UP's 1946 Transcon Train in Victorville & More Revisions to Staging Yards

This time we'll cover the Union Pacific's short-lived Transcon passenger train during 1946, and then we'll look at several weeks of revisions for how to lay out the main staging yards on my Victorville layout.

My friend and UP researcher Jeff Koeller has put together some detailed notes and photos to document the UP Transcon train of 1946, probably more thoroughly than anyone has done before.  He was going to start covering the Los Angeles Limited, but it turns out the the Transcon is an important part of that story.

Here is his report, along with some photos and his captions.

Union Pacific’s Transcontinental Train of 1946

Due to greatly increased patronage, particularly regarding military and supply personnel, World War II passenger train schedules were generally lengthened to allow more time for heavy passenger loading and car switching operations.  After the end of hostilities, effective June 2, 1946, the wartime train schedules reverted to their pre-war times, or, in many cases, the schedules were reduced well beyond their pre-war times. This date is generally known as the great nationwide speed-up of passenger train schedules.

Union Pacific was one of several railroads that inaugurated new train services to help accommodate the increased post-war passenger traffic; this included unnamed train Nos. 43 and 44 running between Omaha and Los Angeles, as well as Chicago to Los Angeles Nos. 3 and 4, the Transcontinental, also known as the Transcon.

 

 

Train No. 4 Arriving at East LA Station

  

Mountain-type engine 7850 is shown arriving at the East Los Angeles station stop with train No. 4, the eastbound Transcon, on August 5, 1946.  The locomotive's paint scheme is traditional black with a graphite smoke box, not the Two-Tone Gray scheme introduced in 1946. 

 

Trailing the 7850 is a typical 11-car train consisting of a heavyweight baggage-express car, three UP Two-Tone Gray 5331-5365-series lightweight coaches, then a pair of heavyweight dining cars (the first one running as a Coffee Shop diner), followed by five heavyweight cars, most likely sleepers of various floor plans.  Union Pacific Railroad photo.

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The lifespan for the Transcon was relatively short, just over five months; thus, little is known about the specific cars assigned to the train beyond the general car types that can be ascertained from the UP public timetables issued 6-2-46 and the monthly Official Guide of The Railways.  Passenger train photos provide a wealth of consist information, but there are no clear photos showing the Transcon's sleeping car section at the rear.  Those who study the Transcon don’t have many photos to choose from, although the consists in the photos appear to agree with the public timetables.

The elusive Transcon is probably best remembered for its horrific derailment, due to excessive speed on a 40 mph curve on September 26, 1946, on the AT&SF between Oro Grande and Victorville, Calif., in which six people were killed and 132 injured.  The locomotive was UP 4-8-4 #835, the first one in the new FEF-3 class.

 

 

Ground-Level View of the Transcon Wreckage 

 
Author Jeff Asay covered this wreck extensively in an article published in the Fall 2006 issue of the UP Historical Society magazine, The Streamliner.  A number of excellent photos were included in which the paint schemes of several cars can be determined.  The article also had a detailed list of individual car numbers and names.  However, the last five cars, all sleepers, did not derail and had already been pulled back by wrecking crews before the accident pictures were taken. 

 

Aerial View of the Transcon Wreckage 

 

Here's the train's specific consist, recorded on the day of the wreck:

 

UP 4-8-4 835 - TTG
UP Bagg-Exp 3039 - Dark Olive
UP Coach 5342 - TTG
C&NW Coach 6142 - TTG
C&NW Coach 6144 - TTG
UP Coffee Shop Diner 3605 - TTG
UP Main Diner 3690 - TTG
Pullman 6-Sec-6-DBR "Poplar Path" (NY to LA via NYC) - Pullman Green
Pulman 10-Sec-3-DBR "Villa Beautiful" (NY to LA via PRR) - PRR Tuscan Red 
Pullman 12-Sec-1-DR Sleeper "St. Paul" (Wash to LA via PRR) - Pullman Green
Pullman 12-Sec-1-DR Sleeper "Ramsdell" (Ogden to LA) - Pullman Green
Pullman 10-Sec-Obs-Lounge "Monte Baldo" (Chicago to LA) Pullman Green  

The incident can be further researched through ICC Report 3025, available online through the Library of Congress website.

