La Mesa Model Railroad Club HO Scale DCC Layout Tour Tehachapi

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hello my name is Jason Hill I'm with a La Mesa Model Railroad Club in San Diego California inside the model Road Museum in the Casa de Balboa today we're standing here at Caliente in the middle of the 7,500 square foot layout which is modeling catch P pass and we'll be looking around the layout and following a train over the pass we originally started in a building called Nebo Hall in La Mesa in the 1960s as a group of teenagers in 1978 niebo Hall was condemned by the city of Mesa and it was torn down the club was looking for a new home and in 1978 as well this building the Casa de Balboa was destroyed by arson next door the San Diego Malraux Club was in the house of charm and it was also condemned the rebuilt Casa de Balboa was then looking for tenants the two clubs were able to form the San Diego model air museum as an umbrella to deal with the city and this club has moved into this space about 35 years ago in 1982 the club opened to the public and was running trains on a regular basis the La Mesa Club was designed from the beginning to model a real place the layout in Nebo Hall was a fictitious layout based loosely over the Tahoe and pass where there was never actually railroad built over the years the club members felt a draught of prototype or prototype operation the members were also heavily involved in timetable and train order operations visiting places like Mission Tower and various other places around Southern California where train orders were still being written this is had a large impact on the membership the resulting layout design built at San Diego model Road museum was originally envisioned to include a 5,000 square foot basic footprint and a 2,500 square foot mezzanine level creating a full second deck over about half of the layout space the entire line as modeled is about 30 scale miles this is about 1700 feet of mainline plus secondary trackage and some dual-track main lines the prototype that was chosen for the limits Club to model in the San Diego model air museum it was gonna be the attach be pass where the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe join at Bakersfield and then separate again at Mojave for joint trackage rights over the past this area sees one of the heaviest concentrations of trains operating in Southern California the layout was originally designed to have 24 analog block control selection switches in 2001 and 2 with the layout constructing the upper mezzanine level the layout was converted to DCC with the north coast engineering system [Music] [Laughter] here we see extra 3666 West departing Bakersfield bound for Roseville with a mixed rate here at Bakersfield trains coming off the San Joaquin Valley Division would get heavier power to head up over the Tatra pass to Mojave the models here in the Bakersfield area are entirely scratch built the ice deck the Roundhouse carpentry shop station Pullman shed Rea buildings and company village are all scratch built off of prototype plans here we see the 4217 being turned on the table in anticipation of being coupled in as a helper on an eastward freight train once the engines are turned they move forward to servicing track and then they are considered ready for service and will await the road crews to pick them up today we'll be following southern Pacific's 804 out of Bakersfield Yard the lead engine consists will be the 62 Oh 381 Oh 380 102 and 60 202 helper engine will be the 42 17 and a c10 class locomotive the contest will be 51 cars and a caboose here we see the 60 203 moving eastward out of the ready track and down to the West yard lead in preparation for sawing back out onto the main switching lead and then running down track 6 here we see the 42 17 moving eastward out of the round house is ready track and then backing onto the 20s tracks where the rear of the train is [Laughter] here we see the 4217 moving up the couple to the rear of the Train while the F units are coupling to the front of the Train here we see Southern Pacific second 8:06 departing Bakersfield and crossing that Vernon Avenue as it moves to the eastward main track here we see the second 8:06 heading out of Bakersfield through megundal and the orange citrus groves and its way to Edison [Applause] [Applause] here at mcgunn Dhin is the junction point to the Arvin branch which is a large potato packing district and is also the home to the largest table grape producer in the world at the left we see Arvin and Igor geo in the distance on the Arvin branch there are 95 car spots for perishable loading of potatoes and table grapes out here on the branch as well on the right side of the aisle is the end of the branch at Taft for the sunset railway which rejoins the Southern Pacific main line at Bakersfield at Curran Junction here we see second 8:06 coming through Edison Edison is a packing district for citrus products for the Southern Pacific and the santa fe about 15 miles out of Bakersfield there will be about 80 packing sheds out here for packing of oranges and various other citrus products Road switchers cut working out of Bakersfield we'll come out and do the work and then head back here we see second 8:06 climbing over sand cut hill and dropping down into the end of double track at bina here we are at bina and this is the end of doubletrack coming out of Bakersfield there's fairly high running speeds and in 1922 the Southern Pacific built the double track out of Bakersfield to keep trains moving faster one of the tricks that they were able to employ in various places was to use spring switches in which the switch at it automatically springs back to a normal position to route a train under the track that they normally want to train to enter if they are facing point to that switch at this place we have the eastward main track over here and it Springs through the main track switch which is normally set for westward traffic to enter the Western Main track the center siding is normally set for the eastward main track and any train exiting the siding on the east end which is where we're looking at now will spring through both sets of spring switches so the car that I'm pushing here pushes through the spring switch and if I go backwards you'll notice that I go down onto the