Santa Fe's 1946-49 Chief Train in Victorville & Slow Work on Staging Yards

 

This time we'll cover the Santa Fe's Chief passenger train in Victorville during 1946-1949, and then we'll look at several more weeks of slow progress on laying out the main staging yards on my layout.

Let's start with the Chief passenger train, using slides and photos from my 2010 clinic about the Postwar Chief.  Here's an opening image I used, showing a color Santa Fe ad for their Chief train:

 

 

Here's the introductory text slide, giving the basics about the train:

 And here's some general info about the train's postwar consist:
 

Here's some of the postwar history of the train, up to 1950:

Let's look at a photo of the first half of the train in 1949, with the transcontinental sleepers mixed in:

 

And here's the 2nd half of the Chief, including more sleepers and the observation car:

Here's some information about the locomotives that pulled the postwar train:

 

Here we see Santa Fe 4-6-2 #3427 pulling the Chief in 1945, somewhere in the eastern half of the system:

Robert Rogers reports that the 4-8-4's used on the Chief west of La Junta were from the 3765 class. 

Here we see FT diesels, newly-converted to passenger service, pulling the train around a curve in 1946:

Next, let's go through the 1946 consist of the train, starting at the front:

Here's a slide about the second part of the consist, with the transcontinental sleepers from three eastern railroads:

 

Here's a photo showing the transcontinental sleepers in the train:

 Now let's look at the third part of the train's consist:

 

Here's a color photo of the interior of a lounge car on the Chief: 

 Here's the final part of the train's consist:

Here we see the observation car "Coconino" at the rear of the train:

Here's a detailed table of all the cars in the 1946-48 consist, along with the HO models available as of 2010:

Here are some changes to the consist that took place at the end of February, 1948:

And here's a table of all the cars in the consist during 1948-49, and the HO models available as of 2010: 

Let's end this first presentation about the postwar Chief with this color ad, showing one of its observation cars during boarding:

It has been my habit to report on the times of day when the train traveled through Victorville (without stopping), so here are the times during 1946-49.

On June 2, 1946, Train 19 came through at 6:43 a.m. and Train 20 came through at 3:04 p.m.  On Sep. 29, 1946, Train 19 changed to 6:35 a.m.  On Nov. 10. 1946, Train 20 changed to 3:05 p.m.  On June 8, 1947, Train 19's time was 5:00 a.m. and Train 20's time was 3:48 p.m.  On Dec. 14, 1947, Train 19 changed to 5:10 a.m.  No further changes were made until 1950.

I will want to model this train in HO, so I will check the spreadsheet data given above for the available models.  Robert Rogers informs me that the only two HO models for this train added since 2010 are the Walthers 8-2-2 without skirts (but they can be added) and the Walthers Budd diner.

Our next topic will be two layout progress reports, as usual.  On Nov. 10, 2025, I wrote this report:

Back on Oct. 30, while still working on how to best arrange all the turnouts in the throat to the A and B staging yards, I realized that it might be possible to get rid of the two double-slip switches leading into the A Yard, including one on the inner mainline.  So I laid out some paper templates for regular turnouts to replace the double-slips.  Here's a photo showing the new crossover I'd need to add upstream between the two mainlines and they enter a curve: 

And here's a photo showing how the yard throat turnouts would be arranged, still with the turnout from track B7 into track B8 down around the curve, making tracks B7 and B8 shorter than the others (in the upper right part of the yard in this view):

 

I sent these photos to my advisors Tim Fisher and Don Borden, and Tim was okay with the new crossovers (instead of the double-slips) but didn't like tracks B7 and B8 being so short.  He suggested eliminating track B8, which would also allow the rest of the tracks to be spaced at my standard of 2 1/4" instead of the 2 1/8" inches I was using to fit all 18 tracks in.  This weekend I worked on that new arrangement -- see the results at the end of this report.

On Oct. 31 I visited Bill Messecar and brought home the model of the Victorville boiler house that he had scratch-built for me.  Here's a photo of it posed on the staging deck, showing the side that will face the mainlines:

 

Here's the other side of the boiler house model, which is the side facing the wye and the layout aisle:

 

Note how a stove pipe came out of one of the windows.  Many thanks to Bill for his excellent work on this!

Then on Nov. 5 I attended another op session at Bill's wonderful Santa Fe layout.  Here we see Colin Kikawa and Dave Peck bringing the Placentia Turn through the Corona area after completing their work:

 

Here we see me and Norm Bruce working on the Riverside Turn (with Bill in the background):

 

 

And here we see Bill Messecar bringing the Corona Turn back to the San Bernardino yard:

 

We had a good time that morning, and then we all went out to lunch together.

