UP's 1952-1954 Los Angeles Limited Train & Gluing Down Tracks in the Left Half of the A Yard

 

This time we'll cover the Union Pacific's Los Angeles Limited passenger train in Victorville from l952 through early 1954, and then we'll look at four weeks of work on gluing down flextracks to form the rest of the 10-track A Yard, where the tracks continue around the big curve at the end of the peninsula and then fill most of the other side of the peninsula.

For this fourth report on the LA Limited passenger train, I'll be using information kindly supplied again by UP researcher Jeff Koeller, as follows:

Los Angeles Limited 1952-1954

 

Passenger Equipment Paint Scheme Changes

 

After the new passenger cars delivered for upgrading the “Cities” trains arrived in 1949-1950, the Los Angeles Limited began to see more Armour Yellow cars mixed in with its regular Two-Tone Gray paint schemes, along with heavyweight sleepers in Pullman Green and Pennsy Tuscan Red. These yellow cars included new cars assigned on a temporary basis, but also included hand-me-down equipment from the “Cities” trains, some of which were repainted in TTG, but others, such as the C&NW coach-lounge cars, stayed in the yellow ”Cities” scheme. 

 

WB LA Limited at Salt Lake City

 

Train No.1, the westbound LA Limited, is shown approaching the 1st North Street grade crossing in Salt Lake City on April 12, 1952. At mid-train is the overhead conveyer bridge that carried block ice from the Utah Ice & Storage Company to the Pacific Fruit Express refrigerator car icing dock (out of the picture to the left). 

Today’s train is headed up by Fairbanks-Morse engine 701 (renumbered from 50-M-2A in 3-48), along with F-Ms 706B and 704B. On the head-end is a UP express box car in Two-Tone Gray and a Pullman Green 5000-series heavyweight dormitory car. 

 

These are followed by several Armour Yellow cars, including a pair of UP 5300-series coaches, a C&NW 3416-series coach-lounge, a UP articulated dormitory-kitchen/diner (DK/Diner), a UP 1516-series club-lounge, an Imperial-class sleeper, and a Western-class sleeper. 

 

Next is a NYC River-class sleeper in “eastern” Two-Tone Gray. Unidentifiable cars would include a UP Pacific-class sleeper in Coast-to-Coast service, an American-class sleeper from Minneapolis-St. Paul, and a Pullman heavyweight 14 section sleeper from Chicago. RH Kindig Photo.

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As a result of the continual mixing of paint schemes, Union Pacific decided in 1952 that Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Gray with red separation stripes and lettering, previously used exclusively on the “Cities” streamliners, would become the standard colors for all its passenger equipment. 

Naturally, the changeover didn’t take place overnight, but by mid-1953 the LA Limited had become almost entirely Armour Yellow, except for the daily heavyweight Pullman Green 14 section sleeper on the rear, and the occasional appearance of a lightweight Coast-to-Coast sleeper in New York Central “eastern” Two-Tone Gray or Pennsy Tuscan Red. Although the train continued to handle a heavyweight car or two, the consists appeared in mostly matching yellow colors, perhaps the Limited’s finest hour. 

 

 

WB LA Limited near Granite Canyon

 

Few photos have been located of the LA Limited running between Cheyenne and Green River during its last few years of operation, and this Otto Perry photo taken near Granite Canon on June 15, 1952 is a gem because it shows that EMD diesels were still the predominant form of road engines in this area. Here is train No. 1 ascending the east slope of Sherman Hill with Mountain-type engine 7039 as the head end helper, with three UP diesels including E7 998 (ex 959A), an F3 B-unit, and an E6A. 

This interesting 5,500 hp lashup has a lengthy 18-car consist in tow that has acquired four non-regularly-assigned heavyweight sleepers, perhaps for some special event. The first car is a UP horse-baggage-automobile car, followed by a pair of UP 5300-series coaches, a C&NW 3416-series coach-lounge, a UP heavyweight coffee shop diner (for coach passengers), a UP two-unit dorm-kitchen/diner, a UP 1516-series club-lounge, with an Imperial-class sleeper and a Western-class sleeper ahead of the four heavyweight Pullmans. All cars preceding the Pullman Green heavyweights are in Armour Yellow. Otto Perry Photo, OP-18986. 

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Motive Power

 

Although ALCo PA or PB passenger units were often mixed in, by 1952, 6,000 hp three-unit sets of Fairbanks-Morse “Erie-built” diesels had become the standard form of motive power on the LA Limited between Los Angeles and Green River, Wyoming, partly due to their tractive effort superiority over the EMD E6s and E7s, but also because they had dynamic brakes, which the E-units lacked. 

EMD’s new 2,250 hp model E8, introduced in 1949, was designed to overcome these deficiencies with high-output traction motors and dynamic braking. UP took delivery of five AB sets of E8s in 1950, but these ten units were prioritized for the “Cities” streamliners. In 1952-1953, UP acquired 36 more E8s, some of which could be found operating on the LA Limited in late 1953. 

East of Green River, the LA Limited was dominated by UP E-unit combinations, while on the C&NW’s relatively flat Chicago to Omaha main line, North Western E-units were the primary type of power units, usually operating in two-unit E8A-E7A 4,250 hp lashups. 

