Revisiting Victorville's Lower Narrows, and Building Layout Sections 6 and 5

This time we will revisit the scenic Lower Narrows region, which is railroad east of the cement plant, and then we'll look at progress in putting layout Sections 6 and 5 up on legs.

Let's start off with a recent photo of UP's Big Boy steam loco going eastbound through the rocky scenery of the Lower Narrows of the Mojave River:

In contrast, here's a steam era photo of a UP 2-10-2 with a freight heading westbound through the double bridges over the Mojave River:
 

Here's a recent color photo of the double bridges (built in different years, as the railroad was later double-tracked):

Note the power lines coming over the area.  They lead to the nearby electrical switching station, as seen here beside Route 66:

 Here's the 1956 USGS map of this area:

Note the Substation building near the lower center of the map, and the double tracks of the Santa Fe Railroad crossing the river (on two bridges) near the BM 2692 mark, and the cliffs beside the tracks as they curve past the Lower Narrows label.  Note that the solid red highway going past the Substation is Route 66.

The curvy track separating from the mainlines behind the Substation and running to the left is the branch line to George Air Force Base, which we will revisit next time.  

In the notch between the George AFB track and Route 66 are two squares, which mark the location of Rosso's Texaco gas station and cafe, as seen here:

I plan to include all these things in my Lower Narrows scene, as shown in this track plan:

The double bridges over the Mojave River are in the center of this scene, with rocky cliffs behind the tracks hiding the Mojave Northern track as it sneaks through this area unseen.  The Electrical Switching Station is to the lower right of the bridges, and the Texaco gas and cafe buildings are near the left edge of the scene.

One famous building just railroad west of here that I'm not including is Emma Jean's Holland Burger Cafe, as it's on the wrong side of the highway (in the aisle), and sadly there's no room for it:

It's still there as a Route 66 landmark, and I enjoyed eating lunch there once and buying a souvenir shirt.  My substitute is Rosso's Texaco and cafe, which does fit nicely, and which my friend Jack Dykstra used to visit as a child.

Let's close our visit with one more look at those wonderful, rocky cliffs, as a Santa Fe freight heads westbound beside the river, toward the double bridges:

Turning now to progress on my layout, I'm in a routine in which I can get another lower deck layout section up onto legs each week.  

This involves planning where the legs should go, building the needed number of legs from 2x4s and 2x2s, marking where the notches for the legs should go along the edges of the plywood tabletop, cutting out the notches with a saber saw outdoors, clamping a few of the legs to the frame, standing the frame up on these legs, clamping on more legs, attaching the legs to the frame with screws, adjusting the footpads until the frame is level, placing the plywood tabletop onto the frame, with the legs fitting through the notches, and screwing down the plywood to the frame (using about two dozen screws, spaced about 12" apart).

Here's a photo of new Sections 6 and 6A after the plywood was added on top:

Here's a photo of me on my knees, screwing the legs into the frame of adjacent Section 5:

And here's a different view of Section 5, now with its plywood on top, as seen from the entrance to the daylight basement:

Meanwhile, my friends Bill Messecar and Don Hubbard have completed building my fleet of 14 Mojave Northern rock cars (thanks to rock bins created by Jim Coady), with six of the cars having limestone loads.  I posed them with a stand-in 0-6-0T steam loco on my first staging tracks on Section 9:

That's all the news for now.  Sections 4 and 3 are next.