UP's 2-8-8-0 Locos in Victorville, and Adding Plywood Pads under Re-Aligned Layout Sections

Our featured locomotive type this time will be UP's 2-8-8-0 "Bull Moose" steam locos, which served as helpers out of Victorville.  Then we'll look at recent progress in moving the layout sections a bit to align them better with each other, and putting plywood squares under the footpads of the layout's legs.

During 1918-1924 the Union Pacific acquired 70 steam locos with a 2-8-8-0 wheel arrangement, and they called them "Bull Moose" locos.  These were initially compound locos, with larger, low-pressure cylinders in the front, and were numbered 3600-3669.  Here's a UP color photo of #3646 on Sherman Hill in the early 1940's:

 

But during 1937-1944 they were gradually converted to simple 2-8-8-0 locos (with the same-size cylinders front and rear) to improve their speed a little, and they were renumbered 3500-3569 as each was converted.  So by 1946, when my modeled time period begins, they were all simple 2-8-8-0s in the 3500 series.

Some of them worked mainly as helpers on Cajon Pass, so they were commonly seen in Victorville, which was the westward helper base for Cajon Pass.

Here we see a Frank Peterson photo (sorry for the low-res image, but this is in Victorville) of #3555 helping an early 4-6-6-4 Challenger westbound past the water tanks in Victorville with a freight train in 1945:

Here's the same loco waiting as a helper at Summit in 1946:

Here we see #3544 at Summit after it has helped a UP set of E7s with an eastbound passenger train in 1946 (another Frank Peterson photo):

Here Frank Peterson is following #3544 as it runs light from Summit down to Victorville in 1946, where it will get another helper assignment:

Finally, here we see a great Donald Duke photo of #3559 as it helps a westbound UP passenger train upgrade out of the Upper Narrows of Victorville in 1945:

These "Bull Moose" locos were also seen in Victorville and on Cajon Pass during 1947, but after that they were assigned elsewhere on the UP, so I can only run them when I'm operating in 1946 or 1947.  I have just one brass model of these locos, made by Sunset Models, and I recently got it painted and lettered as #3555:

 

Next time we'll choose some other Victorville loco to study.

Turning now to my layout progress since last time, I began by trying to get all the sections to align nicely with each other and with the walls around Section 1, where there should be a 22" wide (narrow) aisle.  This involved moving Sections 1 through 8 a little until they were closer to where they should be.

Here's a resulting view looking from Section 3 down toward Sections 2 and 1:

 

Here's a view looking in the opposite direction, from the corner where the aisle is narrow:

 

But this first attempt left a 1" misalignment between Section 8 and old Section 9 where it exits the staging room, so I went back and moved every section another inch toward the bookcases you see in the above photo, and that solved the problem, I hope.

Then I worked on cutting a lot of 3x3" plywood squares from a piece of scrap 1/2" plywood, and that produced 80 squares that I could use under the footpads of the 63 existing legs and any extra legs I add later.  The purpose is to lift the footpads out from being buried in the carpet, where I can't easily reach in and turn them to adjust the layout height.

I went around lifting up each leg and sliding a square plywood pad under each one, as seen here:

 

The last step so far has been to cut a couple of 8' long 2x2" boards into six shorter legs that I can attach under the layout to add support to some of the section corners that have no nearby legs and want to sag.  Here are the new, short legs, but they have not been added to the layout yet:

 

My next steps are to attach the short legs under the layout, adjust all the section heights to level them across the layout, and then to bolt them all together.

Santa Fe's FM Erie-Built Locos in Victorville, and Building Layout Section 1

This time I'm starting on a new project for this blog, which is to show the various kinds of locomotives that operated through Victorville during my 1946-1956 time period.  I'll start with an easy one, the Santa Fe's only set of Fairbanks-Morse Erie-Built locos, Number 90 (an A-B-A set, numbered 90LAB).

Then I'll show my progress in putting my final layout section, Section 1, up on legs a week ago.

The only photo I have of Erie-Built set #90 at Victorville is this one by Chard Walker in the late 1940s, as the 3-unit loco comes eastbound toward the Upper Narrows and into Victorville with a passenger train:

This set was acquired by the Santa Fe in June of 1947.  Because it was unreliable, it was downgraded from pulling the Super Chief and El Capitan trains in May of 1948.

Here we see #90 in San Bernardino, thanks to Jack Whitmeyer:

In this view we can almost see how the Warbonnet shape curves across the top of the cab roof, but I've never found a photo that clearly shows the shape (is it a curve or a point or a curved point?).

Starting in 1950, the Santa Fe began allowing these Erie-Built units to be mixed into mulitple-unit sets with the Alco PA units, because they used the same electrical systems.  Here's a later view by Jack Whitmeyer of a mixed set running along the California coast to San Diego (one PA and two Eries):
 

Going back to San Bernardino, here's an up-close view by Jack Whitmeyer:

 And one final view at the San Bernardino depot by Mr. Whitmeyer:

 

As for HO models of this loco set, Proto 1000 produced both the A and B units in Warbonnet paint:

 

But the A unit is missing the lower headlight that the Santa Fe's had, and the model used the trucks from their Alco PA model, which are close but not exactly right.  These are things that could be corrected, if wanted.  Various models have been made in brass too, including by Red Ball, Alco Models, and Overland Models.

Turning now to my Victorville layout progress, a week ago I made the seven legs for Section 1, stood the section up on its legs, and attached the legs to the frame, as seen here:

As you can see, Section 1 forms a narrow aisle (about 20" to 22" wide) around the corner of the layout here, and the corner of the frame has been rounded off to prevent scrapes.

The next step was to cut seven notches for legs into the edges of the plywood top and then place it over the frame and legs, as seen here, looking into the corner of the room:

Here's one more view, looking out from the corner, and showing the rest of the layout as it loops around the middle of the basement room:

This past week my only progress was to screw the plywood to the frame, as I was gone traveling for the rest of the week.  My next plan is to move the sections around by about an inch to line them up better with each other.  

Also, I want to try placing some plywood squares or rectangles under the footpads of the legs, so that they won't sink into the carpet where I can't reach in with a pliers to turn them.  I need to adjust all the sections to be level with each other.