This
time I had planned to cover the Union Pacific's Los Angeles Limited
passenger train in 1954-1956 (when it became the new Challenger), but that report from Jeff Koeller won't be ready until next month, so I'm filling in with an easy Santa Fe passenger train, the El Tovar of 1946.
And instead of more layout progress, I'll share two bi-weekly layout reports that include my annual visit to my home town of Minneapolis.
The El Tovar (Train 123/124) was a short-lived, summer-only
supplement to the Grand Canyon Limited (Train 23/24), and unlike the Grand Canyon Limited, the El Tovar actually ran up the branch from Williams, AZ to the south rim of the Grand Canyon
Not a lot is written about the train, but the 2nd Quarter
1998 issue of The Warbonnet (p.12), Fred Frailey's A Quarter Century of
Santa Fe Consists (p.120), and Gordon Bassett's chapter in Santa Fe in
the Intermountain West (p.236) each devote a paragraph to it (Frailey also
includes a table with the 1946 consist). More recently, the train is also covered briefly on page 183 of the Santa Fe Passenger Train Compendium by Michael Flick and John Signor.
All four sources say that the El Tovar was
inaugurated in 1940, running between Los Angeles and Kansas City, with a side
trip up the branch to the canyon. For the 1941 season, the train was cut back
to just Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon, and then it was cut from the timetable altogether for
the duration of WWII, until 1946.
Frank Peterson got a shot of the westbound El Tovar climbing the grade at Frost, just outside Victorville, in July 1941, behind 4-8-2 #3722:
From Williams to the Grand Canyon was 3.3% grade, so the train needed a
helper there, as seen in this photo by D.L. Ingersoll of Train 124 arriving at the Grand Canyon station yard in June 1941, with 4-6-2 #1379 helping 4-8-2 #3722:
Besides being the name of the Train, El Tovar was also the name of the Santa Fe’s hotel at the rim of the Grand
Canyon, very close to the depot.
The train reappeared for one summer season after the war,
June 1 to September 13, 1946, then disappeared for good. The equipment was
heavyweight, including the last open-platform Pullman observations assigned
regularly to Santa Fe trains.
Here we see Train 123 with
nine cars (two more than usual) climbing the grade at Frost (near Victorville) in June
1946, behind 4-8-2 #3747, thanks to Richard Kindig:
Here are the seven types of cars the train normally carried between LA and the Grand Canyon in 1946:
Baggage-Express
Chair
Tourist 14-Sec. Sleeper (to/from
Chicago on 23/24)
Diner
Bar Lounge-Dormitory
8-1-2 Sleeper (to/from Chicago on 23/24)
10-Sec Sleeper-Lounge-Observation (with open platform!)
Note that the train included two through-service sleeping cars for the Grand Canyon
Limited.
The power was normally a Santa Fe 3700-class 4-8-2.
It's disappointing that there seem to be no photos of the last operating open-platform observation car on a scheduled Santa Fe train, the El Tovar. As a substitute, here's a photo of such a car at the end of the Grand Canyon Limited in 1940:
Checking my Santa Fe Employee Timetable #127 for the summer of 1946, I find that the train came westbound through Victorville (without stopping) at 7:26 a.m., and it returned eastbound through town at 5:53 p.m. So this was a daylight train that I could try to model in HO.
I asked my friend Robert Rogers to send me some ideas for what to use for accurate models for each car, and here is his report:
The only Pullman-owned/operated cars were the 14 Sec, 8-1-2 and 10
Sec.Lounge-Obs. The rest of the consist would be Santa Fe-owned
heavyweight cars, built by Pullman, but ALL the Santa Fe owned cars have a
distinctive channel side sill at the base of the sides of the car.
For the locomotive, a 4-8-2, the best model is the late 1970's Korean brass Sunset model.
Baggage-Express: This
was likely a Santa Fe owned car. There are very limited frugal model
choices: Walthers metal (straight side sill and kit-bashed fishbelly
side sills -- which were much more common on the Santa Fe). Of course
Coach Yard does them accurately, for a price. In doing my research, when I
kit-bashed the Rivarossi combine, I got two wide baggage doors, and
those baggage cars were converted post-1950 on the Santa Fe, so do not
fit 1946. Not really a lot of choices.
Chair
car: Suydam and Lambert made this car as a brass shell. Walthers plastic includes an interior, and both models are correct.
