UP's 1946 Los Angeles Limited Train & Laying Tracks in the A and B Staging Yards

 

This time we'll cover the Union Pacific's Los Angeles Limited passenger train in Victorville up to mid-1946, and then we'll look at several weeks of work on gluing down flextracks to form the 10-track A Yard and the adjacent 7-track B yard in staging.

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

The Los Angeles Limited 1935-1946

 

All-Pullman Operation Begins

 

In August 1935, Union Pacific train Nos. 7 and 8, the Los Angeles Limited, began running in two sections. The monthly flyer, UNION PACIFIC BULLETIN, released the following news update in its August 1935 issue: “Because of the heaviest demands for travel on the “Los Angeles Limited” since 1929, this popular train is now operated west of Omaha in two sections—one an all-Pullman train (no extra fare)—the other a Coach and Tourist Sleeping Car Section.” This new “economy” section was officially designated The Challenger, on August 21, 1935. 

 

 

UP 828 with train 1-7 leaving Ogden in 1935

This photo of the Los Angeles Limited leaving Ogden, Utah, at Bridge Junction, appeared in Beebe & Clegg’s book, “The Trains We Rode.” Operating as First No. 7, the lengthy westbound train is pulled by UP 4-8-4 828, and will be followed presently by the second section of No. 7 with the coaches and tourist sleeping cars. 

 

 

Going away view at Elmhurst, Illinois

All Union Pacific passenger trains operated over the Chicago & North Western between Omaha and Chicago (until October 1955). Here is No. 8, the Los Angeles Limited, in a “going away” view at Elmhurst, Illinois, on July 14, 1935. Bringing up the markers on the hind end is one of UP’s classic solarium-club lounge cars. A.W. Johnson Photo/Krambles-Peterson Archive

On May 15, 1936, Union Pacific inaugurated its new lightweight Streamliner, City of Los Angeles, running five round trips per month (every six days) on a blistering 39 3/4 hour schedule between the Windy City and Los Angeles. Also on that date, The Challenger train service was extended through to Chicago as Nos. 717 and 818, with the daily LA Limited being upgraded to exclusive All-Pullman status between both end terminals. 

So successful was the economy train service to Los Angeles that on September 15, 1937, another Challenger was inaugurated between Chicago and San Francisco (with ferry boat service between Oakland Pier and San Francisco). Running as train Nos. 87 and 88, this all-coach and tourist sleeper train, also known as The Challenger, allowed the long-running San Francisco Overland Limited to become an All-Pullman service. 

At this juncture, four different westbound trains left Chicago in a 15-minute time span: No. 7, the All-Pullman Los Angeles Limited, leaving at 10:15 pm (combined with No. 17, Portland Rose to Omaha); No. 717, The Challenger, all coach-tourist sleeping car train to Los Angeles, leaving at 10:20 pm; No. 27, the All-Pullman San Francisco Overland Limited, leaving at 10:25 pm and; No. 87, The Challenger, all coach-tourist sleeper train to San Francisco leaving at 10:30 pm.

However, by June 1939, consolidation of train services began, which included combining train Nos. 7 and 27 into a single All-Pullman train between Chicago and Ogden, Utah. In addition, train No. 17, the Portland Rose, was also included as far west as Green River. Both The Challenger trains continued to run separately, but train No. 37, the Pony Express from Kansas City and Denver, was combined with the LA Limited west of Salt Lake City.

War-time Adjustments

 

These consolidations essentially continued through 1940 and 1941, but with the United States entry into World War II, nationwide train schedules were slowed down and, effective with the January 25, 1942 UP public time table, the LA Limited lost its train numbers when it began to be operated under train Nos. 27 and 28, formerly exclusively assigned to the San Francisco Overland Limited. 

Also, cars from the Portland Rose continued to be included in Nos. 27 and 28 between Chicago and Cheyenne, where they were switched into their own train, while cars from Nos. 37 and 38, the Pony Express, were switched into or out of 27 and 28 at Cheyenne as well. Interestingly, the time table shows the Los Angeles Limited as being consolidated with Nos. 37 and 38 west of Cheyenne, although all three trains were combined together as far west as Ogden. 