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The Transcon began service on June 2, 1946, as a through daily train between Chicago and Los Angeles on a 49 hour, 20 minute schedule westbound, and a 48 hour, 15 minute schedule eastbound.  These times were nearly 12 hours faster than the pre-war schedule of the formerly all-Pullman Los Angeles Limited between the same cities.

 

In addition to its fast schedule, the Transcon was UP’s representative flagship train designed to handle the newly inaugurated daily coast-to-coast sleeping car services, which provided through cars operating the entire distance between New York City and Los Angeles in an effort to minimize discomfort and anxiety for passengers who would otherwise be forced to transfer to other cars on different railroads at different stations in Chicago.

The through New York to Los Angeles coast-to-coast sleeping cars actually began running on March 31, 1946, via the Los Angeles Limited, which had been combined during the war with the San Francisco Overland Limited between Chicago and Ogden, Utah, and with the Pony Express between Ogden and Los Angeles.  However, these sleepers were transferred to the new Transcon on June 2, 1946, along with a newly inaugurated coast-to-coast sleeper running between Washington, DC, and Los Angeles.

 

Transcon Leaving Ogden, by Emil Albrecht

 
Accentuated by the late afternoon sunlight, the westbound Transcon is shown heading west on the wye at Ogden, Utah, on September 21, 1946.  Scheduled to leave at 4:30 pm, the train initially pulled directly into Union Station, then after all station work was completed, the entire consist was pulled backwards on Track 1 by a yard engine until the head end was clear of the crossover switches located near the Bamberger Railroad overhead bridge.  Then the train proceeded under its own power through several crossovers and onto the wye, where it is shown. The TTG coaches include a C&NW car and two UP 5300s.  Emil Albrecht Photo. 

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One of the daily through sleepers between NY and LA was handled east of Chicago by the New York Central out of LaSalle Street Station, while a second daily through sleeper was handled by the Pennsy out of Chicago Union Station. The Washington to Los Angeles sleeper was also handled by the PRR east of Chicago.  

 

These coast-to-coast sleepers were all heavyweight cars that were owned and staffed by The Pullman Company,  which provided 14 cars for each of the three coast-to-coast routes (although the Transcon operated with six consists).

It may be surprising that these sleepers were not the new-type lightweight cars, but the post-war passenger car deliveries were back-logged for up to two full years, so the participating railroads had to work directly with Pullman representatives to provide the best available cars until which time the service could be upgraded with lightweight equipment.

Other cars in the Transcon’s consist included three Chicago to LA 48-seat lightweight coaches, a pair of heavyweight dining cars (one running as a Coffee Shop diner for the coach passengers), a Salt Lake to LA heavyweight sleeper, and a Chicago to LA heavyweight 10-section observation- lounge car on the tail end, perhaps one of the last open-platform cars to operate in regular service.

A little-known operation included two Chicago to Denver cars (a coach and a heavyweight sleeper) that were handled by the westbound Transcon to North Platte, Nebraska, where the cars were switched into UP No. 53, the Columbine, to Denver via Sterling.  Interestingly, the eastbound cars ran in train No. 51 from Denver to Cheyenne, where they were transferred to the LA Limited to Chicago.  

Resources used for research include UP public timetables for June 2, 1946 (condensed and revised), the C&NW public timetable for the same date, and the June 1946 Official Guide.  Also helpful is William Kratville’s softcover book, Passenger Car Catalog (1968).  Note that small discrepancies exist between the various sources, and cross-referencing is very important.  

 

 

UP FEF 836 with the WB Transcon near Frost

  

Master railroad photographer Dick Kindig recorded this exceptional photo of the westbound Transcon on the Santa Fe ascending the grade near Frost, Calif., heading toward the flyover in mid-1946.  Santa Fe Los Angeles Division employee timetables listed train numbers 223 (WB) and 224 (EB) for UP train Nos. 3 and 4 to eliminate potential confusion between trains having like or similar numbers on the Santa Fe.  UP also conformed to Santa Fe operating practice by displaying the engine number in the indicator boxes instead of the train numbers, as was typical on the UP. 

