Santa Fe's FTs with No Red Stripe in Victorville & A New Layout Track and Panel Design

Our Victorville locomotives this time are the Santa Fe's EMD freight FTs with no red stripe, a catwhisker paint scheme that began appearing in 1948, peaked in 1951, and then was gone by 1954.  

My layout progress was minimal, with one new staging track added and one new control panel design improved, but my helpers made progress on some models of Victorville buildings.

Let's begin with some photos of the Santa Fe's FTs in the catwhisker paint scheme and no red stripe, which replaced the previous scheme that had a partial red stripe on only the cab.

Here's a color shot of FT set #146 at Redondo Jct. in April, 1951, thanks to Fred Scott:

Donald Duke got a shot of FT set #109 with an eastbound Green Fruit Express by the Alray Tunnels (note that in black & white photos shot at a distance, it's hard to be sure that there is no red stripe on the cab):

Here's a westbound freight behind FT set #152 at Lenwood, shot by Fred Hust in Feb. 1948, when the no-red-stripe scheme was still new:

Jack Whitmeyer got a shot of a two-unit FT set (used as helpers on Cajon Pass) on the turntable at San Bernardino:

Here we see two of the two-unit FT helper sets, led by #411, pushing on the rear of an eastbound freight as it rounds Sullivan's Curve (this is a Santa Fe photo):

We've seen this next photo before, when we were looking at the all-blue FT paint scheme that began appearing in 1951 (#151 on the right), but now we're looking at the no-red-stripe FT helper set on the left, pushing backwards on the rear of an eastbound freight at Summit, as shot by Stan Kistler in June, 1952:

Here is FT helper set #198 helping 4-8-4 #2905 with an eastbound passenger train at Pine Lodge in June, 1950, as shot by Richard Steinheimer:

Finally, here is Stan Kistler's July, 1953 photo of FT A-B-A set #125 leading a westbound freight at Frost (just after leaving Victorville) in a power move, with passenger F7 set #340 and freight FT set #149 (this is late in the life of the no-red-stripe scheme):

The next FT paint scheme, beginning in 1954, was the "cigar band" scheme (also used on freight F3s, F7s, and F9s), but the FTs were gone from Cajon Pass before this scheme appeared, so I don't model these.  Here is set #127 at an unidentified location in the mid-1950s, just for comparison:

 

I only know of two models of the FTs with catwhiskers and no red stripe.  One is the Stewart FT set in that scheme, as seen here:

The other was the expensive Division Point brass set (which I don't have), detailed for helper and road switcher service:

Now it's time for another layout progress report, but most of the progress was made by my helpers.   

I did complete the construction of the new Track E4, which leads to the future cassette-loading area, by filing down loose ties and sliding them under all the rail joiners, and then by adding a rerailer section to the end of the track where the cassettes will dock.   

The results are not very exciting to see, but here is the new spot where cassettes will load rolling stock on and off the layout someday, using the rerailer track to keep the wheels on the track:

I still need to add the wiring to the new Track E4.  I've been avoiding all the wiring jobs as much as possible -- my least favorite part of building a layout!

My other accomplishment was to develop a new design for the C Tower control panel, basing it more closely on how the tracks are actually arranged as seen by an operator.  This was my pencil drawing:

 

 

Also, I decided that the best spot for the panel will be on top of the benchwork where the tracks round the corner, so that panel operators can see the turnouts at both the left and right ends of the zone, and so that the panel will not get in the way of the tight aisles around that corner.

The major revision to the panel was the addition of the turnout leading to Track E4 (the cassette loading track), which used to be on the Reversing Tower panel, but which really belongs here.  Don Borden then improved upon my design and sent me this revised drawing:

I sent for a set of four wooden frames for 8.5" x 11" sheets, and when they arrived, Don wanted to see what the panel drawing would look like when framed, so I sent him this photo:

Meanwhile, Kevin Hunter has shipped the Touch Toggles and other parts needed to run the C Tower, so I can see how they all will fit on the back of the panel when they arrive.  My printer doesn't produce an image that is exactly the same size as what Don has drawn for me, so we are working on that problem.

My very helpful friend in Victorville, Craig Wisch, is beginning to work on adding the short wooden posts (about 36" long by 12" in diameter) that stick out near the tops of the walls of the control house of the switching station in the Lower Narrows, as seen in this photo:

He's also planning to add some rooftop vents, as seen in some aerial photos, so he picked out an HO set he liked and I sent for them, but they are coming from Australia.

I asked Craig to send us a photo of himself, posing with some of this cardstock models, and here is the photo he sent, with his HO control house on the bottom, a building in London in the middle, and his small Victorville jail on top:

Thanks to Craig for all the help he is giving me with his models!

Meanwhile, my friend Bill Messecar has been building one of the two Victorville water tanks from the kits I gave him.

And another local friend, Don Hubbard, has finished adding the vehicles and gas station attendants and other HO people to his model of the Texaco station that stood in the Lower Narrows during my time period.  Here's his photo of the front side:

And here's a nice view of the left side:

Don did a great job with this, and I'm sure it will add a lot of interest to that corner of the layout!