The Los Angeles Limited  now operated as westbound train No. 27-37 (No. 27 to Cheyenne; No. 37 to Los Angeles) and as eastbound train No. 38-28 (No. 38 to Cheyenne; No. 28 to Chicago). At the same time, the LA Limited’s former train numbers (7 and 8) were reassigned to The Challenger trains between Chicago and Los Angeles.

Although Union Pacific maintained the Los Angeles Limited’s train name identity in the time tables, it was essentially an anomaly, with just two heavyweight sleeping cars operating between Los Angeles and Chicago. 

 

For example, when first class LA Limited passengers boarded their cars at Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, they would only find train No. 37, the Pony Express, in the station. Then at Ogden, this train would be combined with the SF Overland Limited to Cheyenne, where the Pony Express cars would be switched out, and with the LA Limited sleepers continuing eastbound to Chicago under train No. 27 (the procedure would be reversed westbound). 

 

Thus, the war-time LA Limited consisted of a pair of sleepers handled in other trains, none of which were identified as the Los Angeles Limited. 

The time table also lists a Minneapolis-St. Paul to Los Angeles sleeper as running in the LA Limited from Omaha to Los Angeles, but the car literally operated in the SF Overland from Omaha to Cheyenne and then the Pony Express to LA.

Another car shown as operating in the LA Limited was a Denver-to-Los Angeles 10 Section-1 Compartment-1 Drawing Room sleeper (from Kansas City) running in No. 37 to Cheyenne. However, in the “St. Louis and Kansas City to Los Angeles” section of the time table, this sleeper is said to be running in “No. 37-7—Pony Express—Los Angeles Limited—Daily,” except that train No. 7 was literally The Challenger from Chicago to Los Angeles, so even though the time table indicates that this 10-1-1 sleeper ran in the Los Angeles Limited, that train existed on paper only.

The time table also shows dining car service and a Chicago to Los Angeles club-lounge in the LA Limited, but these were simply cars in the SF Overland Limited and the Pony Express which were accessible to LA Limited sleeping car patrons between Chicago and Los Angeles.

With the issuance of the UP December 22, 1942 public time table, the Pony Express was rerouted via the Borie cut-off, bypassing Cheyenne, which led to the three trains being combined only between Laramie and Ogden, with the combined LA Limited-Pony Express running west of Ogden as train Nos. 37 and 38. The time tables now indicate the LA Limited cars as “27 to Ogden; 37 to Los Angeles” and “38 to Ogden; 28 to Chicago.” 

Near the end of the war, various minor schedule adjustments took place, and even though the LA Limited and the SF Overland Limited continued to be listed as “All-Pullman” in the time tables, the LA Limited soldiered on anonymously as train Nos. 27-37 and 38-28. 

Transcontinental Service

 

On March 31, 1946, through Coast-To-Coast sleeping car service was inaugurated between New York and Los Angeles, with one sleeping car to Chicago handled by the New York Central and another by the Pennsylvania Railroad. These cars were assigned to the Los Angeles Limited west of Chicago, but they actually ran westbound in train No. 27-37 and eastbound in No. 38-28. 

 

UP 828 with No. 27 at North Platte

Throughout the war, the LA Limited was consolidated with the San Francisco Overland Limited, running as train No. 27 between Chicago and Ogden, Utah. Here, UP 4-8-4 828 is in charge of a 16-car All-Pullman No. 27 at North Platte, Nebraska, shortly after the Coast-to-Coast sleepers were added on March 31, 1946. Note that several cars are painted in the newly adopted Two-Tone gray scheme. Allan Madison Photo/RL Schmeling Collection. 

 

At this time, the San Francisco Overland Limited also acquired a pair of Coast-to-Coast sleepers, operating between New York and Oakland Pier. These two cars were also handled by the NYC and PRR east of Chicago, and with all four transcontinental sleepers being added to the SF Overland Limited between Chicago and Ogden, this made for a very long train. 

Coinciding with the new transcontinental sleeping car services, Union Pacific adopted Two-Tone Gray (TTG) as its standard colors for (non-streamliner) passenger trains and various passenger steam locomotives. This scheme was a simplified two-stripe variation of Pullman’s four stripe TTG scheme introduced in 1942 on its American and Imperial class lightweight sleeping cars. 