Oil-burning FEF 836 is resplendent in its Two-Tone Gray paint scheme with “elephant ear” smoke lifters.  The 12-car consist includes a C&NW heavyweight baggage car, then three Two-Tone Gray lightweight coaches, the first two of which are 1942 UP 5331-5365 series cars (identified by the short height, louvered center skirting, and lacking end skirts).  The third coach is a 1937 UP 5300-5327 series car (identified by its full center skirting and end skirts).  Following the coaches is a pair of UP heavyweight 3600-series dining cars running kitchen-to-kitchen (the first car as a Coffee Shop diner).  Six heavyweight cars bring up the last half of the train, all probably sleeping cars.  Richard H. Kindig photo.

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In addition, studying the various sleeping car routes (known as Pullman Lines) is best accomplished by utilizing the History of the Pullman Lines books available at the Newberry Library in Chicago.  These ledger books contain a wealth of information, including Line numbers, Line routes, dates inaugurated, dates discontinued, dates resumed, and route mileage over each participating railroad.

In the heavyweight sleeping car era, the car types are not well documented, and research requires access to numerous public timetables to help unlock the mysteries of assigned car capacities.  Fortunately, the lightweight car capacities (and oftentimes car names) are nicely recorded.

The Pullman Company also issued several comprehensive sleeping car lists; Descriptive List of Cars (Sep. 1, 1942), and List of Standard and Tourist Cars (Nov. 15, 1950). These are rather hard to find but include valuable information such as Plan and Diagram numbers, air conditioning types, and railroad ownership (in the 1950 book only).

AT&SF employee timetables for the Coast Lines Los Angeles Division (#127 effective 6-2-46 and #128 effective 9-29-46) were also consulted for arrival and departure times at points along the route.

 

The Transcon's Consist:

 

 

Here is a specific consist recorded on June 3, 1946, when the train was new:

 

 

Using photos for research is extremely helpful, and images published in various books and magazine articles should be examined for any relevant information they can provide.  A good friend regularly instructed your author that “a train can be identified by its consist,” and to this end it will be helpful for anyone interested in the Transcon to understand how to correctly determine what train is being pictured.

The Transcon is often mistaken for the Utahn because they both used train Nos. 3 and 4 at different times.  If the photo has a reliable 1946 date, it is the Transcon, but any photos of Nos. 3 and 4 after May 14, 1947 depict the Utahn, which was inaugurated on that date as a connecting train for the City of St. Louis.  Also, the Transcon normally had a single baggage-express car behind the engine, followed by three lightweight coaches, whereas the Utahn always had four head-end cars, including an RPO, so it is relatively easy to differentiate the two trains.

Several trains in Donald Duke’s book, Union Pacific in Southern California 1890-1990, have been mis-identified.  On page 59 (bottom) train No. 4 leaving LAUPT may be the Transcon, since the Utahn usually had an RPO behind the locomotive, but it’s hard to say for sure without a date or more of the consist visible.  On page 63, due to the four head-end cars and lack of lightweight coaches, this train is clearly the Utahn (not the Transcon).  Note the similarity between this consist and No. 4 shown at Spadra on page 64 (bottom), which is correctly said to be the Utahn. 

On page 94 (bottom right), No. 4 is powered by a three-unit set of FM diesels and is obviously the Utahn.  Note that the photo caption says the “Transcontinental was sort of a milk train,” but this high-class operation was anything but that!  On page 105, No. 4 is powered by a 4500 hp set of EMD F3s, and again, it's the Utahn (not the Transcon). 

 
The Los Angeles Limited sometimes gets mistaken for the Transcon (or other UP trains), but the Limited typically had a heavyweight 13-section Tourist sleeper running as a dormitory car, either trailing the engine or just behind the baggage-express car; if this sleeper is present, the train is not the Transcon nor the Utahn. In Chard Walker’s book, Cajon - Rail Passage To The Pacific, on page 41 (bottom), the train is not the eastbound Transcon, but most likely the LA Limited due the the HW sleeping car (dormitory) just behind the head-end car.