eastward main track I'm not touching any of the switch controls at this point and the car like I said switched over already it rolls through this switch and the switch point switched over automatically and now I bring the car back and now it goes down the westward main track here we see second 8:06 crossing over what is called the lion El bridge just east of Vina on the model railroad we also have a short loop which allows us to keep trains in front of the public and not run all the way into Bakersfield this loop is connected just west of the siding at Ilmen and as we come into Illman with the train we see the 1953 alignment of the mainline where they have built in a extended section of ballast here where the original mainline originally came up the bottom of the canyon and the first 15 years they had multiple floods that wiped out that section road they built the new line way up on the side of the hill and then over the later years they extended new fills out across to straighten the mainline out at the East End of Illman we're modeling the 1967 realignment with another section of fill that made the siding longer here at the East End of Illman the track on the right is the rebuilt mainline from about 1900 on the track on the left is the 1967 rebuild which straightened the mainline out and that was in effect until 1982 when a major flood wiped out this whole area here we see second 8:06 entering the West Portal of tunnel one half tunnel one half was built in about 1900 when the Southern Pacific got tired of rebuilding the railroad as they had it built up the bottom of the canyon and after about 15 years there were multiple wash outs the replaced grade was done after the earlier wash outs and here we see the train exiting the East portal of Tunnel 1/2 and as the train comes up past the first grade signal you will notice in the bottom of the canyon the old rightaway trestle bends and bridge abutments here we are at Caliente as a pair of RSD fives drift down off the hill at Caliente there was a water tank for watering steam helpers as depo Corral's and a small town over the years this was a hotbed of activity as the Southern Pacific built the southern Pacific's pass over to a tree pass for several years this was the end of track as the railroad was basically stuck in the bottom of the Caliente Valley once William Hood came in and discovered the way to navigate and survey a pass using the tepee loop and multiples s curves and about 15 extra miles of track this town basically died as the wagon roads and stagecoach stop was superseded by the railroads completion in the late 18-hundreds here we see second 8:06 swinging around the horseshoe at Caliente and beginning its main climate pattach b-grade they're about six horseshoe curves on tatra past that allowed the line to continue to climb steeply but use very little actual crows flight distance while they're climbing [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] here second 8:06 approaches the first grade signal above Caliente and approaches tunnel one in 1952 a 7.5 earthquake struck the tatts bees and the fill that you see basically collapsed and these hungry people from train 55 had to hike across a swinging section of ties about 30 feet in the air to get down to Caliente and try to find some food in the middle of the night [Applause] here we see second 8:06 climbing to Allard through tunnel 2 and meeting the Santa Fe extra two to five West at Allard the two to five West has a Santa Fe western Pacific Great Northern empty lumber train heading back to the interchange with a western Pacific at Mormon yard in Stockton [Laughter] [Applause] once the second 8:06 clears at Allard Santa Fe extra two to five West departs and heads through tunnel 2 with the swg [Applause] here we see second 8:06 approaching be oval be oval has an emergency water tank as well as some of the section gangs and Foreman for maintaining the tracks there was also a small ranch house here and above this we enter the area that was damaged by the 1952 earthquake [Applause] in July in 1952 the white wolf fault slipped causing a 7.5 earthquake between tunnels 3 and 4 tunnel 3 was shortened by several hundred feet tunnel 4 was completely abandoned and bypassed around its downhill side tunnel 5 was the worst damaged and was bypassed for a time with a shoofly and then the line was realigned back through tunnel 5 Tunnel 6 was completely removed Tunnel 4 in our model is representing the cut where the shoofly was built around the outside of the damaged tunnel and the inside of the lining which normally would be covered with dirt is exposed and you can see here in the model was done with very fine plaster castings including very fine rebar of detail the train is now passing through cliff which is about 800 feet higher than Caliente which is only two miles away the railroad snakes through the Tatra mountains climbing between Caliente and cliff to gain this altitude using about eight miles of extra rail this allows the railroad to maintain its 2% grade profile over the past hour models also use a 2% grade and in the steepest portions it's two point three four percent at way long the trains are now proceeding up out of cliff through tunnels seven and eight [Applause] here we see the train entering the tunnel eight helix which adds another six inches in altitude Tunnel eight also has two reversing loops for public display operation here we see the Train climbing into Rowan Rowan is a double siding and this is also the beginning of the upper level of the layout where a lot of this section is still under construction as you can see by the train traversing the area there is a plywood where roads are being built mountains will be soon being formed there's a clay model here of the three-dimensional sculpture of how the mountains are looking and our scenery Department folks are actually debating and then changing and continuing to Reese Culp this as they're debating exactly how best to interpret all of the research that we have which is thousands of photographs USGS survey maps and even things such now as Google Earth where we can zoom a camera down and get a perspective view on the prototype mountains in full three dimensions Woodford is the upper station on the north side of the Tatra past that was equipped with water columns for watering of