Tourist
14 Section: Santa Fe had Steam Ejector A/C on the Pullman pool cars
assigned to them. This car was likely off the Scout in Pullman Pool
service, so had SE A/C. Bethlehem Car works once made a kit of this
car; I have two, and it comes with the correct A/C. The Walthers car is
nice, with interior, but does not have correct A/C system. Branchline
also did this car, but with Pullman brine or ice A/C, not steam
ejector. This is a BIG hole in the Santa Fe sleeper model inventory, and
the roof hatches can be SEEN!
Diner: Least costly is the Rivarossi car with interior, then comes Suydam and
Lambert (all these cars are slightly different). Walthers does NOT have
any Santa Fe prototype heavyweight diner model.
Bar-Lounge-Dorm: Walthers metal side, and Suydam and Lambert do a nice job. Coach Yard is even nicer, but pricey.
8-1-2
Sleeper: I have a modified Lambert car with steam ejector A/C on roof
and underfloor, built by Tom Madden, a former supplier to Bethlehem Car
Works. Walthers plastic is next, but there is no easy parts
source for the roof and underfloor A/C system. Branchline/Atlas does
this basic car, but again no steam ejector A/C.
10-Sec-Lounge-Observation: I
looked this car up in the Pullman Car Catalog. The 10 sections have a
smaller forward restroom than a standard 10-1-2 (closer to a
10-1-1 -- which Branchline did make in plastic). The Lounge part uses
three sets of closely paired windows across the rear of the car, with
open rear platform. The CY car is correct, but pricey. What I don't know is if Walthers metal sides ever did this car (I don't have access to my old Walthers catalogs). I
did get the Branchline 10-1-1 sides, and they do NOT fit the 10-1-2
interior, because the restroom size is different. So, the Branchline
10-1-1 may be a better start to kit-bash the 10-obs.
Many thanks to Robert Rogers for sharing his knowledge about all these models!
Here now is my bi-weekly layout progress report from June 7, 2026:
I'm afraid that I didn't make any progress in the last
two weeks on gluing down the throat tracks of my 10-track A Yard, but I
did spend a lot of time corresponding with Jeff Koeller about the LA
Limited blog entry, and with other friends who are building more
structures for my Victorville layout.
The
new focus is on structures that were inside the large Southwestern
Portland Cement Plant at the north end of town, circa 1950. The cement
plant scene will take up a lot of space, and most of it will be set
pretty far back from the mainlines at the aisle, so we're going for the
generic look of something similar to the real one, not an exact copy.
Here's
a color slide shot during a railfan tour of the new 1949 larger kiln at
the cement plant in Jan. 1950 (they rode behind 4-8-4 #2903 to get
there!):
My friend Bill Messecar took my large Walthers styrene
kit for Valley Cement and worked on building a large rotating kiln (like
the one seen in the 1950 photo above) and the kiln buildings at each
end of it. The kit accidentally (and luckily) came with two very tall
smokestacks (instead of the one intended), so he built both of them for
me. He also built the kit's large limestone storage building, which is a
stand-in for the even larger one at the plant.
When
we met for lunch on Friday (June 5), he gave me these completed and
weathered structures, and I gave him more Walthers kits to work on --
two of the Red Wing Milling kit, for building the Packing House, and two
Medusa Cement kits, for building the rows of cement silos.
I set up his cement plant buildings on top of my new A Yard tracks and shot this photo from the left end of the scene:
Then I shot a photo from the right end, showing more of the limestone
storage building, and showing more of the tall smokestacks by the kiln:
I also had a set of silos from an old Medusa Cement kit, which my friend
Don Hubbard had built for me years ago, so I set that up too, along
with the three new Walthers ATSF covered hoppers that just came out:
I'm very excited to see this large cement plant scene starting to take shape!
But
wait, my friend in Victorville, Craig Wisch, has also been building
some other parts of the cement plant for me, in cardstock.
Here's his new model of the large sign board that stood right outside the entrance to the plant:
He's now working on a cardstock model of the Warehouse
building that was inside the plant. We only have partial photos of it,
and we are not including the part that had cement silos sticking out of
the roof, and we only have space for one loading dock, facing the
mainline side of the plant. We chose this cardstock kit as the basis
for our model:
Craig has been working on the long side and on the end, to make them
similar to what we can see in photos like the one below, shot when the
plant was still new. Part of the Warehouse can be seen in the lower
right corner:
Here is his current pattern for the side of the building that will face
the aisle, with the side of the loading dock along the bottom:
I'm excited to see this model starting to come together!