 

UP 839 with No. 2 near Uintah, Utah

Train No. 2, the eastbound LA Limited, is heading uphill just east of Uintah at the beginning of the Weber River Canyon on October 10, 1946. Although UP was attempting to dieselize the LA&SL in late 1946, here the train is powered by oil-burning 4-8-4 839 resplendent in its Two-Tone Gray paint scheme, including “elephant ears” smoke lifters. Note the TTG 13-section dormitory car up front, a clear spotting feature of the 1940s LA Limited. Robert F Collins Photo.

Nationwide Post-War Speed Up of Schedules

 

During World War II, greatly increased patronage regarding the transportation of military personnel and the multitude of war-related supplies led to passenger train schedules being lengthened to allow more time for passenger loading and car switching operations. 

 

After the end of hostilities, starting on June 2, 1946, the wartime train schedules reverted to their pre-war times or, in many cases, the schedules were reduced beyond their pre-war times. Several railroads, including Union Pacific, also inaugurated new train services to help accommodate the immediate post-war traffic.

Effective June 2, 1946, the Los Angeles Limited began to be operated as a separate train again between Chicago and Los Angeles, which also included the assignment of new train Nos. 1 and 2 (formerly associated with the streamliner City of Portland). Along with having its schedule reduced to 49 hours, 15 minutes westbound and 48 hours, 35 minutes eastbound, these new travel times represented a reduction of as much as 13 hours over the train’s pre-war travel times. 

With the addition of a through St. Louis to Los Angeles coach handed off from the newly inaugurated City of St. Louis at Cheyenne, the LA Limited lost its All-Pullman status. The train also carried the two Chicago to Los Angeles sleeping cars (upgraded to lightweight sleepers in 1942), along with the Minneapolis-St. Paul to Los Angeles sleeper (added at Omaha), and a lightweight sleeper from St. Louis (added at Cheyenne).

Other cars in the LA Limited’s June 2, 1946 consists included a full dining car and a club lounge (both heavyweight cars). Typically, a baggage car would be at the head end of the train, but the car types varied and normally can only be identified in photographs. Also up front was a 13-section Pullman sleeper used as a dormitory car. This car is perhaps the primary identifying feature of the LA Limited in the mid-to-late 1940s. If this car is not present, the train is not the LA Limited.

After the delivery of new E7 diesels in August 1946, the UP implemented plans to dieselize the Los Angeles & Salt Lake division between its namesake cities. Motive power for the LA Limited included hand-me-down E2 and E6 diesels bumped from the streamliner City of Los Angeles, plus a new Fairbanks-Morse ABA set of Erie-Built diesels acquired in May 1946. 

 

FM diesel 50-M-2A at Riview, Wyoming

Train No.1, the westbound Los Angeles Limited, is shown at Riview, Wyoming, in 1946. The train is led by Fairbanks-Morse “Erie-Built” 50-M-2A, shortly before being renumbered to 982A in August 1946. After testing the December 1945-built ABA diesel set in both freight and passenger service, UP acquired the engines in May 1946, which became regulars on LA&SL division trains. UP Photo. 

FM diesels with No. 2 at East Los Angeles

Another view of the LA Limited shows train No. 2 arriving at UP’s East Los Angeles station with the Fairbanks-Morse ABA diesel set up front in June or July 1946. This is a typical 9-car consist that includes a head-end car, the 13-section dorm, a lightweight coach for St. Louis, a heavyweight diner and club-lounge, followed by four lightweight sleepers (two cars for Chicago, one for Minneapolis-St. Paul, and one for St. Louis). UP Photo.

UP E6 957A with No. 1 at Cheyenne station

Cheyenne and Green River, Wyoming, were busy switching stops for the LA Limited beginning on June 2, 1946. In this view on September 21, 1946, UP E6 957A (newly renumbered from 9-M-1 in August 1946) and UP E7 B-unit 962B (delivered in August 1946) have just arrived at Cheyenne with a 10-car train No. 1. Note the ever-present 13-section dorm car up front. The consist includes four Chicago to Los Angeles cars (a dining car, a club-lounge, a 2-4-4 sleeper and a 6-6-4 sleeper), along with a Minneapolis-St. Paul to Los Angeles 6-6-4 sleeper added at Omaha. 