I need to get back to work on the layout in the coming weeks, especially with getting all the wiring completed for the two mainline tracks, including the control panels needed to operate them.

UP's 4-12-2 Steam Loco in Victorville & A New Track and a New Building on the Layout

Our Victorville motive power this time is a very rare one, as UP's 4-12-2 #9000 only came through Victorville on one occasion, in 1956.  And thanks to Bill Messecar, I can report that a new track and a new building (a section house) have been added to my layout.

Let's begin with the Union Pacific 4-12-2 #9000, which came west on May 3, 1956, headed for display at the rail museum in Pomona.  UP had acquired 88 of these very long wheelbase locos with three cylinders during 1926-1930 and numbered them in the 9000 Class.  They were upgraded over the years, but they stayed on the flatlands to avoid the sharp curves in the mountains.

But on May 3, 1956, #9000 (a coal-burner) came west with just a UP caboose behind it.  Because of this rare event, there were quite a few photos shot of this loco as it approached and then crossed Cajon Pass, as we shall see. 

Here's a color photo of it as it came racing through Oro Grande on its way to Victorville:

And here we see it coming through Victorville, with a rare view of an old passenger carbody in the background, where the swing brakemen from freight trains rested:

When it got to Summit, it had to creep around the sharp curve west of the depot area, while the trainmen watched for any sign that it was derailing:

Here's another view of that same, tense moment:

  Chard Walker got a shot of #9000 as it passed the Cajon depot:

Here's a good side view as it continues downhill, between Blue Cut and Keenbrook, also shot by Chard Walker:

Finally, Phillips Kauke got a shot of #9000 as it descended through Devore:

Here's a view sometime later, after it went on display at the Rail Giants museum in Pomona, CA, where UP Big Boy #4014 also used to reside:

That was the only time that a UP 4-12-2 ever crossed Cajon Pass, but since the 1956 date falls within my time period of 1946-1956, I can set my time machine to that date on occasion to recreate that special event as it went through Victorville.

There have been a number of HO models of the 9000 Class in various versions.  I chose the MTH version, simply because it was less expensive and it came numbered as #9000:

 Broadway Limited made a brass-hybrid model of those locos:

 

One of the earlier brass models was imported by Sunset: 

 

And another brass model came from Key:

Now let's turn our attention to various bits of progress on my layout.

Regarding the Texaco gas station that Don Hubbard has built for the Lower Narrows scene, I've been buying some vehicles for him to place there -- an Oxford Diecast 1946 DeSoto Suburban with luggage on the roof, for parking beside the gas pumps, and a Woodland Scenics "Carburetor Chaos" panel truck with the hood open and with mechanics, for parking in front of the garage.

Bill Messecar has been working on scratch-building one of the section houses that were in front of the water tanks in Victorville.  He's decided to build an entire diorama with all the nearby structures (two water tanks, two section houses, a shed, and three pumphouses with derricks), as shown in this partial map from the Water Service Records:

I estimated the size of the diorama to be 12" x 24".  He wanted a full-scale drawing of the area, so I did the math and enlarged the Water Service map to 378% and taped the sheets together.   

I also realized that I hadn't allowed enough space for this 12"-deep scene on my track plan, so I went back and erased E Street and moved it back another four inches (1/4" on the plan) to make room for Bill's diorama.

Last Friday morning Bill arrived with the Pumper's Quarters (later called the Track Supervisor's House) already scratch-built from the plans he drew!  We placed this house, along with the two pumphouses with derricks that he had built previously, onto the diorama map that I had constructed:

Here's a view of the same buildings from the rear:

Then we worked together on laying a new staging track, which is called Track E4.  It's part of the E yard, which already had its other three tracks in place, for storing diesel sets someday.  Track E4 is for moving locos and cars on and off the layout, by connecting to a future cassette-loading area.

The new track is about 18' long, so it took six flextracks and about 90 minutes of work to cover the distance.  After all the pushpins were in place to hold it down while the clear caulk dried, I posed at the left end of the track with the caulk gun:

 

And Bill posed near the other end of Track E4, with a parallel-track tool in hand (he liked using the Bachmann adjustable parallel track tools):

 

I still need to file down some loose ties and slide them under the rail joiner areas, and I'll need to wire this new track.

 

Meanwhile, my very helpful friend in Victorville, Craig Wisch, has been working hard on his model of the control house at the big electrical switching station in the Lower Narrows.  Here are his progress photos from today, starting with the front side:

 

 

And then the back side:

 

 

Craig and I have also been discussing the possibility of modeling the signature buildings in the E Street Barrio in cardstock as his next project.

 

I phoned Kevin Hunter at Berrett Hill Shop to finalize the details of my order for the Touch Toggles and parts needed for the C Tower panel, and I paid the bill.  I'll watch for the parts package now.  He says to buy an 8.5 x 11" frame for mounting the panel drawing and all the electrical parts behind it, so I started shopping for a frame design to use.

I did comparisons of the four panel drawings with each other and with the actual trackage on the mainlines of the layout's lower deck, while I consulted with Tim Fisher again.  I'll be marking up changes to the panel drawings in the coming week.

 

If you'd like to help with this big layout project, please let me know.  I'll be back in two weeks with another update.