 

Transcon with 4-8-2 7859 helping 4-8-4 836 Approaching Summit

 
Running as train No. 224 on the Santa Fe, the Transcon is below Summit, Calif., on June 21, 1946.  Powered by UP helper engine 7859 and UP FEF road engine 836, this nice down-on photo provides the opportunity to view a typical 11-car consist ideally stretched out on a curve: a UP Harriman-type BE car, three UP 5300-series coaches in TTG, a pair of UP 3600-series heavyweight diners in TTG (the first car running kitchen rearward as the Coffee Shop diner for coach passengers), and five heavyweight sleepers. Richard H. Kindig photo.

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Lastly, the Transcon has undeservedly acquired a bit of notoriety due to various authors stating that the train was discontinued after the wreck near Oro Grande on 9-26-46.  This is not the case, as the Transcon continued to operate daily until November 10, 1946, when it was consolidated with the Los Angeles Limited in a cost-saving measure.  UP advertisements announced the changes and new schedule in the Los Angeles Times and the Ogden Standard-Examiner, for example.  Also, newly-issued UP public and employee timetables for 11-10-46 do not mention the Transcon nor Train Nos. 3 and 4. 

 

After just 23 weeks of service, the coast-to-coast sleepers were transferred to the Los Angeles Limited, and the Transcontinental became a part of history. 

 

Notice in LA Times, Oct. 16, 1946: Changes in Trains

 

This UP ad announcing “Changes in Trains” ran in the Los Angeles Times newspaper on Wednesday October 16, 1946. It explained how the Transcon was to be consolidated with the LA Limited effective Sunday, Nov. 10, 1946. Note that the wreck of the Transcon on September 26, 1946, did not result in its discontinuance prior to this date.

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Motive Power

According to what can be identified in photographs, the Transcon was powered by UP Mountain-type 7800-class and 7850-class 4-8-2 steam engines and the larger UP 4-8-4 (FEF-2 and FEF-3) Northern-type steam locomotives, the latter of which were painted in Two-Tone Gray colors with silver-gray stripes.  The FEF-2 class were numbers 820-834, and the FEF-3 class were numbers 835-844.  The steam locos pulling the train west of Cheyenne would have been oil-powered.

On the C&NW east of Omaha, the train would have been handled by their large E-2 Pacific-type 4-6-2 steam engines or the streamlined class E-4 4-6-4 Hudsons.  C&NW class H-1 4-8-4s could also be used, but they were more likely to be used on longer, heavier passenger trains. 

Diesel locomotives could have potentially operated when being broken in after delivery or as a result of a power transfer move, but the Transcon was almost always steam powered.

 

Passenger Car Paint Schemes 

The following list provides an evaluation of the paint schemes used on the Transcon passenger equipment.  Note that the sleeping cars were still Pullman-owned at this time and were painted in Pullman Green, except for cars running in Pennsylvania Railroad service, which were generally painted in Pennsy Tuscan Red.  All of these sleepers should have PULLMAN on the letterboard.

UP HW Harriman-type baggage-express — UP Dark Olive.

LW coaches (3 cars) from UP 5300-5327 or 5331-5365 or C&NW 6132-6147 — Two Tone Gray with railroad name spelled out on the letterboard.

UP HW diners (2 cars) from series 3600 — TTG with UNION PACIFIC spelled out on the letterboard.

Pullman HW 6 Sec-6 DBR Plan 4086 sleepers assigned the NYC — Pullman Green.

Pullman HW 6 Sec-6 DBR Plan 4060 sleepers assigned the PRR — Pennsy Tuscan Red.

Pullman HW 12 Sec-1 DR (Wash to LA car) — probably Pennsy Tuscan Red.

Pullman HW 12 Sec-1 DR (Salt Lake City or Ogden car) — Pullman Green.

Pullman HW 10 Sec-Obs-Lounge — Pullman Green.

Modeling Notes for HO

UP 4-8-4 steam loco — Athearn FEF-3 (use TTG with smoke lifters).

