Santa Fe's 1951-1953 Super Chief in Victorville, & Some Layout Wiring & Bill Messecar's Layout

In a previous entry I covered the Santa Fe's Super Chief of 1948-1950, and this time we'll cover the next, peak version of the train during 1951-1953.  Then we'll look at some progress on layout wiring, and we'll begin a photo tour of Bill Messecar's excellent HO Santa Fe layout.

You may recall that when we studied the 1948-1950 Super Chief, the first thing we noted was that it normally passed through Victorville after sunset (eastbound) and before sunrise (westbound), so any photos of it in Victorville would be very rare.  I will be showing photos of the 1951-53 Super Chief, but they will be in other locations, or the locos will be pulling some other train.

First, here's a classic photo of the 1951 Super Chief behind F7 set #304, with the new Pleasure Dome visible halfway back in the train:

The scheduled times for the westbound Super Chief (Train 17) to pass through Victorville (it did not stop there) were 5:42 a.m. during 1951-1953. The eastbound Super Chief (Train 18) came through at 10:55 p.m. in 1951, until Apr. 27, 1952, when it changed to 11:03 pm, but on Sep. 27, 1953, it changed back to 10:55 pm.

With my layout operating plan of not running any nighttime operations, this means that I don't really need to model this train, but since Walthers has made models of most of the train's cars, which I have collected, I'll have to run the westbound Super Chief a little later in the morning though Victorville (running behind schedule).

Here is the consist of the 1951-1953 Super Chief, which I presented as part of my 2019 Super Chief clinic (as an update of my 2006 clinic, after more HO models were made):

Here's a summary of this consist:

And here's a slide with some additional notes about the cars:

Now let's look at all the types of locos that pulled the Super Chief from February, 1951, through December, 1953, based on the loco assignment records posted by Loren Joplin at santafe.gmbus.com.  

At the beginning of this time period, the train was being pulled by F3 ABBA sets #16-36, and F7 ABBA sets #37-41, and F7 ABB sets #300-305.  In May, 1950, these were joined by F7 ABB sets #306-312, and in June, 1951, by F7 ABB sets #313-314.  In October, 1952, F7 ABBA sets #42-47 were added to the train's power pool.

Let's look at some photos of these locos.  Here is F3 set #33 at Sullivan's Curve, thanks to Jack Whitmeyer:

Here we see new F7 ABBA set #38 at the San Bernardino depot, thanks again to Jack Whitmeyer:

And here is the new 1951 Super Chief at Summit behind F7 set #40, as shot by Robert Hale:

Here's a Santa Fe photo of the new Super Chief in Cajon Pass, behind F3 set #35:

This concludes our coverage of the 1951-1953 Super Chief and its locos.

As for layout progress, I need to catch up on the last four weeks, as I got way behind with this blog.

When I reported on Sep. 22, I still had no energy, due to what I think was Long COVD (I was tired all day long).

I did get to visit Bill Messecar on Saturday morning, Sep. 21, and his news was that he will be dismantling his layout next year when he and his wife move to a smaller home without such a large yard.  I think one of the model railroad magazines should come and photograph his layout for an article, but he doesn't seem to be interested in that.

But while I was there, I shot a couple dozen photos of his layout scenes, with nobody getting in the way.  I'll start sharing them with four photos at one end of his layout and gradually work my way around.

Along the right-hand wall as you enter the room is his last addition to the layout -- a passenger train yard loosely based on LA Union Passenger Terminal, but also serving as the San Bernardino depot tracks when trains arrive at the east end of their run from LA.  Here's a view looking into the depot tracks, with mail and express cars along the far track, lots of passengers waiting on the platforms, and doodlebug M.181 in the foreground:

Looking along the same wall in the opposite direction is the terminal for passenger power, along with a tower representing the West Yard Tower in San Bernardino, or Terminal Tower when we're in LA.