Also included in today's LA Limited are three Chicago to Portland cars (a 48-seat coach, a 2-4-4 sleeper and a 6-6-4 sleeper), which will be switched into a separate Portland Rose train at Green River (running under newly assigned Nos. 11 and 12). Additionally, in the consist is a summer season Chicago to West Yellowstone heavyweight 10-1-2 that will be handled by the Portland Rose from Green River as far west as Pocatello.

Here at Cheyenne, several cars from the newly inaugurated City of St. Louis will be added to the LA Limited, including two St. Louis to Los Angeles cars (a 48-seat coach and a 6-6-4 sleeper), along with two St. Louis to Portland cars (a 48-seat coach and a 6-6-4 sleeper) that will run as far west as Green River, where they will be switched into the Portland Rose. Richard H Kindig Photo. 

 

Los Angeles Limited Consist, June 2, 1946:

 

 

 

 

This concludes our study of the Los Angeles Limited from 1935 up to and including the fall of 1946. In the next installment we’ll look at how the train was consolidated with the Transcon in November 1946.

 

Thanks again to Jeff Koeller for all of the above text and photos and consist table! 

As for layout progress since last time, on Feb. 9 I wrote this first bi-weekly report: 

My new habit of recording how long I work on the layout each day has continued to help me move forward at a better pace.  When I left off two weeks ago, I had fit together all the turnouts and flextracks at the throats into the A Yard.  There is one throat into Tracks A1-A5 and another into A6-A10, and these form two separate electrical blocks (DC).

My next project was to connect together all the turnouts into the adjacent B Yard (Tracks B1-B7).  These are stub tracks, as opposed to the through tracks of the A yard.  When the B yard was all connected, I shot this photo of the throat:(the B Yard is the last seven tracks in the right distance):

 

I also shot a view of the entire A and B Yards from the wide end, with the 10-track A Yard on the right and the 7-track B Yard on the left:

 

Here's one more view, showing at the upper right how the A Yard tracks will curve around the end of the peninsula, while the B Yard tracks will come to an end just before meeting the curving A Yard tracks:

 

Once I was confident that the turnout arrangements were okay, I began gluing down (with caulk) one A Yard track at a time, starting with Track A1 beside the inner mainline.  As usual, I used water bottles as weights while the caulk dried:

 

Here's a view while Track A2 was being glued and pinned down.  Note the track-spacing tools to keep the tracks on 2 1/4" centers:

 

Skipping ahead a bit, here we see Tracks A4 and A5 after they'd been glued down (in the center of the photo):

 

Here's a view from the throat of Tracks A1-A5 after they'd been glued down, and all the missing ties had been inserted under all the rail joiners:

 

My next track projects will be to glue down Tracks A6-A10, and then Tracks B1-B7.  This is almost like fun now!

A few days ago I received in the mail the cardstock model of the Union Oil dealer in Victorville, thanks to Craig Wisch.  I set it up near the many other structure models that are eagerly waiting to be placed in Victorville, when the upper deck is in place:

 

 

I couldn't tell from Craig's previous photos, but I found that the row of oil tanks had been built at about half size, and Craig checked and agreed.  But there is an easy solution, which is for me to build four of the styrene tanks that are included in the Walthers Trackside Oil Dealer kit, which I already have:

 

 

 I plan to work on the tanks from the oil dealer kit in parallel with my track work.  I also have a couple of sets of Union Oil tank trucks with lots of oil barrels, so those can help to complete the scene.

Lastly, to celebrate my Seahawks' Super Bowl victory yesterday, I got out many of the Hawthorne Village HO railroad cars and locos that I had collected since we won the Super Bowl 12 years ago.  I set them on one of the tracks in the future helix room and shot some photos.  Here we see a set of four F units:

 

Here are first full-length dome cars behind the locos:

 

Here's another set of dome cars:

 

Then we come to a string of freight cars:

 

At the end is a special 2014 Super Bowl display car with the helmets of the Seahawks and the losing Broncos, followed by a searchlight car (caboose):

 

I have duplicates of some of these cars in my collection, but the models are not made to run well -- they are better as shelf displays (or in this case, a staging track display).

