Watsonville junction


Thanks to all the guys who wrote so much kindly comments. I really appreciate it that so many real US modelrairoaders share this thread with me.:)

Can we get an updated track plan?


Here is it..........



NEW: Changing the period and connecting the West Coast with the Cental California Valley!!!


Unfortunaly I have no track planing programm so I had to draw the plan by my own hand...:D.....

It's not perfect but it has it's special charm.......:rolleyes:

I took a photograph of the trackplan,so I hope all markings are legible( I know,my handwriting...:eek:)

Some things have changed in contrast to the very first thread on page 1:I've turned to another era and try to connect the West coast(Watsonville) with the Central Valley(Riverside).Further informations in the coming text sections.......

My layout is located at the attic(is this the exact word?) of our house.The room area of the attic is measuring 24 1/2 x 15 feet.That sounds much,however.... Not like in a basement room where all walls are straight,the roof oblique takes a lot of the area if you want to come up with your layout level.Furthermore I had to accomodate the backdrop,the valences where the lights are integrated and enough space in the aisles.


Please note :all drawings are not exactly in scale!!









To very first I want to show a sketch of the room without any tracks for better overview.To the present moment,the staging yard is a stub-ending yard. In the further layout progress I 'm planing that this yard will be connect with the narrow shelf in the lower drawing area that ends at the fireplace(?)/chimney(?),so I'll be able to accomodate here a second staging for better and more interesting operation.
For running trains more variable at the present building conditon,I installed a temporary loop for connecting the two tracks who are vanishing in the backdrop(look at the left side of the trackplan)






One of the most important changes is the turn from the mid 70's to the mid 90's era and locating the"Riverside" layout part to the Central Valley(supposed the area around Stockton) after I've watched the exellent DVD"SP's Central California Line"(Pentrex).So I can run rolling stock from several roads like BNSF,BN patched Santa Fe's,SP,UP and Rio Grande who were present at this time.

I made here my own "Central Valley" that has some specific things in common with the prototype,in some parts it's freelanced.Another important reasons for changing the era are for me the UP/SP and the BN/Santa Fe mergers im the mid 90's where some special paintshemes and patching shemes were made.I like patching and painting......



The updated trackplan......

There is a BNSF line coming from the staging ,crossing the SP line at Walnut junction.SP has here trackage rights,too.So the SP finds here connection to the San Francisco Bay Area via the interchance track.This SP line that's passing the Western Agriculrural and run the grade crossing should represent a branch line.There'll be some tracks at the planned second staging yard where the branch line trains can be operated.


It is therefore yet much planing neccessary for the second stagin and a optimal and satisfiying operation sheme.









But at the present it is fun for me to run my trains through Watsonville and Riverside....



Frank
 
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Very nice Frank, love how you got the two railroads together!
I want to come over and play now!
 
It would keep me busy for a while..lol. Great layout and track plan
 
Gruss-


Wonderful layout... I grew up and watched trains (in the early 90s) not too far away, in Gilroy and San Jose.... You are missing the pair of GP9Es that worked all the locals.......

If you even need pics of structures, or help in choosing what would be right, LMK...

Ironically, I lived in Stuttgart from 1998-2007, while stationed in Boblingen with the American Army... I miss wandering down the Konigstrasse...
 
Hi folks,

I haven't wrote a long time here in the forum and I also haven't answered the many replys since my last thread.....:eek:

Sorry for that,guys....I invested a lot of time for planing and modeling in the past few months on my layout so there wasn't much time for writing threads...

But in the coming weeks I'll keep running the new up-dates and pics from the layout progress......

There are a lot of essential changes and additons to the layout,for example a complete new staging yard for continous running.....

I hope I could start my reporting in the middle of the next week....:rolleyes:


@Rico
Very nice Frank, love how you got the two railroads together!
I want to come over and play now!

No problem Rico,try to get a cheap flight to over here...we also have nice guest room.....


@ Stottman

Gruss-

Wonderful layout... I grew up and watched trains (in the early 90s) not too far away, in Gilroy and San Jose.... You are missing the pair of GP9Es that worked all the locals.......

If you even need pics of structures, or help in choosing what would be right, LMK...

Ironically, I lived in Stuttgart from 1998-2007, while stationed in Boblingen with the American Army... I miss wandering down the Konigstrasse...
02-21-2011 07:21 PM

Sometimes the world is a small town....I appreciate that you're missing Stuttgart...In the early to mid 90s I had a girl friend for 3 years who lived in Boblingen-Hulb.I often passed the US-Army facilitys there in Boblingen.....
On our numerous trips to the USA we met a lot of people who spend their army service as a GI in Germany or who have german roots.Sometimes it was funny... some did not want to stop telling at all but that's one of the reasons that we are enthuastic US-travellers:to meet very kindly people all over the country.
And many thanks to your offer.... I will come certainly come back on that!!!:)
For a long time I'm searching for SP Geep models but I haven't found any exxept SD's...The coming Athearn Geeps are only avelaible in the black widow-paint sheme...