UP 4-8-2 steam loco ---- Broadway Limited, Soho, and various brass imports

UP HW Harriman baggage-express — Southern Foundries resin model or brass import.

UP LW coach, 5300-5327 — The Coach Yard brass import.

UP LW coach, 5331-5365 — The Coach Yard brass import.

C&NW LW coach, 6132-6147 — The Coach Yard brass import.

UP HW diner — The Coach Yard brass import (Walthers HW diner is close).

Pullman HW 6 Sec-6 DBR — Oriental Limited brass import.

Pullman HW 12 Sec-1 DR — Walthers styrene or Precision Scale Co. brass import.

Pullman HW 10 Sec-Obs-Lounge — Soho brass import.

 

This concludes Jeff Koeller's excellent report, so thanks to Jeff !

 

This train came through Victorville every day, without stopping, at 7:00 A.M. going westbound to LA, and at 1:09 P.M. going eastbound to Barstow and Chicago.  So, when I'm operating my layout in 1946, I should model this train (at great expense, or with stand-in cars) or avoid operating in the June though early Nov. months when it was running.

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Next, I'll share with you the two bi-weekly layout progress reports that I've sent to friends during the month of October, 2025.  On Oct. 6 I wrote: 

I'm a day late with my bi-weekly layout report, as I was busy all weekend watching my Seattle Mariners baseball playoff games and my UW Huskies and Seattle Seahawks football games.  It's that time of year!

On my layout, I spent a fair amount of time sorting through several dozen used Atlas code 100 #6 turnouts that I got from eBay a couple of years ago.  I added powered switch machines to those that needed them, and I attached manual machines to four that are close to the aisle along Track A1.

I pinned down all the turnouts for the ladder tracks leading into the 10-track A Yard and the 8-track B Yard, following the pencil outlines I had made the week before.  Here's a photo I shot of the results:

 

Some of the too-long throw bars will have to be cut back to keep from hitting the adjacent tracks.

My next step will be to cut and fit all the short connecting tracks between the turnouts, using insulated rail joiners on many of them to create the blocks for the storage tracks.  The first goal is to work on the ladder that runs along Track A1, which includes turnouts into tracks A1 through A5.  That's the third track from the left in the photo above, including a double-slip switch.

On Friday, Oct. 3, I visited Bill Messecar at his home.  He has begun working on a model of the Victorville Boiler House for me, following the drawings that my architect friend Jim Coady created for us, as seen here:

 

Bill showed me the four walls he has prepared on his workbench, plus a package of shingles for the roof:

 

I was excited to see this progress, and then we went out to talk about model trains during brunch together.

Back on Sep. 24 my wife and I drove up to Mukilteo to visit Gary Jordan and to pick up and pay for the PFM brass Santa Fe 2-10-2 that he had painted for me as #3895.  And this past week I received a box from Craig Wisch in Victorville with his completed cardstock model of the Standard Oil dealer's truck garage.  I posed them side-by-side on my layout's staging deck:

 

I'll keep plugging away on installing all those turnouts and tracks for the staging yards.

 

On Oct. 26 I wrote that I was a week late with my bi-weekly report, thanks to more sports interruptions.  My Seattle Mariners made it into the baseball playoffs for the first time in 24 years, but they missed making it into the World Series for the first time ever by just one run in the final playoff game.  So there went two weeks of lost layout progress!

In memory of my lost time, here's a photo of my Mariners train, made by Hawthorne Village, which I collected in recent years:

 

And here's a going-away shot, showing the half-dozen full-length dome cars in the train:

 

I have a longer Seahawks train too, but that's another story.

I wasn't happy with my temporary arrangement of turnouts into the A and B Yards, so I tried new arrangements that compressed the ladder tracks into the 8-track B Yard, but try as I might, they just would not fit the way I hoped for.  So I went back to another arrangement, as seen here from the throat:

 

The unfortunate result that I'm stuck with is that tracks B7 and B8 do not split apart until their ladder track rounds the final bend, as seen near the bottom-left of this photo I shot from inside the pop-up area:

 

The result is that track B7 or B8 will only hold a shorter train, but the other train on B7 or B8 can extend along the curving ladder track leading into the problem turnout.  The entire B Yard will be just one block, as the locos for these trains will be stored in the adjacent C Yard (to the left, as seen from this angle).