steam engines cab forward type locomotives would have to get water either at Caliente or at Woodford Woodford also had two sidings the number two siding was next to the station and the net longer number one siding was down towards the creek the train slows preparing to take water in the helper at water column number one cab forwards in service on touch we would use their 22,000 gallons of water in about 1 and 3/4 hours the feed water pump system could use 12,000 gallons of water an hour after about an hour and a half the engines must take water before they continue whistling off second 8:06 now departs Woodford with its helper full of water [Applause] [Applause] here we see second 8:06 climbing over fifth crossing heading for the tachi loop at weilong fifth crossing is 200 vertical feet below tunnel 10 which is only a mile away William hood using civil engineering tricks as well as using the small Hill out in the middle of the way long loop I was able to circumnavigate the hill adding an extra mile of track to keep the track at a 2% grade [Applause] second 8:06 is hurrying to get to weilong at this point because ii 24 will soon be passing second 806 at way long [Applause] [Applause] here we see second 8:06 taking the sighting of way along in anticipation of being passed by second 24-hour model of the Tatra loop includes tunnel 9 which is where the track crosses over itself on the prototype this is a separation of 88 feet on the model we've been able to achieve about 66 feet with a 2.3 4% grade which is steeper than prototype [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] second twenty four is running one hour late on number twenty fours timetable schedule with Christmas drawing near second 24 is moving large quantities of holiday mail and Express traffic with the track clear again second 8:06 prepares through the part way long [Applause] here we see the train moving up through Marcel which is a triple track section of the road there's a westward and an eastward sighting here and the track that the Train is moving on is the main track so here we have an example of one of our scenery making techniques and it's the first time we've used it here at Lamesa this is 12 14 which is above Marcel there's a very large Ridgeline that the railroad punches through with a single tunnel and then following three ridges each have their own tunnel as well in this case one of our members went into the canyon below the tunnel on the west side and took a photograph towards the west portal at number 14 tunnel the ridge line above is silhouetted against the sky and in this rig we have set up a piece of transparency here in which the tunnel at this point lines up with the tunnel on the layout which is here and we have been working to get the ridge line to match up because of some others constraints with the layout space we have decided to raise the profile slightly but as you can see here when I really lay out behind you can see it go back and forth through the scenery here as well is built heavy we basically build our bench work and our scenery to be able to be walked on it is also as well as security wall to keep unwanted people out and in most cases most model roads are going to be using normal chicken wire this is actually stucco screen and we build everything very heavy and many parts of the layout where we have the hard shell scenery done you can pound on it with your fist and your fist will hurt afterwards this is an artist rendition of tunnel 14 with a train coming out and this is the tunnel portal that we were just looking at with the transparency here the Train is coming out we had that transparency hanging here this is the ridge that was in silhouette against the sky and above it this is a rather unique layout design feature of the way we are building the Lamesa Club layout the summit y is actually inside of this bulge on the upper level on the backside of the scene so what we have is the backdrop come around and there's a very shallow relief here above the tunnel and there's also a duck under into the other side there and of course the railroad comes out the alternative was to try to keep it as one seen which didn't really work out although we are staying more as one seen as opposed to keeping a full Florida ceiling fascia basically going all the way up and dividing the scene into two completely separate scenes so this one little strip of land around the ridge actually kind of connects the two scenes together over here we have some other additional photographs for our records or I should say from our records showing tunnel 17s east west and east portal tunnel 16 west and east portal and hole 15 s west and east portal so in this section of the railroad above to a tree loop right now we're still building the layout the lats been under construction for 35 years already and the layouts probably going to be at least another 15 years of completion the scenery Department right now is working from Woodford and working west down through Rowan as the trains working its way up here through our cell and the upper tunnels which are obvious at TELUS 14 through 17 and up to cable we can see up here on the wall as the backdrop Department is starting to sketch in the profiles of where these mountain shapes are going to be where's the equipment coming on we also have lots of additional materials such as printed maps that we've done and that helps us again with our scenery profiles and even such things as finding where trees belong some of our members have expressed interest in doing things as scenery and bench work some of them are have skills in welding and so for example here we're actually on the upper level now using a hybrid of Steel bench work and 3/4 inch plywood the layout basically as I've mentioned before allows for members to be able to walk on the right-of-way and also along most of our roads if this was wood this would be about this thick and with the steel we're able to make it about one-half about 1/3 to 1/4 is thick and this is allowing us to have additional trackage in close proximity vertically which normally you would not be able to do on a layout such as this the membership right now is around 100 it seems to stay around there the people actively building that are specialists in their areas the department heads are generally about 10 in number and