BNSF Westbound at Ilmon.
youngwarrior3

BNSF Westbound at Ilmon.

At the San Diego Model Railroad Museum.
Actually this train is on approach to Ilmon, the east end of Ilmon is the switch in the upper part of your photo. Sandcut hasn't been modeled yet.
 
Thanks, I was only there for that one visit. Hopefully since my son lives in SD I'll be able to make another one.
 
IIRC, the east switch diverging route is the old alignment, while the straight route (left side of the switch) is the newer, straight alignment.
This whole section is interesting, as the original alignment moving upgrade (timetable eastbound, behind the lead units here) was washed out in a flood. Don't remember the year, but it led to the boring of what is known as "Tunnel One Half." The club did model the old, washed out concrete abutments from the original layout, which, IMO, was just brilliant. I approach every section of my own "theoretical alignments" to this very day for this reason. Very Inspirational to me.
 
Followup: When I ran there back in the early/mid eighties, then museum director and La Mesa club president John Rotsart (Ilmon was then half finished, bare plywood west toward Bakersfield), told me that the club was hemming and hawing over trying to model actual weather in the Ilmon section. "It's often shrouded in fog, and we are debating the idea of using layers of fabric (presumably "tulle" *) to bring the fog down over the back round hiltop in order to grey it out."

[* tulle is a thin, mesh type wedding fabric--it comes in various colors and grades (as well as mesh shapes and sizes) and is most commonly known among model railroaders as "that material used to model mesh/diamond wire fencing," like Elcar fence. I'm nearly certain the Woodland Scenics line uses tulle for their fence sheet, etc. In the case of fencing, you would want a diamond pattern style....]

Ilmon is at the eastern end of the Central Valley, where the valley weather meets the mountain weather, hence the relatively consistent fog. Then, anyway.
 

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