UP's Erie-Built Diesels in Victorville, and Extending the Mainline Tracks beyond the Staging Room

Our selected Victorville locomotives this time are the Union Pacific's Fairbank-Morse Erie-Built passenger diesels.  Then the layout progress report will show the mainline staging tracks being extended beyond the staging room and back out into the main layout room.

The UP got their first Erie-Built ABA set in Dec. 1945 and numbered the units 50-M-1A, 50-M-3B, and 50-M-2A.  These looked different from all the later units, as they had step-down cab roofs with narrower windshields.

Here is this set in San Bernardino in Feb. 1946, when it was being tested with a freight train, as shot by Philips Kauke:

 

They found that the gearing was not right for either freight or passenger service, so they regeared them for passenger service in May, 1946.  These three units were renumbered in Aug. 1946 to 981A, 983B, and 982A.  All later units were geared for passenger service too, but they normally pulled the secondary trains.

Here are the same units with their new numbers in 1947 in San Bernardino with the eastbound Utahn, thanks to Jack Whitmeyer:

 

In Nov. 1947 the UP got two new AB sets, numbered 984A-986B and 985A-987B, and these had the later cab style, with no step-down roof and with normal windshields, like all subsequent Erie-Builts.

In March and April of 1948 the UP got two more ABA sets, with the cab units numbered 704-707 and the B-units numbered 704B and 706B.  At this time all the previous units were renumbered into the 700-series too.

Jack Whitmeyer shot a pair of Erie-Builts with a trailing Alco PA unit (they sometimes mixed the two diesel types together) eastbound on Sullivan's Curve, being helped by an FM H20-44 diesel:

Note the curving black exhaust screens that the UP added over the Erie exhaust stacks to catch cinders

Here we see unit 702 with trailing PB and PA units westbound through the Upper Narrows of Victorville, as shot by Fletcher Swan circa 1950:

Here is unit 702 again, leading two more Erie units this time, eastbound at Frost (just outside Victorville) with the LA Limited, as shot by Thomas Hotchkiss in March of 1951:

 

Jack Whitmeyer shot a set of Erie-Builts with a 4-8-2 steam helper eastbound on Cajon Pass:

Here is unit 707 leading the westbound Utahn at Summit circa 1950, as shot by Robert Hale:

Donald Duke shot unit 705 leading the eastbound LA Limited at Pine Lodge in January of 1951:

But in Feb. 1953 all of these units were transferred away to the Northwestern District and renumbered into the 650-series.  Here is unit 652 and two others in Omaha in Jan. 1955:

I don't have an HO model of the first Erie-Built set with the step-down cab roof to use in 1946 and most of 1947, but here's a photo of the Overland Models brass set:

I do have a Proto 1000 ABA set of later Erie-Builts, with two of the units shown here:

I see that Overland Models also made brass models of the UP's first set with the step-down cab roof, when the set had 700-series numbers:

It would be nice luxury to have a model of that first set someday!

My layout progress in the last two weeks has been to continue laying mainline staging tracks out of the staging room, through Section 8, around a curve into Section 1, and around a short curve into Section 2.

Here are the new mainline tracks (on the left) after being laid through Section 8 and partway around a curve into Section 1:

Then the tracks were extended around that curve into Section 1, up to the next turnouts (on the right):

The final step was to extend the mainlines past those two turnouts in Section 1 and around a short curve into Section 2, up to where the next turnouts will be located (at the lower right of the photo):

Now there is just one more tangle of turnouts to deal with, and the entire mainline loop around the staging deck will be complete!  

But then comes all the wiring of the track blocks and turnouts and control panels -- a whole new phase of layout construction to learn about and deal with!

 

Santa Fe's 4-8-2 Locos in Victorville, and Continuing the Mainline Tracks through the Staging Room

Our featured locomotives this time are the Santa Fe's 4-8-2 steam locos that operated through or into Victorville in the postwar years.  Then we'll take a look at more progress in laying mainline tracks through my staging room and back out.

Between 1918 and 1924 the Santa Fe acquired 51 Mountain-type 4-8-2 steam locos from Baldwin, numbered 3700-3750 in the 3700 class.  

They were the main passenger locos until demoted by the 4-8-4s, and by the postwar years the Cajon Pass photos show them sometimes pulling extra sections of heavyweight passenger trains, but usually in general helper service on both passenger and freight trains.  The last photos of them in service there were shot in 1949.

Here's a rare color view of #3749 with a secondary passenger train by the Victorville depot in the postwar years, as shot by Chard Walker:

 

Here we see #3746 helping 4-8-4 #3758 with an eastbound troop train approaching Summit, thanks to Thomas Hotchkiss:

Here is #3740 helping passenger FT set #167 with an eastbound passenger train at Pine Lodge, as shot by Allan Youell in 1946:

2-10-2 #3013 and 4-8-2 #3723 were pushing behind an eastbound freight at Devore in Aug. 1947, when photographed by James Ady:

Here we see #3735 with the 2nd section of the westbound Chief, handling excess mail and express cars, at Lugo in March of 1946, thanks to William Barham:

Here is #3708 helping a westbound freight towards Summit, as shot by Jack Whitmeyer:

Finally, here is #3740 with the 2nd section of the westbound Fast Mail approaching Summit in June of 1949, as shot by Stan Kistler:

As for HO models of these locos, I have two of the Sunset brass models like this one, but painted #3742 and #3748:

Balboa also made a brass model, but I don't seem to have one of these:

 

As for layout progress on the staging deck, I continued laying the mainline tracks around the big curve in Section 10 and then into the straightaway in Section 11.

I got a bit better at soldering the rail joiners before curving the tracks, but the joints are not perfect yet. 

After four of the flextracks had been soldered and glued down on the curve leaving Section 10, I shot this photo showing the new tracks:

 

 

Then I added two more flextracks, and these were mostly on the straightaway in Section 11.  One of them had to be cut to meet the location of a crossover turnout for the return loop operation.  Here's a view of the new tracks in Sections 10 and 11:

 

 

The next step was to lay down two flextracks for the outer main as it crosses from Section 11 through part of Section 9 and into Section 8, leaving the staging room now, up to the turnout to where the future cassette-loading track will be located:

 

 

The final step so far was to cut and lay down two flextracks for the inner main in the same location, but between two turnouts.  In this view the pushpins are still in place while the caulk dries:

Insulated rail joiners were used where blocks end and where reversing tracks begin (insulated joiners on both rails for the reverse loop boundaries).

I'll keep working on adding more mainline tracks as I move around the layout.