 

On Feb. 22 I sent out another layout progress report:

 

When we left off two weeks ago, I had glued down (with caulk) the first half of the 10-track Staging Yard A (Tracks A1-A5).  I was on a roll, so I kept on going by gluing down Tracks A6-A10.  Each day I glued down another track, starting with A6 and continuing to the final one, A10.  Some of those included the turnout into that track, followed by one or two flextracks, depending on how long the straight track was before it had to start turning at the end of the peninsula.

I shot a few progress photos along the way.  Here's a view of the completed part of the 10-track A Yard, shot from the wide end on Feb. 14:

 

And here we see the two throats of the glued-down A Yard on Feb. 15:

 

Then I glued down the tracks in the 7-track stub-ended B Yard, one track each day, including its turnout and one or two flextracks, as needed.  I shot some progress photos on Feb. 19 to illustrate the process.  In these photos Tracks B1 through B4 have already been glued down, and some are being held down with water bottles while the glue dries.  In this photo I have pinned down the turnouts into Tracks B5-B6-B7 to locate them properly:

 

Here's another shot from the throat, showing the caulk after it's been spread for Track B5, which has been set aside to the right side of this photo:

 

 

Here we see Track B5 from the far end, after it's been pinned down on top of its caulk (it's the 3rd track from the left in this photo):

 

 

Then I glued down Tracks B6 and B7 and shot a photo of the entire width of the A and B Yards from the throat:

 

Today (Feb. 22) I extended Tracks B2 and B3 with one more flextrack at the end of each, since there was room before those tracks will have to end before reaching the future big turn in the A Yard tracks:

 

 

The next possible tasks are to start adding feeder wires to each of these 17 tracks and to lay out the locations for the A Yard tracks where they will curve around the end of the peninsula.  I'm excited about all the progress I've been making by working on the tracks for at least an hour a day now.

I recently saw a rare item on eBay and bought it -- a 6' long banner that used to hang in the Roy Rogers & Dale Evans Museum in Victorville.  I like it both for the Victorville history and for my childhood memories of watching their TV Western series in the 1950s.  Today I unrolled it on the floor beside my layout for a photo:

 

Last time I wrote, I mentioned that I planned to use the Walthers Trackside Oil Dealer kit to build the proper-size row of four large oil storage tanks that stood behind the Union Oil office building.  (Those tanks are still there, by the way, although the old office building was replaced by Beck Oil long ago.)  But Craig Wisch in Victorville surprised me by building the four tanks himself, complete with the proper labels on the tanks:

 

 

Here's the view from the other end:

 

He's about to ship them to me, and then I will add the catwalk and ladder that come in the Walthers kit.

In other news, my friend Bill Messecar has been hard at work on scratch-building a model of the Sand House and Sand Bin that were inside the Victorville wye.  I think he'll be done with it before long.  And my friend Don Hubbard is back to modeling the piping under the oil storage tanks of his Standard Oil model for Victorville.

Please let me know if you can help me with any track-laying, wiring, or building of HO models.

 

Thanks,

John Thompson 

 

 

Santa Fe's 1954-56 Chief Train & Connecting Tracks into the Main Staging Yard

This time we'll cover the Santa Fe's Chief passenger train in Victorville during 1954-1956 (the final years of my time period), and then we'll look at several weeks of work on connecting turnouts and flextracks to form the two throats of the 10-track A Yard in staging.

For this 3rd report on the Chief passenger train, I'll be using slides and photos again from my 2010 clinic about the Postwar Chief.  Here's an opening image, showing a famous ad for the Chief train:

Here are the important changes that happened to the Chief in early 1954:

Here is the train's general consist from early 1954 through 1956:

Here's an undated photo of the eastbound Chief climbing Cajon Pass behind F7 #39:

 
Here are the changes to the Chief later in 1954:

Here are the details of the consist from early 1954 into April of 1955, along with some HO models as of 2010:

 

Here's an undated photo of the Chief at Fox, NM, behind F3 #28:

 

In 1955 there were more changes to the Chief:

Here we see the detailed Chief consist from April of 1955 until July of 1956, along with some HO models:

Here we see the eastbound and westbound Chiefs meeting in Raton Pass, NM, in 1956 (note the Big Dome lounge, recently acquired from the El Capitan):

Here are the additional changes to the Chief in July of 1956:

Now let's look at the detailed consist of the Chief in the six months after July of 1956, and some HO models:

Here's a photo of one of the Big Dome Lounges that joined the train in 1956:

Here's one of the chair-observation cars that also came from the El Capitan:

This observation is #3197 (for which Con-Cor made an HO styrene model).

