Santa Fe's 3160-Class 2-8-2 Locos in Victorville & More Help with Structure Models

I had hoped to write this blog entry two weeks after my previous one, but I was so busy downloading, labeling, and emailing photos from my Europe trip that I had no free time.  That temporary hobby finally ended this week, so I can now write another blog entry, three weeks after my last one.

The locomotive topic this time will be Santa Fe's 3160-class 2-8-2s, which were very similar to the later 4000-class that we covered here previously (Dec. 12, 2021).  And my layout topic this time will be mostly about the friends who are helping to build structures for my layout.

During 1917-1920 the Santa Fe acquired 128 heavy 2-8-2 steam locos from Baldwin in the 3160 class (#3160-3287).  These arrived in batches with minor differences, and all were upgraded over time.  

They were scrapped during 1950-1956, but the last published photos I've seen on Cajon Pass were in 1952, when just one of them (#3243) was used during the June Spud Rush, when many diesels were sent to the Valley Division to help there.

Let's begin with a color shot of #3236 with a passenger special at Redondo in 1950:

Here we see 2-8-2 #3221 helping 4-8-4 #2924 with a westbound Shriner Special near Frost (just after leaving Victorville) in June, 1950, thanks to Frank Peterson:

G.M. Best shot this classic photo of #3236 in San Bernardino in Dec. 1948:

Here is #3243 by the San Bernardino sand tower in an undated photo:

Jack Whitmeyer photographed #3243 helping 2-10-2 #3889 with an eastbound freight at Ono in June, 1952 (the Spud Rush again):

Here we see #3243 with a westbound local freight approaching Summit in June, 1952, thanks to Robert Hale:

Here is the face of #3243 by the Summit depot, probably in June, 1952:

Finally, here's a color shot of #3243 again, approaching Summit with a westbound local freight in June, 1952, thanks to Jack Whitmeyer, who was in the same photo line as Robert Hale (two photos back):

There have been quite a few HO scale brass models of various versions of these locos (along with the similar 4000 class) over the decades, such as by PFM in 1962-63, Sunset in 1977, Key in 1988, and Sunset again in 1992, and I have a few of them.

Here is the early PFM brass model of an as-built 3160-class loco (with a coal tender):

Here's a 1978 Sunset brass model with the rare "trident-shaped" feedwater heater:

Here's a later (1992) Sunset model of the 3160 class:

Finally, Key made three versions of the 3160 class in 1988, including this example:

Now let's turn to my very slow layout progress (due to my temporary hobby of sending out Europe trip photos instead).  But there was good progress by my friends on building structures for the layout.

My newest helper, Craig Wisch in Victorville, who had completed a nice HO cardstock model of the old jail in Victorville, and who had suddenly disappeared from our frequent email discussions as of May 25, was later found.  It turns out that he had accidentally blocked all emails from me.  Jim Coady, who writes to both of us, got us back in touch after about two weeks.

Craig has made visits to the Victorville Switching Station in the Lower Narrows to get photos and dimensions of all the sides.  Here's a photo of the prototype -- the building is called the Control House:

Craig initially began work on an S-scale cardstock model, as he usually does, but then he set it aside and is now working on an HO-scale model.  Here's an early view of the front side of his model, with the door and windows inset by 12":

Also, my local friend Don Hubbard has been adding more details to his beautiful model of the Texaco gas station that was beside Route 66 in the Lower Narrows.  Here are some recent views of his model -- first, the right side, with the delicate phone booth kit he built:

And the left side, with many detail parts added:

My local friend Bill Messecar has also been busy making pencil drawings of the two section houses and a shed that stood near the water tanks, as seen in this cropped view of a  Jack Whitmeyer photo:

We only have partial views of these buildings, plus footprint drawings and dimensions from the Water Service Records, but the key ingredient will be the board-and-batten siding on the buildings.

Bill is also interested in building the two steel water tanks to complete the scene, so I located my two old BH-Models kits for the 60' tall Santa Fe tanks (later Rix made a lot of the same kits).

As I said, my layout progress has been very slow.  But a couple of weeks ago my local friend George Chambers came over one morning to get me going again.

We decided to fill in all the gaps between the cork sheets that will support the staging yards.  I inserted latex caulk into the gaps, and he came long behind me to smooth them out.  George posed for a photo when we were done with the job:

Later I sanded the dried patches and then painted over them with gray paint.

A big job ahead of me is to build and wire the four mainline control panels that Don Borden drew in CAD for me, based on all the advice from my electrical expert, Tim Fisher.  Here's a recent photo I shot off all four panel drawings arranged on the floor:

I sent the drawings to Kevin Hunter at his Berrett Hill company, and he sent me back a total purchase list of Touch Toggles and related parts needed for all four panels.  I had sticker shock, so the new plan is to order just the parts for the simplest panel (C Tower) to spread out the costs and the work.  Better to practice on just one panel!

I hope to get back to my previous schedule of a blog entry every two weeks now.

 

Santa Fe's E-Units and DL-109 in Victorville & Getting Help with Structure Models

It's been almost two months since I've been able to write a blog entry here, as my wife and I were busy with a three-week tour of Europe (our first time) -- we visited London, Paris, Rome, Florence, and Venice.  Near the end, we both came down with COVID, so we've been slowly recovering from that since we got home.

