded as far as he could when he said it would be good to go to "Just Trains".  I was all for it.  I ended up buying more than the incline kit: An HON3 car for the other railroad, some DPDT mini switches, and some terminal blocks.

We then decided it was time for lunch and the guy at the store suggested we visit the Polish Street Festival in Martinez, CA. It was "on the way" so we decided that a real polish sausage would be just the thing. It was a good choice. The sausage was delicious as was the potato pancake. I also had a brew which was also delicious. We also enjoyed some polish dancing and music - no, neither of us danced, there were young dancers doing traditional folk dancing.  Leaving Martinez, Fr. Leo suggested we should visit his old railroad club, a place he had not frequented for four or five years.

The club is actually called the Golden State Model Railroad Museum.  They are open to the public and have operating sessions open to the public on Sunday from noon to five in the evening, from April to December.  I suppose the winter months are difficult to heat because the layouts are very expansive.  If you just wanted to look, without much in the way of action, they allow viewing Wednesday from 11am - 3pm, Friday from 7pm until 10pm, Saturday from noon until 5pm, and Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day from Noon until 5pm.

There are several different scales represented: N-Scale of the Tehachapi Loop and Donner Pass.  There is also an Nn3 layout representing the line from Lake Tahoe to Truckee.  Accross the aisle is a huge O-Scale Santa Fe Western layout covering an area in and around Point Richmond.  Also represented in O-Scale is the Oakland, Antioch & Eastern interurban electric railroad.  In On3 is represented the Eureka & Empire railroad, winding up from the Eureka interchange yard to the lumber town of Empire.  In HO-Scale the first thing one sees is the local and inter-urban trolley system.  Also represented are the Southern Pacific, The Western Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe.  Both passenger and freight services are represented.  In HOn3 is represented the California and Nevada narrow gage railroad.

This group has been in more-or-less continual operation for over 75 years!  The whole display is amazing on many different levels: size, complexity, variety, detail, history and the folks who greet you upon visiting.  A Highly recommended visit!