Here's one final shot, showing the tracks of the A and B Yards as seen from the middle of the 10-track A Yard::

 

Now I need to actually cut and fit all these track sections and turnouts together, as I had planned to do the last time I wrote.

My only other news is that Bill Messecar has been working almost every day on his scratch-built model of the Victorville boiler house, which will sit within the wye on the upper deck.

If you can visit me or help me in any way, please let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

Santa Fe's 1948-49 Scout Train in Victorville & Progress on Staging Yards

This time we'll cover the Santa Fe's Scout passenger train in Victorville during 1948-1949, and then we'll look at several weeks of initial progress on laying out the main staging yards on my layout.

Let's start with a painting by Jim Jordan of the Scout train about to leave Dearborn Station in Chicago behind the "Blue Goose" 4-6-4 #3460:

To cover the train in 1948-49, I'll be using more of the slides from my 2017 presentation.  Last time I listed some non-Scout-painted cars that were added during the 1940s, and here are more of them:
 

There were also more changes to the train's paint scheme:

 

Here's a photo of the westbound Scout (Train #1) on Curtis Hill, OK, in May 1947, behind 4-8-4 #2926, thanks to Preston George:

 

 

Next is some info on the changes to the train during 1948, including the end of steam power in mid-November:

I haven't found any photos of the Scout behind diesels in this time period, but here's an interesting shot showing Santa Fe's early diesels in front of a steam loco on the Scout, somewhere back east in 1948:

 

But the Scout stopped running all the way to Los Angeles in early 1949, as described in this slide:

Here's a going-away photo of the Scout, showing the tourist sleepers on the rear:

I was curious whether it would be possible for me to model the Scout in 1948 on Cajon Pass with none of the special Scout markings on the cars, and I decided that it could work on certain days:
 

Here's the standard Scout consist for Cajon Pass in the postwar years, with some HO model passenger cars that could be used: 

Luckily for me, both the westbound and the eastbound trains came through Victorville in the middle of the night, so I can omit this train.  During most of 1948, Train #1 came through at 2:58 A.M, and Train #2 came through at 11:41 P.M.  In Dec. 1948 until the final trip on Feb. 18, 1949, the train times in Victorville were 2:39 A.M. and 11:39 P.M.

In conclusion, here's the tail sign for the Scout train:

Now it's time to review my two bi-weekly layout progress reports of the past month.

On Sep. 8 I wrote the following:

 

I ended my Aug. 24 layout progress report by writing:

"There are lots of things that I should be doing next on the layout, but the one I plan to start with is to clear all the models and tools off one half of the lower deck and then draw the center-lines for all the A Yard tracks on that side and all the B yard tracks (the B Yard is stub-ended and does not wrap around the layout like the A Yard does)."

So, I actually did get started on this task.  First I moved all the tools and structures that were stored on one side of the main peninsula to the other side.  Here's a view of many of the Victorville structures, all crammed together on the other side of the layout:

 

With the space on the other side of the layout now clear, I laid out all the #6 Atlas turnouts and some of the flextracks, which will be spaced on 2 1/8" inch centers.  Here's a view from the throat, looking into the yards (10 tracks of the A Yard on the left, and 8 tracks of the B Yard on the right):

 

I was excited to see all these tracks taking shape, temporarily.  Here's a view looking back at the throat from the mid-point of the yards.  The Post-It notes were to help me keep track of the all the track numbers:

 

I shot one more photo from the left end of the yards, with the paper track plan in the foreground.  I had to refer to the track plan often to figure out where all the tracks and turnouts should go:

 

Then I decided to make a 4' long strip of poster board with all the track locations marked on 2 1/8" centers, with the edges of the ties marked for each track.  My track spacing for the rest of the layout has been 2 1/4", but I had to squeeze it down a bit in the yards, because I forgot to allow for the posts along the far side when I drew the trackplan:

 

I will move the flextracks out of the way when I use this template to mark the exact locations of the 18 tracks on the cork roadbed surface, at several locations along the track lengths.