Finally, here are some changes to the Chief that happened after 1956:

Here we see the Chief about to leave Dearborn Station in Chicago in 1957, behind F3 #29:
 

Here's a nice shot of the eastbound Chief behind F-units on Sullivan's Curve in 1965:

 

Here's another view of the 1960s Chief on Sullivan's Curve, this time from above:

As for motive power on the 1954-1956 Chief, it was all F3s and F7s, except that PA units pulled the train westbound from Barstow to LA only.

I like to report on the times of day when the train traveled through Victorville (without stopping), so here are the times during 1954 through 1956:  A radical schedule change came on Jan. 10, 1954, when Train 19 changed from 5:10 a.m. to 7:25 p.m. and Train 20 changed from 3:41 p.m. to 6:53 p.m. in Victorville.

These times stayed the same until April 24, 1955, when Train 19 changed to 7:29 p.m. and Train 20 changed to 5:53 p.m.  Then on Sep. 25, 1955, Train 20 returned to 6:53 p.m.  On Oct. 30, 1955, Train 20 had a big change to 12:54 a.m. in Victorville.

On July 22, 1956, Train 19 changed slightly to 7:31 p.m., and on Sep. 30, 1956 it changed to 7:50 p.m., and on Nov. 25, 1956, it changed to 8:10 p.m., while Train 20 changed to 12:03 a.m.  These times stayed the same through the end of 1956.

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 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.

In 2016 Walthers made four new HO model cars for the 1954 El Capitan, and three of them can be used in the 1956 Chief:

the 3246-3248 Chair-Observation cars;

the 1566-1577 Lunch Counter Diners; 

the "Big Dome" Bar Lounge cars, #506-513.

My next topic today will be two more bi-weekly layout progress reports, as usual.  On Jan. 11, 2026, I wrote this report:

OK, it's a new year, and I resolve to make better progress on my layout than last year.  My goal is still to complete the lower deck trackage by the end of this year, so that I can then jump ahead to my main goal of adding the upper deck, with all of its Victorville buildings, scenery, and tracks.  The lower deck control panels and the helix to the upper deck can wait until later.

Looking back a year, I see that I was just starting to lay the six stub tracks of the C Yard, where diesel loco sets would be stored.  When I finished the C Yard, including all the feeder wires to all the blocks, I got bogged down with the A and B yards.

I tried laying out the 10 through tracks of the A Yard and the 8 adjacent stub tracks of the B Yard, but I found that I couldn't place all the turnouts in the throats of those yards the way my pencil track plan had indicated, because the Atlas table-top switch motors got in the way of many adjacent tracks.  I tried a parallel track spacing of 2 1/8", but I went back to my normal 2 1/4" spacing and had to drop Track B8 from the plan.

The new plan for the A and B Yard throats led to the idea of moving the crossover between the main lines farther to the right, so the old crossover could be removed, along with the double-slip switch that was on the inner main.  I recently completed that new mainline crossover, partly on a curve, and I added the ties under the rail joiners and shot a photo (it's at the lower right in this photo):

 

 

 

The next step was to remove the old crossover between the two mainlines.  Here we see it before it was removed, along the left edge of this photo:

 

I used my Dremel tool to cut both turnouts loose from the adjacent mainline tracks, and then I pried them up from the dried caulk.  Here's a photo showing the blank roadbed spots on the left, where the crossover turnouts were, including the double-slip switch that was on the inner main as part of the crossover:

 