Just to the left of this scene, around the corner, is a commissary and yard office, with the San Bernardino precooler building in the background:

Finally, here is a good view of the complete precooler scene, where reefers were cooled and iced:

I'll continue with more scenes on Bill's layout in future weekly reports (see below)

I can share a couple of photos of the progress that Craig Wisch had made on his cardstock model of the La Paloma Cafe that was across the tracks from the depot.  It was nearly done, except for another box he wants to add to the rooftop.  Here are the front and left sides, as of Sep. 22:

And here are the right side and rear of the cafe (but we don't know what they really looked like):

Here's a close-up of an aerial photo from 1953 that has been a little help in sizing and modeling the hotel (on the left) and the cafe (on the right):

I had a helpful visit from Bill Messecar on Thursday morning, Sep. 26, to try to get me going on my layout again.  We both soldered some feeders that got skipped last time, and we inserted some loose ties under a few rail joiners.  I crawled into the pop-area of the main peninsula to solder some of the feeders at the ends of the C Yard tracks, as seen here:

Meanwhile, Craig Wisch in Victorville had made a few more improvements to his cardstock model of the La Paloma Cafe, as seen here on Sep. 29:

Here is his photo of the other side of the model:

He tells me these photos reveal some areas he wants to touch up, and then he will mail it to me, as usual.

I will continue sharing the photos I shot of Bill Messecar's layout when I visited him, so here are the next four photos, showing the rest of his San Bernardino B Yard, west of the precooler area.  Here's a view of the yard, showing the east end of the yard tracks and the ATSF work train he built from resin kits:

Here's the same yard, looking back from the west end (and by the way, all of his cars are accurate prototype models):

Here's his engine terminal, which happens to be at the west end of the B Yard (instead of in the A Yard), including a model of the sand tower and its loading ramp at the far left:

Finally, as the 3rd District mainline track curves out of the west end of the yard, it passes by a model of Colton Tower (on the left), plus a residential neighborhood:

As of Oct. 6, I felt that might be getting a little less sleepy (knock on wood), so Don Hubbard suggested that I make a resolution to work on my layout one hour a day, and I started on that right away.

With outer mainline block L1-A previously working, I got mainline block L1-B hooked up to terminal strips and then to a power pack, and then I got block L1-C hooked up and tested with an old loco.  As a quick solution to labeling the wires, I'm still just using making tape, with good intentions to replace them with labels from my new label-maker someday.

Here's the TV tray you've seen before, showing the new connections to the new terminal strips and a power pack:

Craig Wisch has not yet mailed me his completed model of the La Paloma Cafe (we've heard that the real cafe was a very rough place), as he's been working on a fantasy cafe model in S scale, using the parts from his initial attempt to build my HO model.  Here's a photo he sent me on Oct. 6, just for fun:

Let's return now to my recent photos of Bill Messecar's layout.  After the 3rd District mainline curves to the left past Colton Tower, it enters Riverside behind a large model of the National Orange packing house:

To the left of there (going westward), we see a bulk oil dealer and other buildings in the town:

Here's a view looking back at the Riverside Depot, with a gas station in the foreground:

To the left of there, here's one more Riverside scene, showing an ice plant:

By the way, I've begun discarding my older magazines, starting with my NMRA magazines from the 1970s and 1980s.  I'm a compulsive collector, but it's time to start letting go.  I look through each one, but I rarely save any of the pages.

During the week of Oct. 7, I worked on the wiring and labeling for the L1-D and L1-E outer mainline blocks and completed them.  These each took a couple of days, as not all the feeder wires had been connected to the bus wires, and L1-D was a long block that needed a lot of labels and connections.  L1-E's bus wires needed to pass under the layout to the far side to reach a pair of feeders there and then run back again to the terminal strips and power pack area.

Now all five blocks of the outer mainline are wired and labeled, and I was able to run the test loco all the way around the outer main.  Photos of wiring are not much to see, but here's a view showing all the bus wires arriving at the terminal strips and power pack:

Next week I'll start working on the inner mainline wiring, which may be a lot more work, as I've never had that mainline hooked up before.

I don't have any new photos from Craig Wisch this week.  But he's interested in modeling some typical Barrio houses, using off-the-shelf cardstock plans and modifying them as needed.  We'll continue discussing this next week.  

We also discussed modeling the two small monuments that were in Forrest Park by the depot, as seen in this photo from the Route 66 Museum in town, where they are preserved:

The small black grave marker on the left is for Brownie, a railroad dog, as seen on page 90 of Chard Walker's "Cajon" book.  We decided that I should make these models myself, if Craig can send me a photo like this, but shot in even lighting.