A
third project in the works is being done by Jon McWirter, who has been
exploring ways to build the tall gantries that supported all the
transmission lines within the Switching Station north of Victorville.
He found a 3D-printed water tower kit that happens to have parts he can
use for making each leg of the gantries.
This photo shows one leg of a gantry partly built, with two sides already connected at right angles and two more in a jig:
When he puts all four parts together, he gets one leg of a gantry, which stands over 8" tall:
He writes, "There will be two circuit breakers on
each side of the control house, and each circuit
breaker requires 2 gantries, so that's 8 gantries. The bus will require
4
gantries, so I believe 12 is the total number of gantries." And we'll
need three of those 8" long structures in the photo above to make each
gantry -- two for the legs, and one for the horizontal connecting
structure. It's quite a project!
Besides
the new covered hoppers, my other recent acquisition is the BLI 5-car
1947 Freedom Train set. But I don't have the matching PA yet (I have
the decals for it, but where are they?), so I set a Santa Fe PA at the
front of the train for this photo:
I love special passenger trains like this!
If you can help me in any way, please get in touch.
Here is my next bi-weekly layout progress report, from June 21:
Most of this two-week period was taken up with my annual
trip with my wife Diane to visit my siblings in the Minneapolis area,
where I grew up. So, I made no layout progress, but some friends did
make progress on various models for my Victorville scenes.
My
cardstock-modeler friend living in Victorville, Craig Wisch, completed
his model of the cement plant's Warehouse building (or the part of it
that fits within my cement plant scene). Here's his photo of the
completed model, showing the side that will face the aisle, and which
includes a loading dock:
Many thanks to Craig for all his work on this! He'll be
sending it to me soon, along with the cement plant sign board that you
saw last time.
My local
friend Bill Messecar has been working with two of the Walthers Red Wing
Milling kits to create an approximate model of the Packing House that
was front and center at the cement plant, but he has no photos to show
us yet.
He has also been
busy adding lettering and new trucks to the very rare Pecos River brass
tank car, Santa Fe class Tk-J, which I finally found and won on eBay.
He posed it on his layout, within his work train, and it will be running
on his layout until my layout is ready to run it:
When it's on my layout, it will serve as the Domestic
Water tank car that was filled in Victorville and taken to Summit
periodically to provide water to the Summit residents.
Another
local friend, Jon McWhirter, has continued to experiment with building
electrical gantries as seen at the Victorville Switching Station that
will be on my layout. He's been trying various 3D printed parts and
assembling them into the shapes needed.
Here's one progress photo from a week ago:
And a 2nd photo from a week ago, using different parts:
Today he sent me this photo of two gantries standing up on the
cardboard shape of the switching station area I will have on my layout:
It's exciting for me to see the good progress he's making with this!
Now
let's look at some of the photos I shot while in Minneapolis. On the
main "hobby shop day" with my brother-in-law Scott, we made our annual
visit to the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum, where they have a large
O-scale layout running all the time.
Here we see a Great Northern passenger train passing a paddle-wheel boat along the river:
Here we see the same train curving around the roundhouse scene:
They have a nice model of the former GN Depot in Minneapolis. In this
scene, a Milwaukee Road Hiawatha passenger train is parked there (at the
wrong station):
They have another O-scale layout nearby, which does include the proper Milwaukee Road station in Minneapolis:
Back on the main layout, we see a GN freight on one of the bridges over the Mississippi River:
And now the GN passenger train crosses another one of those bridges:
Finally, we watch the GN passenger train round the curve at the left end of the river scene:
On a second "hobby shop day" with Scott, I visited his basement layout,
with his interurban seaside layout with overhead wires. I asked Scott
to pose by his waterfront car ferry scene:
And then I posed by his car barn, with many of his interurban locos outside:
On another day, my wife and I drove with Scott to Lake Harriet to ride
the restored trolley car. Here we see the trolley after it pulled up to
the station:
I also went around to the front to get a photo there:
We had a fun ride along the old route, and at the end, after the other
passengers had de-trolleyed, Scott shot a photo of Diane and me inside:
We had a good time in Minneapolis, as always. Next week I'll get back to work on the layout.
If you can help me, please get in touch.