 

EB LA Limited at East Los Angeles Station

 

Train No. 2, the eastbound LA Limited, is shown pulling up to its East Los Angeles station stop on December 16, 1952. This three-unit set of Fairbanks-Morse diesels is headed up by engine 703 (ex 985A, renumbered in March 1948).

 

Except for the heavyweight Pullman Green 14 section sleeper barely visible on the rear end, the rest of the train is impressive in its matching Armour Yellow colors, which includes C&NW baggage-dorm 9301 (ex CP-101), a pair of UP 5300-series coaches, a C&NW 3416-series coach-lounge, a C&NW two-unit coffee shop-kitchen/diner (6960 Presidio/6696 Mission Dolores), and a UP 1516-series club-lounge, followed by five yellow lightweight sleepers and the heavyweight Pullman. Robert Peterson Photo.

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EB LA Limited Near Pine Lodge in 1953

 

Ascending the eastward track on Cajon Pass, the LA Limited is shown near Pine Lodge just above Sullivan’s Curve. Motive power consists of a Fairbanks-Morse AB diesel set with an ALCo PA unit trailing. The lead unit is F-M 650, which was renumbered from 981A in February 1953 (ex 50-M-1A). 

The train includes a UP express box car, two UP 5300-series coaches, a C&NW 3416-series coach-lounge, a UP DK/Diner, a UP 1516-series club-lounge, and a Western-class sleeper. Breaking up the otherwise all-yellow consist is a NYC River-class sleeper in “eastern” Two-Tone Gray, followed two more yellow cars, a Pacific-class sleeper and an Imperial-class sleeper. Donald Duke photo. 

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EB LA Limited 1st Photo Along the Weber River

 

The LA Limited is shown heading upgrade along the Weber River reservoir at about mile 980.5 on June 21, 1953. The eastbound train is led by ALCo PA 602 (ex 996A) with ALCo PB 605B and F-M 654 (ex 704) trailing. Behind the engines is a UP Harriman-roof storage-mail car (ex RPO), followed by a UP 5300-series coach with its vestibule adjacent to another 5300 coach.

This reservoir was created by building a dam, spillway, and penstock to provide water for generating electricity at the Utah Power & Light Company’s Weber Station power house a mile and three-quarters down-river from here (the dam is just out of the picture to the right). Although this location on the UP is sometimes referred to as “Strawberry,” it’s really a just a half-mile east of Devil’s Gate, where twin UP bridges span the Weber River and US South 30. 

 

EB LA Limited 2nd Photo Along the Weber River

 

This second view is helpful for identifying several of the train’s Armour Yellow cars. Starting at the signal bridge in the left distance, the consist has three UP 5300-series coaches, a C&NW 3416-series coach-lounge, a UP heavyweight coffee shop diner (for coach passengers), a UP two-unit DK/Diner, followed by a UP 1516-series club-lounge, then an Imperial-class sleeper, and (part of) a Western-class sleeper. Emil Albrecht Photos (from utahrails.net). 

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Epilogue — A New Los Angeles Limited Streamliner 

 

The first of 38 new 5450-5487 series coaches began arriving from AC&F in November 1953. These 44-seat leg-rest coaches were the same type as used on the “Cities” trains, and their delivery would enable UP to finally replace the LA Limited’s outdated 1937-built coaches and help upgrade the train to full streamliner status — essentially an improved “new” Los Angeles Limited. 

At this time the traveling trend of first class businessmen was rapidly changing from trains to airlines, therefore the new streamliner would feature more coaches and fewer sleeping cars. Accordingly, the heavyweight 14 section sleeper from Chicago would be dropped, and the New York to Los Angeles Coast-to-Coast sleepers would be transferred to the City of Los Angeles: the Line 4048 sleeper via the NYC on August 1, 1953, and the Line 4049 sleeper via the PRR, effective January 10, 1954. 

Also, the Minneapolis-St Paul to Los Angeles Line 4349 American-class sleeper would be re-assigned to the COLA on January 10, 1954, leaving the LA Limited with only the two Chicago to Los Angeles cars: the Line 4345 Imperial-class sleeper and the Line 4346 Western-class sleeper. 

In order to make the train ultra-competitive with Santa Fe’s faster, all-lightweight Chief, the new LA Limited streamliner would operate on a "One Night" en route schedule and on the same 39 3/4 hours timing as UPs Pacific Coast “Cities” trains. Along with the introduction of a re-equipped “new” streamliner City of Denver, all these goals would be accomplished beginning on January 10, 1954. 

However, in a marketing move designed to attract more customers, the name of the new train was changed on that date from the illustrious but decades-old Los Angeles Limited moniker to the Challenger Streamliner, but that’s another story to be addressed in the next installment.  

Thanks to Jeff Koeller for all of the above text, photos with captions, and consist table!

 

I always like to look up what the train times through Victorville were.  Starting on Sep. 30, 1951,  the westbound LA Limited (Train 201 in the Santa Fe employee timetable) still came through town without stopping at 7:07 a.m., while Train 202 came through at 3:08 p.m.  To be continued.

 

These were daytime train times, meaning that I should model and operate this train.  We're still working on a list of HO models that could be used for this train.  These will be added here later.

 

As for layout progress since last time, on May 10 I wrote this first bi-weekly report:

 

When we left off two weeks ago, I had pinned down the flextracks for Tracks A1 though A10 on the left part of the A Yard, and I had loosely placed the turnouts that will bring these ten tracks together into the throat.