On Oct. 12 I had a great time at an operating session at Bill Messecar's layout.  I was paired with Cajon Pass modeler Jeff Schultz, and we had fun running the Fast Mail behind 4-8-4 #3759, and then the Riverside Turn behind a GP9.  I found this online clinic where Jeff had presented his Cajon  layout:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juGms2NLWaE

Returning now to my photo tour of Bill Messecar's layout, here are a few more photos from the Riverside area.  First, here is our Fast Mail train behind  #3759 approaching the Riverside depot:

At the left end of town (the west end), here we see Bill's model of the Calhoun Bros. industry, along with a small bridge over the mainline at the left:

On a long spur farther around the curve there, we find his beautiful model of Jennings Lumber:

On the fascia below each town scene, he hangs a track diagram to help the train crews figure out where all the industries are located.  Here's the diagram for Riverside:

Next time we'll continue west along the towns of Bill's excellent layout.

UP's 1947-1950 City of LA in Victorville, & More Help with Layout Buildings

In a previous entry we covered the Union Pacific's 1946-1947 City of Los Angeles train, so this time we'll visit the UP's 1947-1950 version of the train, when it began running daily with four trainsets instead of two.  Then we'll cover some help from others in making buildings for my layout. 

First, here's a color photo of UP's new E7s arriving in Chicago with the City of Los Angeles train and with blank red banners in 1947 (just after the train began daily service):

Here are some City of LA (COLA) notes from last time:

Since Sep. 29, 1946 Union Pacific's postwar City of Los Angeles train had been running three times a week, using just two trainsets (the "7th Train" and the "9th Train").

On May 14, 1947, the UP's City of LA train began running daily for the first time, as it now had four trainsets to use instead of just two, and the number of sleeping cars was reduced to five per train.  The two new trainsets were called the "16th Train" and the "17th Train."

Here is Jeff Koeller's table of cars for each of the four trainsets during this late May, 1947, time period:

But it only stayed this way for five weeks, and then the consists began to slowly change over time.  There were some major changes in 1949 and 1950, when brand new cars were produced and added.  We will have to omit all the complexities of these changes for now.  In a later blog entry we'll come back to the consists in March, 1950, when a 5th trainset was added.

Checking the COLA schedules through Victorville in these years (these trains did not stop there), the westbound train passed through town at 6:03 am, and the eastbound train came through at 7:51 pm.  I can avoid modeling these trains (they require all brass passenger cars) by not operating during those early morning and late evening hours.

The locomotives pulling the train changed quite a bit during this 1947-1950 time period, as we shall see.  Below are some notes on this from Jeff Koeller:

After the E7s were delivered in August 1946, the E2s were more or less relegated to the Los Angeles Limited, because the COLA got all the newest and most powerful locomotives.  

The use of COLA-lettered power units on the LA Limited eventually led to the elimination of the train name lettering in the red “name banners” on the locomotive sides, leaving just a blank, red banner. This was done at least by spring 1947. Note that E7s 930A and 931A never did have train names in their red name banners, as they were intended for City of Portland service, but were delivered about six months prior to the start of COP daily service.

By the time daily service began, the COLA train name had been dropped from the car letterboards, and only the sleeping cars retained their car names. The names for non-sleeping cars were dropped and just the car numbers were used (applied over the trucks). For example, Sun Valley became LA-901.  The non-sleeping cars also received the “Streamliner” logo in the center of the car side.

The sleeping cars simply had the word PULLMAN in 8-inch letters on the letterboard in a rather tightly-spaced arrangement. Individually owned non-sleeping cars had railroad ownership lettering in the letterboards, but all jointly-owned cars had 5-inch UNION PACIFIC at the left end of the letterboard, with 5-inch CHICAGO AND NORTH WESTERN lettering at the right end of the letterboard (same arrangement on both sides of the cars). 

Here is much more information from Jeff Koeller:

Four Consist Rotation

The two 15-car consists for the COLA trainsets remained essentially the same from May 1946 up to the inauguration of daily service on May 14, 1947. At that time, the amount of cars in the 7th and 9th Trains was reduced, and two new consists, the 16th and 17th Trains, were created. At this time, the number of sleeping cars was reduced to five cars per consist, and with the reduction to 12 and 13-car trains, each consist could now be handled by a 4,000 horsepower (HP) set of EMD E-units. Of course, these trains still required helper engines on Cajon Pass and Sherman Hill. 

Any two-unit combination from the COLA power pool was utilized, including engines from the jointly-owned COLA E6 ABB set and the E7 ABB set, along with UP-owned E3s. Also used as needed were UP-owned E6s and E7s from a general “Cities” power pool that also covered the requirements of the daily City of Portland and City of St. Louis trains. At this time, the jointly-owned E2 ABB engines ran mostly on the COStL (and occasionally on the City of Denver) due to their 1,800 HP limitation.