I filled in the outer main with a section of flextrack cut to size, glued down, and connected with rail joiners at each end.  Then I cut out sections of the inner main to allow me to fit in two #8 turnouts that would lead into the A and B staging yard throats.  (I could have used #6 turnouts, but I had some extra #8s to use up.)  Here we see the blank areas of the inner main roadbed where the two #8 turnouts will go:

 

I used some cork pieces to fill in the holes and painted them to match the surrounding roadbed.  Then I worked to get the rail joiners in place before gluing down the non-moving parts of the two #8 turnouts.  Here's the result of all my work, as photographed today (Jan. 11):

I still need to add the ties under the rail joiners, and probably straighten those wiggles in the inner main.  Then I can dive into the complex work of adding all the turnouts needed for the yard throats.  Yikes!

Meanwhile, Craig Wisch is still doing some final work on his cardstock model of the Union Oil bulk dealer.  And Bill Messecar has been working on some craftsman structure kits for his own enjoyment while he waited for some final drawings of the Victorville sand house that was inside the Victorville wye.  My architect friend Jim Coady has now completed those drawings after one round of revisions, so I'll share them here.

First, here's the main photo we used to help us with the drawings:

 

 

Here's the cover sheet of the drawings made by Jim Coady:

 

 

Here are his perspective views of the building and its sand bin:

 

Here are the side views:

 

And here are the end views:

Finally, here are the top (floor plan) views:

 

Many thanks to Jim Coady for these beautiful drawings!  In the weeks since these were completed, we've decided to lower the posts and walls of the sand bin a bit, and to lower the top of the doorway from the sand house into the bin.

 

Here is my next progress report, from Jan. 26:

 

In the last two weeks I've been working on getting the turnouts into the A Yard tracks located and connected with one or two sections of flextrack for each of the ten yard tracks, A1 through A10.  But watching the Seahawks' playoff victories over the 49ers and then the Rams has taken up some of my time.

In the last week I took my friend Tim Fisher's suggestion to keep a log of how much time I spend working on the layout each day (about an hour), and that has kept me moving ahead better than before.

When we left off, I had inserted two #8 Atlas turnouts into the inner mainline track -- one for entering yard Tracks A1-A5, and the other for entering yard tracks A6-A10.  When I had connected the ladder turnouts into some flextracks for A1-A5, using rail joiners but not yet gluing them down. I shot this photo of the new yard throat:

 

 

Then I worked from the other mainline turnout (to the right of the A1-A5 turnout), connecting turnouts and flextracks for Tracks A6-A10.  I was happy with that until I discovered that there was not enough room for the lead into the B Yard to pass between the A and C Yard tracks.  So I had to start over, rearranging the turnouts into A6-A10 so that lead into the B Yard will be able to get through.

Here's a shot of the current arrangement, with A1-A5 in the distance on the left, and A6-A10 in the foreground in the middle:

 

I've only begun to locate the turnouts into the B Yard (Tracks B1-B7) on the right.  Part of the goal is to allow space for the powered switch machines to attach beside the turnouts.  I had to send for more Atlas left-hand powered switch machines, so I'm waiting for those.

The biggest struggle has been trying to get the rails into the too-tight rail joiners, after I snip off two of the ties at each end of each flextrack.  I use my handy track-spacer tool to keep the tracks on 2 1/4" inch centers.

On Wednesday, Jan. 21, I got to attend another operating session at Bill Messecar's wonderful Santa Fe layout.  There were just four of us this time.  Here we see Don Hubbard (recently recovered from a hip replacement) working with Bill to switch Train 43 (a local freight from San Bernardino to LA) at Corona:

 

 

I worked with Colin Kikawa to assemble the Fast Mail and then run it behind a sound-equipped Santa Fe 4-8-4 from San Bernardino through to LA (lots of fun!).  Our final job was to switch the reefer Precooler tracks in the San Bernardino yard, and here we see Colin working on that:

 

Meanwhile in Victorville, my friend Craig Wisch has been completing his cardstock model of the Union Oil dealer building and adjacent oil storage tanks.  He sent me this photo:

 

Later he sent me this view of the opposite side (the track side, so ignore the location of the tanks, which should be in the foreground):

 

Let me know if you can help me with trackwork or wiring or building models of other Victorville buildings.  I'm on a roll with the trackwork now.