My next steps were to cut and fit short pieces of flextracks to fit between all the turnouts of the left throat of the A Yard.  When all of this work was done, I shot a photo of the yard throat from the wide part of the A Yard, as seen here:

 

 

I also shot a photo of the connected yard throat from the narrow end:
 

On the left side of the above photo, you can see that I had located where the tracks and turnouts of the seven-track D Yard could fit in.  The D Yard will be for storing more diesel sets between runs.

The next step was to start gluing down the A Yard tracks on this side of the layout, one by one.  Here's a view of the caulk after it was spread for the curving part of Track A1:

 

Here's a view after the curve of Track A1 had been glued down, and the first Track A1 straight section had been glued, and the curving sections of Track A2 had also been glued down, and the water bottles had been placed on top while the caulk dries:

 

 

I will continue with this process of gluing down the A Yard tracks in the days to come.

Now let's look at some progress my friends have been making with structures for my layout.  Last Friday (May 8) I met with Bill Messecar for lunch, and he gave me his completed model of the Victorville stock pen, which he had scratch-built according to standard Santa Fe plans and Victorville building records.  My space for the pen is limited, so he built a version with two sections instead of three.  I was blown away with how beautiful it is!

When I got home, I placed ten Hereford cattle (from Woodland Scenics) into one of the sections and shot two photos.  Here's a trackside view from the left:

 

 

And here's a view from the right:

 

Many thanks to Bill for his amazing work on this model!

My friend Colin Kikawa, an expert passenger car modeler, had sold me two of this Pullman heavyweight sleepers with interiors (a 12-1 and a 6-3), and Bill passed those along to me, so I put them onto a staging track for a photo:

 

Thanks to Colin for h is fine work on these!

During the past two weeks I exchanged a lot of emails with my newest friend, Jon McWhirter, about what kits and parts he might be able to use to construct a compressed model of the electrical Switching Station just outside Victorville.  You saw some initial ideas last time, and here are a couple of newer ideas.  One is to use a do-it-yourself substation kit like this one he found online:

Then he had the idea to buy some plans for 3D printing, and have them printed locally, producing parts like these:

We are looking for parts like these to construct the tall gantry structures that we see in the photos, such as in this 1953 USGS aerial photo of the area:

 

Notice how small the Control House is (at lower left) compared to the entire area, but in my compressed layout space, it will occupy quite a bit of the available space.

I visited Jon at his home for the first time on Saturday (May 9), where I got to see his L-shaped switching layout, and we discussed more ideas for modeling the Switching Station in my relatively limited space.  Here is Jon's latest idea for how to use the available space:

We decided that we could move the Control House a bit to the left to better equalize the space on each side of it (that move is not shown in this plan).  Jon will keep me updated on his latest ideas for building the large gantries that fill the area.  We also wondered whether we should string actual wires between the gantries or just leave the wires invisible, but I think I'd prefer invisible wires.

 

Then on May 24 I sent out my next bi-weekly report:

 

When we left off two weeks ago, I had glued down the first two staging yard tracks (A1 and A2) in the left half of the 10-track A Yard.  I continued attaching the rest of the tracks, usually one per day, during the next two weeks.

Here we see Track A2 after it had been glued and pinned in place, before the water bottles were placed on top:

 

And here is the bead of glue (caulk) in place to start on Track A3, which is lying loose off to the left side:

 

Proceeding to Track A4, it has now been glued and pinned and weighted down with water bottles while the glue dries overnight:

 

 

After doing it this way for the first five tracks, I discovered that it was easier to glue and pin just one flextrack section at a time, before moving along to the next flextrack.  There were three or four flextracks to glue down along the length of each yard track.  

The most important part is to ensure that the rails meet smoothly inside the rail joiners at each joint.  Then about four loose ties have to be filed down and slipped under the rail joiner areas.  But they can't hold the rails in a smooth curve, so little kinks appear at these points, and they will have to be corrected later with some sort of spikes or nails.

Meanwhile, my new friend Jon McWhirter had to give up on the 3D printing of the tall gantry parts for the Switching Station, so he will look for some other solution.  He sent me this nice photo of the Substation model he had built for his own switching layout:

 

And my local friend Bill Messecar, who recently finished his beautiful scratch-built model of the Victorville Stock Pen, which you saw last time, has volunteered to build something else for me, and we settled on parts of the large Southwestern Portland Cement Plant that will occupy a lot of space around the corner from the Victorville town scene.

Years ago I had bought the large Walthers Valley Cement kit to supply some of the needed parts:

 

Here's a side view of the actual cement plant back in the 1940s, with the Santa Fe mainlines in the foreground:

 

Here's my track plan for the area.  I outlined several of the buildings with red ink to show Bill which parts of the Walthers kit should go where:

The parts in red ink are the kiln and the buildings at the top and bottom of the kiln, and the limestone storage building.  Since that time I've learned that this larger 1949 kiln had the top part on the left and the bottom on the right, so we'll install it that way on the layout (someday).  By the way, I had some great discussions with an AI agent about many features of this particular cement plant!

Getting back now to the staging yard, this week I was able to add one more track each day, so all ten tracks are now glued down, except for the parts that enter the yard throat turnouts.