Many thanks to all the other replyers like:

boatwrench,Photogdad,MLW


As I told,more informations and pics in the coming days,
Frank
 
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NEW!!!!

Updated layout plan and major changes.........


Finally I'm able to report about the last months' work that was done in my layout room.....In comparison to the older plans on this side you can realize that there are three magnificent changes:

-The former stub-ended staging yard is now removed and a new staging was build for continous runing to make more practical operations.Another advantage is to store there longer trains.

-As a result of removing the old yard I won an new 9' x 2' area to model...My plan is to model a SalinasCA motiv to capture the atmosphere at this interessting location which comes prototypical next to Castroville.Maybe I'll add a small transportation and switching company who's serving the Salinas valley....(You can find a bird-eyes -view-link of Salinas above the formerstaging yard-area pics)


-I've added another scenery part on the narrow shelf to connect the new staging and the Riverside layout part .It's only 7''-8'' wide scenery but i like it more than a unmodeled area with only tracks.
Please not that the fascia is not yet painted,the lighting and the valence must be added.I'm sure if these things are done ,it 'll look very nice.....



Here's the updated layout plan...


Please don't exxpect perfect images.....!!!!!


I realized that some markings are not legible very well.But I'm sure you can see the changes that were made and the new features .





Pics from the new staging yard.....










Pics from the new scenery part:

My goal was to capture typical Califoraia landscape on a narrow and not deep area.That was a samll challenge.....but I had the chance to finally accomodate a tunnel...:) to hide the backdrop hole and not like always a bridge...The highway bridge to the left shoud represent a overpass of the US Interstate 5, somewhere located between Sacramento and L.A.....
Please note that the scenery isn't finished yet..some details are missing like the obligatory telephone poles.And as I mentioned,the missing valence and lighting are missing yet such as the unpainted fascia....I'll keep the pics of this progress coming!!!












Pics from the former staging area

A difficult thing was to painting the extended backdrop and to hide the transition from the yet existing to the new mounted backdrop.I've made many experiments with mixing the blue and white wallpaints to catch the same colour as the already exesting backdrop.After this work I've mounted the lightings and the valence.The fascia will be added in the future progress.

As you can see,a lot of space to model and to create more impressions of California/Salinas...


http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=q3...ty=b&where1=Salinas, CA&q=salinas&form=LMLTCC


...and a great opportunity to make a step by step-story..If you like:rolleyes:









I'm looking forward to your comments and maybe critics,too.
I'm sure many pics of the future progress will follow.....
 
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I've said it before and I'll say it again...

You have done an amazing job capturing "California" in your layout!!!
 
New Update...Vol. II

Thanks to all guys for their kindly comments.....:)

Now I'm able to intodruce my current project that's almost finished...
The last days I've been working on the scenery of the narrow shelf layout part(upper left on the layout plan).Those pics were taken at the beginning of last week so at the meantime more details were added ...like a signal bridge and a lot of prarie tufts....Updated pics will follow if they are taken....:rolleyes:















EDIT:

O.k,.here are some quickly taken pictures from the scenery update and the mounted signal bridge...I'll keep more pics with train action coming......

Overview....







View from the inner layout mushroom/ Castroville(foreground) to the new layoutpart......







I've posted two more pics on the current "weekly photo fun"!
 
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Frankieboy - how in the heck did I misss this one up till now? Absolutely great modelling, and excellent foto-stories - looking forward to seeing more!
Best
Jack
 
Frankieboy - how in the heck did I misss this one up till now? Absolutely great modelling, and excellent foto-stories - looking forward to seeing more!
Best
Jack


Jack,thanks for your comment.....your wishes comes true;)


but caution!!!! :eek:a lot of pics!!!!



The westbound SWJM(Stockton to Watsonville junction Manifest),pulled by SP GE B23-7#5110 and a Rio Grande GP 35 #3048 reduces it's speed and prepairs for beeing stopped at the vintage signal bridge..........








A few minutes later after the two units has slowed down their engines,the reason for waiting appears out of the tunnel........







...."High ball" for the SJFL(San Jose to Fresno local),leaded by SP SD40-2 #8628 and supported by SP GP38 #4823......









Some weatheared cars,my "hobby in the hobby"....













The local's long line of cars is passing the SWJM .....










Finally "high ball" for the Westbound...the train starts moving with two roaring engines and enters the tunnel .....







 
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Wow very nice Frank!
You're poles are a little closer than the prototype but that makes the scene look longer.
Oh and excellent weathering by the way!!
 
WOW! Your work is amazing! From the benchwork to the details I am in awe! And your photography skills are awesome! I hope my layout turns out half as well! I am looking forward to seeing more!
 
Stunning! This is by far the best layout I've seen. Your scenery, weathering, tracks, structures and details are all balance and give a real feeling to the layout.

Very well done!

What is your average track radius?

Thanks again for the updates

Syl
 



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