Changes

When the City of San Francisco became a daily service on September 1, 1947, two jointly-owned COLA units, E6 924A and E6 926B, were assigned to that train to help offset the motive power needs of the four COSF consists. Although these engines had previously lost their COLA train name lettering, the red train name “banners” were also removed for this assignment. 

After the delivery of Fairbanks-Morse Erie-built 2,000 HP passenger diesels in November 1947, a single F-M unit regularly operated behind an EMD cab unit in one of the COLA consists. Cab unit 702 was used briefly, but normally there would be an F-M booster unit trailing an EMD E-unit. The use of F-M cab units leading the COLA is rare, although one photo has been found depicting F-M AA units powering a COLA trainset on Sherman Hill. The limited use of F-M cab units may have something to do with a lack of appropriate cab signals on the C&NW east of Omaha. 

In early 1948, UP tried using F3 ABB units on the COLA, but the use of these 4,500 HP engine sets (built in September 1947) was short-lived, as UP reverted back to 2-unit 4,000 HP combinations.

End of Joint Ownership

It should be noted that concurrent with the termination of joint ownership of “Cities” engines and passenger cars in December 1948, C&NW-owned diesels generally powered the COLA on their own rails between Chicago and Omaha, and the use of C&NW units on the COLA west of Omaha ended. 

However, motive power equilization had UP-owned E-units continuing to operate over the North Western into Chicago, with C&NW engines operating exclusively on the City of San Francisco into Ogden, Utah. This arrangement lasted into 1953, although starting in January of that year, C&NW and UP also shared power assignments on the City of Denver trains into Denver.

More Changes

Beginning in late1948, the COLA engine sets were supplemented with the addition of a single 1,500 HP F3 (usually a B-unit) taken from the groups of F3s built in 1947 and mid-1948. The COLA would soldier on with these 5,500 HP engine sets until the delivery of new 2,250 HP E8 units in mid-1950. 

Below are some excellent photos showing these motive power arrangements, with captions below them, kindly sent to me by Jeff Koeller.

Pictured in the Upper Narrows with State Highway 18’s “Rainbow" bridge prominent at right, UP-C&NW jointly-owned engines E7 931A and E6 925B lead the westbound COLA 9th Train, heading generally southward, out of Victorville in the early morning sunlight on July 12, 1947. 

According to AT&SF employee time table No. 130, effective June 8, 1947, train No. 103 was scheduled through Victorville at 6:03 am. Previously, the COLA operated over the Santa Fe as train Nos. 203 and 204, but on May 14, 1947, the Utahn was inaugurated as Nos. 3 and 4 on the Union Pacific, and the Utahn was subsequently given the COLA’s former train numbers on the Santa Fe. Thus, the COLA became Nos. 103 and 104 on the Santa Fe at that time. Photo by Chard Walker.

On January 12, 1948, UP F3s 968A, 977B and 971B are shown heading train No. 104, the eastbound COLA, into Ames, Iowa.  After receiving five ABB sets of EMD F3 passenger units in September-October 1947, the UP assigned the units to various trains to determine what would be the best use of these 4,500 HP engine sets. This test was short-lived on the COLA as UP rather quickly reverted to using two-unit 4,000 HP engine combinations. Don Christensen photograph from Grand Ave tower.

Here is No. 104, the eastbound COLA, coming into Ames, Iowa, on February 5, 1948, powered by UP E3 951A and F-M Erie-built 987B. Although no train number is shown in the engine’s indicator box, to the far left, just behind the baggage-express car, can be seen part of articulated coach LA-401, making this the 7th COLA. 

After UP’s Fairbanks-Morse engines 984A, 985A, 986B and 987B were delivered in November 1947, one of these 2,000 HP units was regularly paired with an EMD cab unit in a COLA consist. This was normally a booster unit as shown here. Don Christensen photo.

Train No. 104, the eastbound COLA 7th Train, is shown on the C&NW just west of Geneva, Illinois, on March 24, 1948. Jointly-owned E7 988J (formerly 927A) leads F-M cab unit 702 (ex 984A). Both engines were recently renumbered in March 1948. The use of an Erie-built cab unit was somewhat rare, as the F-M boosters were more common. C&NW photo.

Action at Los Angeles in late 1948 shows one of SP’s triple-unit diners at left, part of the Noon Daylight consist being backed into the station on Track 4, alongside COLA power units UP-C&NW E7 988J, UP E3 992B and a UP F3 A-unit. After bringing No. 103 into Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, this 5,500 HP engine lashup is shown pulling out of LAUPT on Track 5 and heading toward UP’s East Yard for servicing (the engine crew is now operating from the former trailing unit). 