Here's a view of the completed yard, with water bottles on Tracks A9 and A10:

 

Here's a view of the yard from the throat end, where the turnouts and connecting tracks are waiting to be glued down next:

 

On the far side of the bottles are the seven tracks of the D Yard (for storing diesels between runs), so that will be my next project after the A Yard throat.

If you can help me in any way, in person or by building models remotely, please let me know.

 

UP's 1949-1951 Los Angeles Limited Train & Locating Tracks in the Left End of the A Yard

This time we'll cover the Union Pacific's Los Angeles Limited passenger train in Victorville from l949 through 1951, and then we'll look at four weeks of work on locating flextracks to form the rest of the 10-track A Yard, where the tracks continue around the big curve at the end of the peninsula and then fill most of the other side of the peninsula.

For this third report on the LA Limited passenger train, I'll be using information kindly supplied again by UP researcher Jeff Koeller, as follows:

Los Angeles Limited 1949-1951

New Equipment for the “Cities” Trains Bring Changes to the LA Limited Consists

 

In planning for the post-WWII upgrading of the “Cities” streamliners to daily service, Union Pacific, along with operating partners Chicago & North Western and Southern Pacific, ordered various types of new passenger cars in 1946 as follows: UP 80 cars in February; C&NW 20 cars in March and May; and SP nine cars in June. 

 

However, due to the car builders being overwhelmed by new passenger and freight car equipment orders, the cars intended for upgrading the “Cities” streamliners were going to be delayed for a minimum of two years. So it was that UP was forced to institute daily “Cities” service in 1947 by creating eight new consists with passenger equipment removed from secondary trains along with additional contributions by C&NW and SP from their existing car fleets.  

 

EB LA Limited with FEF 820 Below Sherman 6-25-49

 

Drifting downhill about two miles below Sherman, Wyoming, train No. 2, the eastbound LA Limited, is shown essentially heading northeast while approaching Buford Curve on June 25, 1949. The late afternoon sun nicely illuminates UP Two-Tone Gray FEF 820 and its passenger cars arrayed in a variety of paint schemes. Note the photographer’s automobile in the lower right shadows. 

The cars include a heavyweight Pullman Green dormitory, a heavyweight UP modernized 500-series coach in Armour Yellow, a pair of UP 5300-series coaches, one in yellow and another in TTG, a 1949 AC&F cafe-lounge in Armour Yellow, a pair of TTG lightweight sleepers, a heavyweight 12-1 in Pullman Green, a 1949 AC&F diner in yellow, a heavyweight TTG club-lounge, two more heavyweight sleepers, a TTG lightweight sleeper from Minneapolis-St. Paul, followed by two more heavyweight sleepers. RH Kindig photo. 

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Union Pacific’s new post-war passenger cars arrived on the property in Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Gray streamliner colors built by American Car & Foundry in 1949. The first cars were 4800-4816 series dining cars delivered in January-March 1949, with C&NW’s AC&F diners 6956-6959 coming in March-April. 

 

These 21 new diners entered service on the City of San Francisco, City of Portland and the City of St. Louis. However, because the City of Los Angeles (COLA) had been operating with the 1937 articulated dormitory-kitchen/diners (DK/Diners) since May 1947, that train would have to wait until the new baggage-dormitory cars were delivered by AC&F in July-September 1949 before releasing the DK/Diners and installing the new AC&F diners.

Variations in equipment assignments resulted in some of the new AC&F diners showing up in LA Limited consists in early 1949. The cars are easily spotted in photographs due to their “Cities” Armour Yellow paint schemes, which contrasted greatly with the Limited’s standard Two-Tone Gray passenger car colors, along with heavyweight sleepers in Pullman Green and Pennsy Tuscan Red. 

 

WB LA Limited FM Diesels at Green River 7-5-49

 

An ABA set of UP Fairbanks-Morse diesels are on the point of No. 1, the westbound LA Limited, at Green River on July 5, 1949. In back is the 1st East Street overhead footbridge where many classic train photos were taken from over the years. Delivered in April 1948, F-M 706 has the large windshield carbody and the ALCo PA-type trucks common to Erie-builts 704, 705, 706, and 707. Although the LA&SL route had been dieselized by this time, steam power generally ruled east of Salt Lake City, but not always, as in the case presented here. 

The consist has a heavyweight Two-Tone Gray Pullman dorm on the head end, followed by a heavyweight UP 500-series modernized coach in Armour Yellow (as determined by the dark stripe above the side sill), then a pair of UP 5300-series coaches in TTG, a 1941 Cafe-Lounge in Armour Yellow (recently removed from the City of Portland), two Chicago to Los Angeles lightweight sleepers in TTG, a heavyweight Pullman Green sleeper, with another eight unidentifiable cars bringing up the rear end. Otto Perry OP-19224. 

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After the AC&F baggage-dorms and diners went into service on the COLA, the DK/Diners were sent to UP’s Omaha Shops for refurbishing and repainting into Two-Tone Gray for service on the LA Limited. At this time the C&NW coach-lounge cars, which had operated in conjunction with the DK/Diners on the COLA, also began showing up in the LA Limited, still painted in their “Cities” Armour Yellow colors. 

As the new 1949 AC&F River-series club-lounge cars were placed in COLA service, the UP 1516-series club-lounge cars, converted from former women’s coaches in 1947, were repainted into Two-Tone Gray and assigned to the LA Limited, operating behind the DK/Diners, as had been done during their COLA assignment. 

