Possible Diesel Demonstrators in Victoville & Layout Progress in the F Yard

Last time we looked at some diesel demonstrators that crossed Cajon Pass, and this time we'll look at some others that might have but probably didn't.  We'll also look at some layout progress in finishing the F Yard in staging.

Let's begin with EMD's F7 ABA demonstrator set (#1950) that toured the country in 1950:

 I have the Athearn Genesis models of this set, as seen here on an HO layout:

 

Let's continue with a most amazing diesel demonstrator pair, the Baldwin centipedes (DR12-8-1500) that toured as two cab units (#6000) back-to-back in 1946:

Here's a nice side view of the pair:
 

I have the HO set that Broadway Limited made:

EMD had two SD7 demonstrators, #990 and 991, that toured in 1952.  Here we see #990:

Proto 2000 made HO models of both #990 and 991, which I have.  Here is their model of #990:
 

There was an Alco PA-PB set (#8375) that pulled the GE "More Power to America Special" 10-car lightweight demonstration train to 160 cities and towns around the country in 1950-1951.  It stopped in Riverside (coming from Phoenix) on March 7, 1951, and in LA on March 8-15, before heading north.  You can read more about it here:

https://themetrains.com/ge-more-power-to-america-special-main.htm

 Here we see the locos and train on display somewhere:

Here's a close-up of the nose of the PA:

 Proto 2000 made this PA-PB set, as seen here, which I have:

Rapido is now listing this loco set for their next PA-PB production run.

Fairbanks-Morse had an H15-44 demonstrator #1502 that toured in 1948:

 Here's another view of this loco in service:

I have an Atlas Master model of this loco, but it lacks the red stripe:

 

Our final diesel demonstrator this time (I have more for next time) is the Alco RS-11 (DL700) of 1956.  They had #701, 701A, and 701B.  Here we see #701A and 701B:

Here are all three units together in Los Angeles in April, 1956:

I have Atlas models of two of these.  Here is their model of #701A:

 

This concludes this week's coverage of some more HO diesel demonstrators that we might want to run on our layouts.

The week of Jan. 15-21 was not a very productive week, but I did get back into the joys of laying more flextrack sections to complete Track F5 in the staging F Yard.  Track F5 is the innermost track in the multi-track curve of the F Yard.

First I soldered the rail joiners to add another flextrack onto the curve at the far end of Track F5, which was only partly complete.  Then I curved and glued and pinned the track section down and added water-bottle weights, and I attached the next flextrack section (still straight), as seen here:

After I soldered that new section to the previous one, I curved it, glued and pinned it down, and added weights, as before.  Then I cut and fit a shorter straight section of flextrack to bring F5 to its end at the next turnout.  After removing the weights, the completed Track F5 looked like this (it's the one on the inside of the curve, with the push-pins in it):

I still need to add the missing ties under the rail joiners, and I need to add feeder wires to each flextrack section.

As my next control panel project, I had planned to add mark-ups to improve the Reversing Tower panel, but it's a difficult problem to solve, so I plan to get back to it later.  

 

In the meantime, Don Borden was kind enough to add another loco parking spot to each of Tracks C4 and C5 in the Left C Yard Panel drawing, as I had requested, so here is his revised panel drawing:

 

 

I had planned to work on getting the two mainlines wired to two power packs, but I only got a few bus wire labels added and some loose bus wires pinned up to the benchwork.

Craig Wisch in Victorville said he needs a break from my big Lime Rock Plant project, so he has begun a different ambitious project to model all the storefronts along D Street in the glory years, across the street from the depot area.  

His first step has been to mock-up the two large buildings that stood on each corner of 6th and D -- the two-story Smith Hotel on the left and the Halstead Building on the right, which began as a bank and was a movie theater during 1945-1950.

Here's an initial photo of his early mockup, with a photo backdrop of 6th St. receding into the distance:

 

Here's a classic view of these buildings along D St., with the 6th St. intersection and the movie theater halfway in the distance:

 

The highlight this past week was another visit by Bill Messecar on Wednesday.  He brought along his completed diorama of the section houses, pump houses, and water tanks that stood in Victorville, after having added ground scenery, fences, and HO people (but no trees until it goes onto the upper deck of the layout).  Bill posed with his diorama, as seen here:

 

Then we got to work on adding more feeder wires to the newest tracks in the F Yard, Tracks F4 and F5.  I was drilling the holes and inserting the feeder wires a short distance ahead of where he was soldering the feeders to the outsides of the rails.  I posed for a photo while I was working there:

 

Bill posed with the Tidy Track rail-cleaning tool in his hand, while he was doing the soldering:

 

After I took Bill to lunch, I shot a close-up of his diorama, along with an old Santa Fe switch lock and key that Don Sheets had mailed to me the day before (many thanks, Don!):

 

The next two days I struggled with a metal shelf unit kit to get it assembled and moved into my garage, where I loaded it with boxes of old model railroad magazines (lower shelves) and boxes of various locomotives I've collected over the years:

 

These things had been on a shorter shelf unit that I donated to my wife to use in a closet under the stairs.  I have a few other shelf units like this, loaded with more magazines and more locomotives.  But I now realize that I'll never have time to look at those decades of magazines again, so I need to work on donating them to someplace, if anyone even wants them.

In other news, I still exchange several emails with Craig Wisch in Victorville every day.  He has a new plan for a flat diorama of the classic buildings along D St., instead of the 3D mockup he showed last time.  

And he found a cardstock kit that could be used for what we call the Shipping Office wing of the Lime Rock Plant.  It's kit S17 from CleverModels, as seen in these photos:

 

 

Here's a later aerial photo of the plant, and you can see this building with its rounded rooftop in the lower center of the photo, to the right of the Quonset hut:
 

I've mentioned that my next layout goals should be to get the two mainlines wired up, so that trains can start running around on both tracks, and so that my many locomotives can be tested.  Here are some first steps for me to work on now:

Continue adding labels to all the bus wires (I don't have many done yet);

Finish connecting the mainline feeder wires to the bus wires with suitcase connectors (most are done);

Draw a map of how the bus wires will all initially reach two power packs and how they later will reach the four mainline control panels; 

Route the bus wires to two terminal strips and from there to two power packs; and

Test many locos and trains on the mainlines.

In parallel with this, I have some short-term goals to get the F Yard wired, as that is where the test trains will park between test runs:

Cut and glue down stub-ended Track F6; 

Finish inserting feeder wires beside all the F Yard rails (F4, F5, and F6); 

Finish soldering the feeder wires to the rails; 

Insert and glue the missing ties under the rail joiners; 

Connect the feeder wires to new F Yard bus wires with suitcase connectors; 

Label all the F Yard wires;

Build an F Yard control panel; and

Build a Reversing Tower control panel.

I have other related tasks, such as moving the rest of my trains and things off the old train tables in the garage, so that the tables can be given away and our car can finally get into the garage.  Related to this, all the things from the garage are now stashed all over the floor in my layout room, so they all need to be stored away neatly under the layout.

There is no rest in sight!  If you can help with anything, please let me know.