The next event was on Nov. 8, when the Boeing Employees Model Railroad Club hosted their annual Swap Meet in Kent, which fills a large gymnasium and another room across the hall.  As usual, my job was to check the vendors into the smaller room, and then later to sell tickets at the entrance.  Here's a photo showing several club members working at the club tables, including club president Byron Osborn on the left:

 

During my lunch break, I met with UP researcher Jeff Koeller, who had just completed an excellent article about the UP's short-lived Transcon passenger train of 1946, which I had published in my Victorville layout blog the night before.  We had a good discussion about the article, and then I asked him to pose beside a large-scale layout there:

 

Many thanks to Jeff for all his work on the Transcon article!  His next project is to write about the UP's Los Angeles Limited of 1946.

My project yesterday and today was to try out the new yard track arrangement, with the tracks spaced on 2 1/4" centers and with track B8 eliminated.  I had high hopes for this, but as I re-spaced all the tracks and rearranged all the turnouts into them, I found that now tracks B6 and B7 became shorter, despite losing track B8.

Here's a current view into the rearranged turnouts at the yard throat:

 

 

And here's a view from the far end of the yards:

 

The turnout into tracks B6 and B7 was now at the far left in this photo, but both tracks were now shorter than the others, and I've lost track B8, so I saw this as a setback.  I wondered if I should go back to the 2 1/8" track spacing and add track B8 beck into the yard.  I'll see whether my advisors agree or not.

 

On Nov. 30 I wrote my next report:

 

I'm a week late with this report, due to life and family events taking up my time, plus I'm slowing down in my old age!

When we left off, I had found that spacing the A and B Yard tracks 2 1/4" apart, instead of 2 1/8", caused me to lose Track B8.  But my advisors told me that this was okay, and they liked the normal 2 1/4" spacing, which is used everywhere else in my trackwork.  So I agreed with them, and I will follow their advice.  No more Track B8.

The new yard design gets rid of the two double-slip switches and replaces them with regular crossovers, as discussed last time.  I worked a little on inserting the first crossover between the two mainlines, near where the turnout to the future helix is located in the outer main.  

I began by removing the #8 turnout to the helix, and I trimmed and inserted a #6 turnout in its place, but farther to the right.  I'm trying to leave 12" of straight track between the points of the nearby turnouts, so there will be no S-curve derailments by long passenger cars there.

I also cut and fit and glued down some upside-down cork roadbed to fill the gap between the mainlines, as seen here under the loose crossover turnouts in the lower right:

After I painted the new cork roadbed, I shot another view from the other end of the developing scene:

 

The new #6 turnout to the helix is in the lower left, and the newly-painted cork is under the loose crossover between the main lines in the upper left.  My next step will be to remove parts of the inner and outer mains to make room for the new crossover.  Revising the trackwork is a fussy job and no fun at all.

Meanwhile, I've been corresponding with my architect friend Jim Coady, who hopes to find time to make some scale drawings of the Victorville sand house and its attached sand bin.  My friend Bill Messecar plans to build the models for me, when the drawings are ready.

We have no close-ups of the sand house and bin.  Here's the best view I could find, cropped from a larger photo of the local switcher (Santa Fe 2-8-2 #3134) parked by the boiler house and the elevated fuel oil tank, inside the wye:

 

 

The Santa Fe's fuel service records include this drawing of the area, with the sand house and bin on the right:

 

The Victorville building records list the sand house and bin as "wood, 44.8' x 11.5', erected 6-1945."

I'll report back when we have some drawings to work from.

In other structure news, Craig Wisch in Victorville may be interested in building a cardstock model of the Union Oil bulk dealer that was on the far side of the wye.  I have sent him the drawings that Jim Coady made for me some years ago, so I'm hoping that Craig will be inspired to use them.

I volunteered to support the Boeing Employee Model Railroad Club's open house, which was open to the public on Friday and Saturday of this past week.  I was there, running a train around, for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon, until the crowds died down.  Here's a photo I shot of some of the visitors (mostly parents with excited children) filling one of the aisles:

 

Here's some of the scenery along this same aisle, with the railroad and a highway going through the mountains:

 

Here's the train I was running, with four blue Seattle & North Cascades F-units and a long freight, passing a GN freight stopped on a siding:

 

 

Here's the newly-completed roundhouse and turntable scene (part of our Everett yard):

 

Back along the main aisle, here is some more scenery with a steep rock cliff beside a small town:

 

My final photo shows a US Army train in action, pulling some flatcars loaded with tanks:

 

Everyone there had a fun time, so the open house was a big success!

 

Please contact me if you can help with my layout in any way. 

John

 

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.

- - - - - -

 

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.

- - - - - -

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. 

- - - - - -

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.

- - - - - -

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.

- - - - - -

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.

- - - - - - 

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.

- - - - - -

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.