 

WB LA Limited at East LA Station

 

This down-on view of No. 1, the westbound LA Limited, at its 10:10 am East Los Angeles station stop provides a good view of mid-train cars, such as the 1949 AC&F diner at left in streamliner colors, followed by UP club-lounge 1523, recently repainted into Two-Tone Gray (after being taken off the City of Portland and having its blunt end removed for mid-train operation). Sleeper Imperial Bird in TTG does not have UNION PACIFIC sublettering at the ends of the letterboard, a practice that began with the delivery of new sleeping cars from AC&F and Budd in December 1949. This car will subsequently be painted into Armour Yellow at UP’s East Los Angeles yards on June 3, 1952. 

This location was double-tracked in 1949, according a note in California Division Time Table No. 4, effective 6-12-49; “Double track between M.P. 5.64 and M.P. 7.72” (just west of Montebello station). The trackage from Pasadena Jct. to Riverside, governed by block signals, will be under full Centralized Traffic Control with the issuance of Time Table No. 6, effective 9-24-50. UPRR Photo.

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WB LA Limited FEF 841 and Helper at Sherman

 

Credit Ben Cutler for photographing these action shots of train No.1, the westbound LA Limited, at Sherman summit in Wyoming during the summer of 1950. This “going away” view shows a pair of UP’s Four-Eight-Four (FEF) steam locomotives in Two-Tone Gray colors. Road engine 841, closest to the camera, is equipped with “elephant ear” smoke lifters, while the helper engine does not have them. Race horses were still being transported by rail at this time, as evidenced by UP horse car 1759, built in 1924 by AC&F. The car is painted Dark Olive Green with “HORSE-BAGGAGE AUTOMOBILE” lettering just ahead of the side door. 

 

WB LA Limited FEF 841, Rear End of Train at Sherman

 

After stopping at Sherman summit to allow the helper to be cut off, the LA Limited is just getting under way in this view showing the train’s rarely photographed rear end. 

 

From right-to-left are two Pullman Green 14 section heavyweight sleeping cars, one of which is a “summer season” car. Next is a Two-Tone Gray American-class sleeper from Minneapolis-St. Paul, preceded by a pair of sleepers running in Coast-to-Coast service; the closest car is a Two-Tone Gray UP Pacific-class sleeper, then a Pennsylvania Railroad Rapids-class sleeper, undoubtedly in Pennsy Tuscan Red. 

 

Ahead of these is a Western-class sleeper recently delivered by AC&F in the “Cities” Armour Yellow color scheme. Note the FEF helper engine backing up on the center siding in the left distance; the switch in the foreground is for the west leg of the wye, where the helper will be turned for its trip back to Cheyenne. Both photos by BF Cutler. 

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Also, after the new 1949 AC&F baggage-dorm cars began service in the “Cities” trains, hand-me-down baggage-dorms began operating on the LA Limited, replacing the venerable heavyweight 13 section 5000-series dormitory cars. Now included in the Limited’s consists were former City of Portland cars 5601, 5602, CP-103, and C&NW 9301 (ex CP-101), as well as former City of San Francisco cars 5613 and SF-104, all of which retained their Amour Yellow colors.  

The transition to the hand-me-down baggage-dorms was gradual, and a few photos during this period show LA Limited consists still operating with a heavyweight 13 section dormitory car. Also, at least one photo has been found of the Limited running with one of the new 1949 Armour Yellow AC&F baggage-dorm cars in its consist.  However, the use of the hand-me-down baggage-dorms was interrupted with the assignment of the 1937 DK/Diners, which had crew dormitory facilities and precluded the need for a head-end dorm car.  

 

Coach service continued to be “2 cars—all seats reserved” according to the UP public time tables. At this time the 1937 UP 5300-series cars were still operating along with the 1942 UP 5331-series cars. Occasionally one of UP’s modernized, heavyweight 44-seat 500-series coaches also shows up in photos. 

 

These cars were upgraded at the Omaha Shops in 1948 and 1950 with large double-pane side windows, roller bearings, new Frigidaire electro-mechanical air conditioning, and “turtle back” roofs designed to better match the lightweight cars. C&NW’s contribution included 48-seat coaches from series 6132-6147 built in 1937. All of these cars would have been painted Two-Tone Gray. 

 

 

UP Modernized Coach 526 in TTG

 

UP Two-Tone Gray coach 526 represents heavyweight cars 525-545 that were “modernized” at Omaha Shops in 1950-1951. Photographed on Track 6 at C&NW’s Chicago passenger terminal, the car is entrained in the LA Limited ahead of a C&NW heavyweight diner in TTG and behind C&NW coach-lounge 3428 in streamliner yellow. Empty seats indicate the train is backing in.

After receiving a “turtle-back” roof, large side windows, a single-vestibule, modified side sills, a new Frigidaire air conditioning system, and roller bearings in January 1950, this 44-seat car bears little resemblance to the original coach 426 as built in August 1925 by Pullman Car & Mfg. Corp. It’s not known how many of these modernized coaches came in TTG or Armour Yellow, so photos are the best resource for documenting paint schemes. JM Koeller Collection. 

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In June through October 1950 the “Cities” trains were upgraded with new Pullman-Standard 44-seat leg-rest coaches in series 5400-5449, which resulted in the LA Limited receiving hand-me-down UP 5331-series cars, still in streamliner colors. 