UP normally operated ABB engine sets, which required the locomotives to back across the Los Angeles River bridge (in the far right background), then reverse direction and proceed around the connecting track to Pasadena Junction to get onto UP’s East Bank Line with the cab unit now in front. Harold E. Williams photo. 

UP engines E3 991, F3 903B and E6 992 with COLA No. 104 are about to cross First Street South as the train comes into the Salt Lake City passenger station in early 1949. Starting in late 1948, UP began to add a single 1,500 HP F3 unit to the COLA consists to create 5,500 HP motive power sets. Note that the leading unit has received carbody vents along the center side panels for better engine room ventilation (the cooling system air intake grills at the top of the locomotive were part of a separate, sealed system). The trailing E6 has yet to be modified. Louis A. Marre collection.

COLA train No. 104 is shown leaving LAUPT in early 1949, headed up by UP E7 999 (ex 960A), 990B (ex 990BJ, ex 929B) and F3 900C. That’s Terminal Tower looming above the train with Signal Bridge No. 1 overhead. Following the baggage express car are C&NW articulated coaches 3408/3409, recently renumbered from LA-401/LA-402, but with the joint UP-C&NW lettering still intact. The cars will soon be lettered simply CHICAGO AND NORTH WESTERN. Robert O. Hale photo, M.D. McCarter collection.  

This completes our coverage of the 1947-1950 COLA trains.  Here are now are some layout progress reports covering the two weeks up to Sep. 15.

I sent no progress report on Sep. 1, as I'd been too tired, apparently battling Long COVID.  I was a little better the next week, but my wife and I were gone to Victoria, BC, for our wedding anniversary (as usual).

Before we left, I received in the mail the latest masterpiece by Craig Wisch -- his cardstock model of the old Santa Fe Hotel that was across the tracks from the depot in Victorville.  I posed it on my layout beside the other two most recent models he has sent me -- Peterson Feed and Hayward Lumber:

Meanwhile, Craig had begun work on modeling the La Paloma Cafe, which stood just to the right of the Santa Fe Hotel.  Here's a blurry old photo of the Cafe, reflected in a puddle:

This is the only image we have that indicates that it had a rooftop that sloped down toward the rear (same as the hotel), as implied by the step-down side wall seen on the left.

My trip to Victoria that week produced quite a few model railroad images that I shot when we toured the Miniature World attraction, which is on the north side of the Empress Hotel.  They have a large HO model railroad that runs through various scenes depicting the railroad history of Canada.  Here's one scene with a pond behind the train:

Here's a scene with a logging operation:

Here's a city scene with some railroad spurs:

In a separate large display, they have circus and carnival scenes, as seen here in the background:

I have an interest in circus and carnival trains, and they have a scene with a circus train being unloaded at the far end of the town:

All of the detailed modeling in this Miniature World museum is amazing to see!  You can see some of their other exhibits at their website:

 https://miniatureworld.com/exhibits/

I wrote on Sep. 15:  I'm apparently still battling Long COVID -- the kind that makes you sleepy and tired all day long.  So I have no layout progress to report on again, but I'll share some photos anyway.

Craig Wisch has been working on a cardstock model of the La Paloma Cafe that stood just to the right of the Santa Fe Hotel, across the tracks from the Victorville depot.  Here's one of the few photos we have of the cafe, but this one was shot after it closed for business:

Here's a progress photo that Craig sent me, showing the front and right sides of his model under construction:

We have no photos showing where the windows and doors were on the sides or rear, so he gets to make his best guess on those.  Here's his progress photo of the front and left sides, where the walls have not yet been cut down to size:

Many thanks to Craig for all his work on this latest model.

A distant friend heard that I'm building a model railroad, and he asked to see some photos, so I went downstairs and shot a few new ones and sent them to him.  Here's one showing the return loop tracks in the staging room:

Here's one showing the tracks as they exit the staging room and curve past C Tower:

Here's a photo showing some tools arranged on the right and some models of the bunkhouse and section houses on the left, in the main layout room:

On the opposite side of the layout, here are some models of Victorville buildings arranged beside the mainline tracks, with some of my bookcases full of train books in the background:

That's all for now.  I hope I get my strength back before long!  I'm behind on posting these blog entries, so I need to catch up.