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.