The operation of head-end equipment in the LA Limited during the late-1940s and early 1950s has been difficult to document, other than what can be ascertained from photographs. Consists can include a horse car, a baggage car, or one of UP’s Two-Tone Gray express box cars. On the C&NW between Chicago and Omaha, the railroad added head-end cars as-needed. 

Sleeping Car Changes

 

New AC&F 12 Roomette-4 double bedroom Western-class sleeping cars were delivered to UP in streamliner colors in December 1949 and January 1950. As these cars arrived, they began to replace a 6-6-4 sleeper in each of the LA Limited’s consists then running in the Chicago to Los Angeles Line 4346, and by February 2, 1950, the transition had been completed. C&NW also received Western sleepers in January 1950, but these were assigned to the City of Portland. 

By July 1, 1950, additional changes consisted of replacing the two Chicago to Los Angeles Line 337 heavyweight 12 section-1 drawing room sleepers with a single heavyweight 14 section car, but also included was a “summer season” 14 section car. At this time, the Chicago to Cedar City, Utah, summer season sleeper was discontinued, but the Chicago to Los Angeles Line 4345 2 drawing room-4 compartment-4 double bed room sleeper continued to operate, as did the Minneapolis-St. Paul to Los Angeles Line 4849 lightweight 6-6-4 sleeper, both in Two-Tone Gray colors.   

Coast-to-Coast Sleepers

 

The LA Limited’s Washington to Los Angeles Line 4043 heavyweight 12 section-1 drawing room sleeping car was discontinued effective February 18, 1949, leaving just the two New York to Los Angeles heavyweight 6 section-6 double bedroom sleepers in Coast-to-Coast service. 

Beginning in January 1950, the heavyweight Coast-to-Coast sleepers were replaced by new lightweight 10 roomette-6 double bedroom sleeping cars delivered to Union Pacific, New York Central, and the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1948-1950. The New York to Los Angeles Line 4048 was inaugurated on January 21, 1950, via the New York Central to/from Chicago; and the NY to LA Line 4049 was inaugurated on February 8, 1950, via the PRR to/from Chicago.

Cars for Coast-to-Coast service were drawn from larger sleeping car pools, with each New York to Los Angeles route requiring seven cars. Line 4048 included five UP sleepers and two NYC cars, while Line 4049 included five UP sleepers and two PRR cars. 

UP Sleeper Pacific Ocean

 

The Budd Company delivered 50 fluted-side, stainless steel 10 Roomette-6 double bedroom Pacific-class sleeping cars to Union Pacific in December 1949 through June 1950. Twenty-five cars were painted in Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Gray colors for the “Cities” streamliners, while 25 cars received the Two-Two Gray scheme for operating in secondary trains. This view of recently delivered TTG Pacific Ocean was taken in Denver on July 30, 1950, and represents such cars as assigned to Coast-to-Coast service in the LA Limited and San Francisco Overland. Otto Perry OP-19541.

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The NYC’s River-class sleepers were delivered by Pullman-Standard in September 1949 through March 1949; and the PRR’s Rapids-class sleepers were delivered by P-S in November 1948 through January 1949. Additional PRR Rapids-class cars came from AC&F in March 1949 and September-October 1950.  

 

The Coast-to-Coast sleepers operated in the LA Limited in their as-delivered paint schemes. The NYC River-class sleepers were painted in “eastern” Two-Tone Gray, a scheme in which the dark gray and light gray color bands are reversed from the TTG scheme more commonly associated with western railroads such as UP and Southern Pacific. The PRR Rapids-class sleepers came in Pennsy Tuscan Red, which lasted until several of their Coast-to-Coast sleepers received UP colors in 1955. 

 

EB LA Limited with ALCo PA 602 above Cajon 10-30-50

 

One of the best vantage points for viewing train consists is on Cajon Pass, as in this down-on example in the Pine Lodge area looking toward Cajon station (in the distant background). Note the westbound track, below, occupied by a UP Day Live-Stock train No. 299. In this view, UP ALCo PA 602 is in charge of an ABA lashup with the eastbound LA Limited after coming off Sullivan’s Curve. 

The 12-car consist includes a baggage-dorm in streamliner colors (5601 or 5602), recently removed from the City of Portland, then a pair of UP 5300-series coaches in TTG, a C&NW coach-lounge in Armour Yellow, transferred from the COP or COLA, a heavyweight UP modernized diner in TTG, a UP 1516-series club-lounge off the COP or the COLA and re-painted into TTG, a lightweight 2-4-4 sleeper in Armour Yellow, a 1949 AC&F Western-class 12-4 sleeper in yellow, a NYC lightweight 10-6 sleeper in “eastern” Two-Tone Gray, a Pennsy 10-6 in Tuscan Red, a TTG lightweight sleeper from Minneapolis-St. Paul, and a Pullman Green heavyweight sleeper, probably a 14 section car, on the rear end. RH Kindig Photo.