sometimes up to about 12 maybe 15 we have youth members that are joining and then going off to college usually people start coming back around 30 35 40 somewhere in there and staying around until they retire and sometimes becoming more involved when they're retired the operations department has been going strong now for about 20 years we continue to develop our more prototypical operating sessions nineteen fifty zero is especially fun because we get to do timetable to Train order during this video we've been referring to these trains as they would be during our timetable train or sessions for the 1950s we also have done 1980s and post 2000 operating sessions as well I'm not sure when those next sessions are going to be scheduled our 1950 sessions are regularly scheduled every two to three months throughout the year we usually move forward about six days in 1950s and I should mention that each of these sessions that we do last for 12 hours in each day we start at 8 a.m. and we go to 8 p.m. and then we start the next day as if it was continued at 8 p.m. and going to 8 a.m. we just switched 12 hours so each weekend that we operate we move forward on the 1950s era clock 24 hours this is rather interesting as if you think about it right now we're in December 1952 during the operating sessions and to get forward far enough to be using something like SD 9s in 1954 it will take us about 40 years of operating sessions at the current rate that we're doing things so we'll be continuing to use cab forward such as 4217 and the standard F units on the front of me all of our trains for many years yet to come [Applause] you may have noticed various shots around the layout control panels such as this one this panel is working as our East End staging yard panel and on it we have various controls the red ones are basically tracks which selection the indicator lights show us which track has been selected the illuminated ones here and here are indicating booster power controlling this section of the whole yard or I should say actually this is a main track so this one is controlling this one easily lets us know from long ways away and shallow angles if the track is powered and we don't have to actually be able to see the switch siding such as these we can turn on and off for their individual selectors to line a main yard switch such as this group here we can simply press the button and the switches will line and show us that they have changed some of the switches here and here are far enough out in the field that I can control them from this main panel at this point or I can walk down and use all more local panel and control them basically these are dual control switches so if I wanted to throw this crossover here I could push the reverse key and it will go red showing me that there's a track not lined for the main track pushing and again that brings the switch back to normal which is the main route so here we have the upper tangents of the layout basically we have a scene here that's about 125 feet long that Bakersfield below us is about the same length over here on the top we have tatra P and summit over here we have monolith and several other stations down there the track then goes out around the public aisle back down on this level which is an intermediate level dropping back down into Mojave which is at this level down here we have some staging yards and the branch lines to trona and Searles and over here we have additional staging here we are at at be attach P is the end of double track coming out of Mojave basically west of th b station here is single track attached ps3 sidings two of which are double ended these were for holding trains waiting for orders to proceed onto the single track under timetable and trade over or waiting for the dispatch of the line up the CTC machines controls of the signals and switches against opposing trains here this sixty 203 will be setting out the 4217 as a helper at summit which is a four thousand foot pass which is the main pass going between Bakersfield and Los Angeles the 4217 has been directed to return to Bakersfield so after cutting out it will be turned on the Y and then drift back to catch P siding and wait for orders [Laughter] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] here's second 8:06 backs down to the rear of the train after the 4217 cut away 22:17 will now be turning itself on the waii and then waiting for the freight train to clear for it to be able to drift crossover and head back on the mustard track after charging the air second 8:06 depart summit [Applause] here we see second 8:06 passing monolith with the 52:35 working as the ki switcher at monolith [Applause] here we see second 8:06 dropping down after passing through the summit and Eric past Cameron and turning around and coming back through Warren on our model which then goes into partially hidden trackage for another 125 feet to Mojave here we see second 8:06 arriving at mojave and because this train is a express perishable train of PFE reefers heading to colton this train does not plan on being worked at mojave the train cruises through on the main and continues its way through Lancaster Vincent Soledad Canyon to Los Angeles [Music] well I hope you enjoyed your brief trip around tatty pass I know this layout is very large and it takes a little while but I hope you've all made it to the end of the video if anyone would like more information about the club you can visit our website at La Mesa club comm and for more information on our operating sessions which is the main focus of this layouts whole reason for existence you can do that at opps on catch be calm [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: TSG Multimedia

Views: 163,327

Rating: 4.8903847 out of 5

Keywords: La Mesa, la mesa model railroad club, La Mesa Model Railroad, Tehachapi Loop, Balboa Park, San Diego, HO Scale, HO Scale Tehachapi Loop, Layout Tour, Model Trains, San Diego Model Railroad Museum, model railroad, model railroad layout, model railway, Model train layout, Casa De Balboa, model railroader, California, model railroading, model railway layouts, ho scale layout tour, ho scale layout, ho scale trains, model railway layout, ho scale model railroad layouts

Id: tuvJWPIW2qs

Length: 42min 42sec (2562 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 16 2019