My next step was to make photocopies of my #6 Atlas turnouts and lay them out on the cork in place of the real turnouts, to see how well they will fit with a powered switch machine attached beside each one:

 

Right away I found that the problem will be that some of the powered switch machines will get in the way of some of the adjacent turnouts.  I tried to solve this by changing two of the right-hand turnouts into left-hand ones, but then there are problems with the smooth flow through the turnouts.  I will have to keep working on this problem.  I've heard that Atlas under-table switch machines are a nightmare to install, so I'm trying hard to avoid that.

Then on Thursday, Sep. 4, it was time for my wife and me to leave town on our 49th honeymoon.  As usual, we sailed off to beautiful Victoria, BC, Canada.  There is no longer any rail line in town, but we saw some model trains when we visited Miniature World for the 2nd year in a row.  Here are a few token photos.

First, a beautiful logging scene:

 

Here is one of their small town scenes along the Canadian rail lines:

One of my favorite scenes shows a circus train unloading (on the left) and a circus parade into town (along the bottom):

While we were gone, my friend Craig Wisch in Victorville completed the first version of his cardstock model of the Standard Oil truck garage that will sit beside the rest of the Standard Oil dealer scene that Don Hubbard has been working to complete.  Craig added a sign on the side of the garage that will face the street (the edge of the layout):

And here is the other side of this very nice model:

 

Now that I'm back home, I'll get back to work on those tracks and turnouts for the A and B yards.

My next bi-weekly report was on Sep. 21, and I had this to say:

When we left off two weeks ago, you saw how I was laying out some flextracks and Atlas #6 turnouts to form the 10 staging tracks of the A Yard and the 8 staging tracks of the B Yard, and all the turnouts needed in the yard throat to reach them.

I decided that my next step should be to move all those tracks aside for a while, so I could draw the outlines of the tracks in pencil on the cork surface.  I marked the edges of each track at several points, using my poster-board template, and then I used a 48" ruler to draw the parallel edges of each track (the edges of the ties), as seen here:

 

Then I placed the flextracks at the ends of the straight, parallel parts of the tracks and curved and angled them to connect to the turnouts in the yard throat, as seen here:

 

As I said last time, I learned that the switch motor beside each turnout will require some changes to the yard throat design, as they tend to get in the way of the adjacent tracks.  For example, the turnout leading into tracks B7 and B8 had to moved around the curve leading into those tracks, making those tracks shorter than planned.

In the view below, you can see an example of this, where the turnouts into the B Yard did not line up with where I initially had them placed (in the middle of the photo):

 

So, I had to re-work the turnout locations until there was a smooth flow through each track and turnout, and so that none of the switch machines were in the way of the adjacent tracks, as seen here from a different angle:

The final step, not shown here. was to use a pencil to trace the outline of each track and turnout, and then to remove all the tracks and turnouts to see that all the outlines were in place.

My next step will be to start cutting and fitting the tracks and turnouts to connect together, remembering that some rail joiners will be insulated to create all the blocks needed in the yards.  But now football season is in full swing, so that takes some hours from my progress each week.

And since the yard throats have been modified, I will need to go back to the control panel drawings for these yard throats and change them to match the new reality.

In other news, my loco-painting expert up in Mukilteo, Gary Jordan, sent me a photo of my old PFM ATSF 3800-class brass 2-10-2 that he had completed testing and painting for me (as #3895):

 

Also, my friend in Victorville, Craig Wisch, has been corresponding with me daily about the final touches on his cardstock model of the Standard Oil dealer's truck garage.  He wanted to make a new,  improved rooftop, so he did, and I requested a sign board to be added to the front of the garage, where the garage doors are, and he has done that.

 

Here's a photo he sent me of the revised front (with sign board) and the left side:

 

 Here's a new photo of the front and right sides:

 

 And here we see the right and rear sides:

 

 

Many thanks to Craig for all of his work on this fine model.  He will be mailing it to me before long.
 

I'm enjoying working on the trackwork into the A and B yards, so I will continue with that.

If you can visit me or help with any of my projects, please let me know.