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EB LA Limited with Helper 4-10-2 5093 and F-M Diesels

 

Another down-on view near Pine Lodge shows the eastbound LA Limited with UP 4-10-2 steam engine 5093 helping an ABA set of Fairbanks-Morse diesels with a varied consist that includes an express box car on the head end. This is followed by a UP 5331-series coach and a UP 5300-series coach, both in Armour Yellow, then a C&NW 3416-series coach-lounge in UP yellow. Next is a 1937 Dormitory-Kitchen/Diner recently painted in Two-Tone Gray after having been removed from COLA service. Trailing the diner is a UP 1516-series club-lounge in TTG, off the COP or the COLA, then a lightweight sleeper in TTG, and a 1949 AC&F Western-class sleeper in Armour Yellow. Robert O Hale Photo. 

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WB LA Limited on Sherman Hill in August 1950

 

This photo of the westbound LA Limited on Sherman Hill’s Buford Curve in August 1950 provides a great look at most of the train’s consist. At the front is UP 4-8-2 helper 7039 with one of the 800-819 series FEFs running as the road engine, both in Two-Tone Gray.  

 

The Pullman Green head-end car is a former RPO, now running as a storage-mail car. This is followed by four Armour Yellow cars, including baggage-dorm 5613, a UP 5331-series coach, C&NW coach 6148 (ex Montgomery Street), and a C&NW 3416-series coach-lounge. Next is a TTG heavyweight coffee shop diner, then the Minneapolis-St. Paul American-class sleeper in TTG, a Western-class sleeper in yellow, and an Imperial-class sleeper in yellow. The last two cars visible are a UP 1516-series TTG club-lounge and a 1949 AC&F diner in yellow. Out of the picture are several more sleepers including the two Coast-to-Coast cars. Jim Ady Photo.

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Motive Power

 

UP received five AB sets (10 units) of new EMD 2,250 hp model E8 diesels in May through August 1950, but these units were required to help power the “cities” trains, which were each expanded to five consists by March 31, 1950. Therefore, the LA Limited had to soldier on with existing EMD F3s, F-M “Erie-builts,” and ALCO PA/PB diesels. Steam locomotives continued to power the LA Limited east of Salt Lake City, while on the C&NW either EMD E7 diesels or the E-4 streamlined 4-6-4 Hudsons operated east of Omaha. 

 

 

WB LA Limited F-M Diesels at West Victorville 8-19-51

 

UP Fairbanks-Morse 702 leads an ALCO PB-PA set with the westbound LA Limited at West Victorville, California, on August 19, 1951. 

 

This interesting consist has a UP TTG express box car on the head end, followed by a UP TTG heavyweight coach (note the nearly full-length air conditioning duct above the paired windows), then two UP 5300-series coaches recently painted in Armour Yellow, and a C&NW 3416-series club lounge in UP yellow. Next is a UP TTG heavyweight diner running as a coffee shop-diner, a 5100-series articulated dorm-kitchen/diner in TTG, a UP TTG 1516-series club-lounge, and a TTG lightweight sleeper. Barely visible on the curve is a yellow Western-class sleeper. Stan Kistler Photo.

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Thanks to Jeff Koeller for all of the above text, photos with captions, and consist table!

 

I always like to look up what the train times through Victorville were.  On Jan. 16, 1949, the westbound LA Limited (Train 201 in the Santa Fe employee timetable) still came through town without stopping at 7:07 a.m., but the eastbound train (202) changed from 3:17 to 3:12 p.m..  These times stayed constant until Sep. 30, 1951, when Train 202 changed to 3:08 p.m.

 

These were daytime train times, meaning that I should model and operate this train.  We're still working on a list of HO models that could be used for this train.  These will be added here later.

 

As for layout progress since last time, on April 12 I wrote this first bi-weekly report:

Last time I wasn't happy with the arrangement of turnouts at the left end of the ten A Yard staging tracks, so I pulled out the temporary track pins and tried a different arrangement, as seen here:

 

On the right in this view, we now have three turnouts along Track A1 instead of the four we had last time, but I still wasn't happy that Tracks A1 through A4 end so soon.  I wanted them to extend as far as possible before ending in turnouts.  So here was my next try:

 

This looked much better, with Tracks A1 and A2 not coming together until the curve in the foreground, and Tracks A3-A4-A5 extending well around the curve.  During this time, I had received 20 more flextracks to use in this yard, plus six #6 left-hand Atlas turnouts from eBay.  A little later I sent for another 20 flextracks from eBay, seeing that I would need more, and with any extras available for the future helix tracks.

Meanwhile, I had met with Bill Messecar and Don Hubbard for lunch on April 1, where Don gave me his completed model of the Standard Oil dealer lot in Victorville.  Back at my layout, I set his previously-completed model of the warehouse-office on his lot, and Craig Wisch's garage model beside the lot.  Here's a photo looking toward the row of three horizontal oil tanks Don built (ignore the staging tracks under the models):

 

And here's a view looking from the other direction, toward the truck garage built by Craig:

 

Many thanks to Don and to Craig for these beautiful models!

Meanwhile, Bill Messecar has been working almost every day on scratch-building me a model of the Victorville stock pen, using the Santa Fe structure standards and this plan drawing in the Victorville Building Records:

 

I've been phoning Don Sheets to discuss this and other Victorville structures.  He's now 97 years old but still recalls almost every detail from 70 to 80 years ago!  He said he never saw this stock pen used, but the one by the ranch at Frost was used to ship cattle out, so that's how I will be using this pen too.