I'm getting down to the bottom of the barrel as far as which postwar Victorville locomotives I can cover here, but I'll cover some early Santa Fe passenger diesels that only made rare appearances in Victorville during the postwar decade -- the EMD E-Units and the Alco DL-109.  Then I'll cover some HO structures that some friends have been working on for my Victorville scenes.

Let's start with Santa Fe's E1 streamlined passenger diesels (#2-9, and some had B units).  These were not pulling trains over Cajon Pass during the postwar years, but they were pulling the Golden Gate trains on the Valley Division and the San Diegan trains out of Los Angeles.  

Reportedly, they were sent to San Bernardino for their annual inspections, so once a year the E1s from the Valley must have run through Victorville on their way to their inspections and back.

Here's a shot of E1 A-B set #4 in Fresno in about 1948, from the Joe Taul collection:

In recent years Broadway Limited made some very nice models of the Santa Fe E1s, including the postwar version, which I have:

Our next Victorville E-units were the E6s (#12-15, some with B units), which actually did pull passenger trains through Victorville into 1946, as seen here in Victorville with #13 pulling the eastbound El Capitan in Jan. 1946, thanks to Fletcher Swan:

Walthers Proto 2000 made good HO models of these locos:

Later Broadway Limited also made very nice models of the E6s:

Our next Santa Fe E-units were the E8m's (#80-87, some with B units), which were rebuilt from the E1s in 1953.  As with the E1s, the E8m's were pulling the Golden Gate trains on the Valley Division and the San Diegan trains out of Los Angeles.   

They were sent to San Bernardino for their annual inspections, so once a year the E8m's from the Valley must have run through Victorville on their way to their inspections and back.

Here is one of those E8m sets, #82-81A, with the Golden Gate in Fresno in the mid-1950s, as shot by Paul Taul:

Jack Whitmeyer shot one of the recently-built E8m's, #4 (right before it was renumbered into the 80 class) in San Bernardino:

Also, here is an undated shot of #80 in the San Bernardino shops area from page 441 of Worley's "Iron Horses of the Santa Fe Trail":

Proto 2000 made an E8m cab unit, but I don't think they made a B unit:

Broadway Limited later did make both an A and a B unit for the E8m:

Our final passenger diesel that made rare appearances in Victorville is the Alco DL-109/110 (#50).  By the end of WW2 they were assigned back east, but DL-109 #50 was sent west for shopping in San Bernardino in Sep. 1951.  

It was released from the shops and was photographed briefly while testing in San Bernardino in April 1952.  So, it would have run through Victorville once in each direction then (Sep. 1951 and April 1952).

Here's a photo of #50 in the San Bernardino shops area at that time:

In April of 1952 R.P. Middlebrook photographed #50 at the San Bernardino depot:

Jack Whitmeyer got a similar shot at about the same time:

Walthers Proto 1000 made a model of the A unit, but it has an extra window behind the warbonnet that should not be there (but as the photos show, the windows had become louver sets by this time anyway):

The Hallmark brass set included both the DL-109 and the DL-110, and it had the correct side windows as originally built:

I recently got a painted set like this, so my unpainted set is now for sale to anyone who wants one.

I haven't made any progress on my layout while I was gone and while I've been recovering, but some friends have been busy building structures for my Victorville scenes.

Bill Messecar is interested in helping with more structures for my Victorville scenes, beginning with a third pumphouse to match the other two he built.  Then he'd like to work on some drawings of what the two section houses might have looked like, based on partial photos and his knowledge of Santa Fe section houses.  Then he would work on scratch-building them for me!

And on April 12 I heard from a gentleman who's about my age named Craig Wisch, who lives in Victorville and has been reading my blog.  He has previously been building S scale models of some local buildings using cardstock and paper.

 

He offered to start building some HO models for my layout, so we looked first at two buildings that are still standing there in town: the old jail and the office of the Victorville switching station at the Lower Narrows.  He began visiting those buildings and getting measurements and detailed photos.  His plan was to assemble them and then ship them to me in boxes.

 

By May 12, Craig had completed a nice HO cardstock model of the old jail.  Here's the actual jail:

 

 And here is Craig's beautiful new cardstock model:

My long-time friend Don Hubbard has been working on a model of the Texaco gas station that was on Route 66 in the Lower Narrows during my time period.  Here's a good photo of the gas station just before the gas pumps were installed:

Don began with a Piko kit for a similar gas station, but he has done a lot of mods to make it closer to the prototype.  Here's a photo of his early progress, as of May 14:

Here's Don's further progress as of May 28, after Bill Messecar had added tarpaper roofing to the garage section:

Here's one more update as of June 4, after some lettering and decals had been added:

 

Don will continue to add details (such as gas pumps) in the days to come.

 

After completing his model of the old jail, Craig Wisch turned his attention to the electrical switching station that still stands in the Lower Narrows:

 

He drove out there and shot photos of all sides of the building and got some dimensions.  He also began discussing ideas for how he might be able to build a cardstock model of the large Rainbow Bridge someday!  

 

But then on May 25 he suddenly dropped out of sight in the middle of our good email conversations, so I'm worried about what might have happened to him.

 

I still need to get to work and study the drawings of the four mainline control panels that Don Borden drew for me, so that we can finalize them and get to work on building them.  I also need to get back in touch with Kevin Hunter for ordering a lot of the Touch Toggles we plan to use.

And I'll try to get back to work on the actual layout in the next two weeks!