The two low, wide Union Oil tanks that Craig Wisch recently built for me from cardstock arrived here safely, so I set up a complete scene on top of my staging tracks, with the two wide tanks at the left, the four tall tanks in the middle, and the two shorter tanks on the right, with the large warehouse-office building in the foreground.  All of these cardstock models came from Craig Wisch:

 

The curving track on the right represents one leg of the wye, and the spur track hidden behind the tanks is the Union Oil spur.  I still need to add some catwalks to the tall tanks and some ladders to all of them.  Here's a circa-1945 aerial view of this same scene:

 

I've been inviting Craig to try building a Shell Oil dealer model or any building within the large cement plant, but no luck so far.

Meanwhile, I worked some more on pinning down the ten tracks of the A Yard and the half-dozen tracks of the stub-ended D Yard, which is for parking diesel sets.  Here's a new view from April 11, looking from the yard tracks toward the throats at the left ends of the tracks:

 

And here's an opposite view, looking from the throats out to the many yard tracks:

 

As you can see, the turnouts are just sitting loose on top of the tracks, as I continue to try to optimize the track lengths and curve radii.  I will keep trying different arrangements until I'm happy with the result, and then I'll cut and fit all the tracks and turnouts together.  The tracks no longer match the way I had drawn them on my pencil track plan long ago.

 

My next biweekly report was written on April 26:

 

I've been working on my staging yard tracks for at least an hour almost every day for the last two weeks.  Last time I had pinned them all down into some initial locations, but I went back to the 10-track curve that comes around the end of the peninsula and spaced them out equally to make nicer-looking curves: 

 

The white poster-board shape in the upper right has a 36" radius on its outer edge (to match the inner mainline track there), and Tracks A1 to A6 all have radii of 36" or more, while Tracks A7 to A10 have sharper radii, not suited to the biggest steam locos.

Moving the curves meant also moving all the straight tracks connected to them, so I unpinned and moved all of them as needed to meet the curves.  Then I used rail joiners to connect the flextrack sections of Tracks A6 to A10, which had not yet been connected.

A local friend, Jon McWirter, whom I had met at the local Santa Fe Mini-Meets, contacted me and offered to build the Victorville Switching Station for the future Lower Narrows scene on my layout.  Craig Wisch had already built the beautiful control house, so it was the massive electrical parts that were still needed.  Luckily, Jon is a professional working on converting nuclear energy to electrical energy, so he knows about such things.

Before his arrival on Monday, April 20, I cleared off the part of the lower deck that is directly under where the switching station scene will go.  I decided that we could use a little more space there, so I marked my track plan in red ink to show where the aisle could be a little less wide on the upper level there:

 

Note that the branch line to George AFB will form the rear boundary of the available space.

Then I cut out two sections of poster board to fill that area, so Jon would have a template of the space he has to work with.  Here's a view of the poster board template to the left of the control house (along with a pile of four plastic kits for substations, if Jon can use any of them):

 

 

And here's a view of the template to the right of the control house:

 

When Jon got here at 5 p.m. that day, I gave him a tour of the layout, and then, before I took him out to dinner, I had him pose with the connected poster boards, showing the space he has to work within (those empty slots can also be filled in):

 

Later I sent him many views of the prototype switching station area, such as this one:

Jon has been searching for kits that might provide the gantry towers that he needs, and here is the kit he initially chose but then canceled, from Cosmic in Japan:

 

The control house part of the kit would not be needed, of course.  So, I'm thrilled to have a new volunteer to help me with one of my many Victorville structures!

Speaking of helpers, Bill Messecar has been working almost every day on scratch-building the Victorville stock pen and is nearly finished, except for the dirt and some cattle.  I located an aerial photo from c.1945 showing the stock pen in the left part of this photo, with Standard Oil near the right edge, and Texas Quarries along the river at the bottom:

 

There appears to be a boxcar parked in front of the leftmost pen (not where the loading ramp is, on the right end), probably waiting to be spotted at the Lime Rock plant, off to the left of this view.

Meanwhile, Craig Wisch in Victorville is taking a break from my projects and working on his own S-scale model of the Stewart Hotel, which was across D Street from the depot (and so, not on my layout).

Back on the layout, after connecting all the flextrack sections in the body of the A Yard (but not yet gluing any of them down), I worked on bringing some the those tracks together at the throat at the left end.  First I cut and fit the ends of Tracks A1 and A2 into a turnout, and then I cut and fit Track A3 into a turnout that joins A3 with A1-A2.  There was a lot of trial and error in cutting the tracks with a Dremel tool to get the exact lengths needed.

My next step was to cut and fit Tracks A6 and A7 into a turnout.  But then I decided I should rearrange the other throat turnouts so that A1 to A5 form one electrical block, while A6 to A10 form a second block, as they do at the opposite ends of these staging tracks.  So I loosely laid out some new turnout locations in the throat.  And I found that I can probably fit seven stub tracks (instead of four) into the adjacent D Yard, for storing more diesel sets in blocks.

Here's a current view of the A and D Yard tracks and turnouts, loosely laid in their possible locations:

 

And here's one last view, from farther left, showing how the turnouts in the throat may be arranged:

 

There is still a ton of work to do on cutting and fitting all these tracks and turnouts together.  And I need to order more powered switch machines for the many turnouts.  I haven't tested whether the older switch machines actually work, so I'm worried about that.  And then all these tracks need to be glued down, one track at a time.

If you can help me, in person or by building structures remotely, please let me know.