Union Paciic's Passenger Steam Locos in Victorville, & Attending Model Railroad Events

This time I will provide links to past blog entries about Union Pacific's passenger steam locos, and then I will cover a series of model railroad events and real railroad events that have kept me from working on my layout.

Here's one sample of the UP passenger steam locos we have covered in our past blog entries:

Here we see FEF-1 #813 in Nebraska in March, 1950 (after leaving California), thanks to Jack Pfeiffer:

Here's a list of links that should take you to any of the past blog entries for UP's passenger steam locos:

UP 4-8-2s – Jan-23-2022

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2022/01/ups-4-8-2-locos-in-victorville-and.html

UP 4-8-4s – Jul-10-2022

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2022/07/ups-4-8-4-locos-in-victorville-and.html

UP Early 4-6-6-4s – Jun-12-2022

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2022/06/ups-early-4-6-6-4s-in-victorville-and.html

UP Late 4-6-6-4s – Feb-26-2023

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2023/02/ups-later-challenger-locos-in.html

Here's a sample photo from each of these previous blog entries:

UP 4-8-2s – Jan-23-2022

Here's a beautiful Chard Walker photo showing #7019 as a helper in Victorville during UP's 1950-1951 return to using steam on Cajon Pass:

UP 4-8-4s – Jul-10-2022

Here's a beautiful action shot of #843 with the 2nd section of the eastbound Utahn at Pine Lodge in Feb. 1949 (a rare appearance after July, 1948), thanks to James Ady:

UP Early 4-6-6-4s – Jun-12-2022

They were used as road engines on freights, as well as serving as helpers on freight and passenger trains.  Here we see #3817 helping 4-8-4 #839 with the westbound LA Limited leaving Victorville in July, 1947, as shot by Chard Walker:

UP Late 4-6-6-4s – Feb-26-2023

These locos also pulled freights, but here is #3981 running late with the 2nd section of the westbound Pony Express below Cajon in August, 1947, as shot by James Ady:

Let's turn now to whatever minor layout progress I've made in the last two weeks, which is almost none, due to a series of model railroad events and some real railroad events.

Early in the week of June 3, I did some testing of the Touch Toggles in my C Tower panel, and I found a few problems, so I phoned Kevin Hunter a couple of times, and he figured out some fixes that he will send me.  I also ordered 28 of his 6" toggle wire extensions, so the wires should reach back to the board where all the base units will be attached.  That board and how to attach it have not been designed yet.

I tried again to mock up how the control panel will be hinged to the edge of the benchwork, and how a support board might be hinged under the panel to support it when it's horizontal, but using tape for hinges still did not work (too flimsy), so I planned to go buy some real hinges to try.

I found a source for more of the picture frames that I'm using for my control panels, so I ordered eight more frames and got them the next day.  I also bought a DYMO label maker to use to label my wires, as advised by Don Borden, instead of using masking tape.

On that Wednesday morning I attended an operating session at Bill Messecar's Santa Fe layout.  Here is the rest of the gang, before they took their three trains out of San Bernardino yard.  From left to right, we see Don Hubbard (with a new beard), Colin Kikawa, and Bill Messecar:

Then I got to work switching the San Bernardino yard.  Looking in the opposite direction, we see part of the yard and the big precooler plant in the far corner:

We all went out to lunch together, which was also fun.

Don Hubbard gave me the completed Standard Oil bulk dealer model he had built from a Grandt Line kit, so I posed it on my layout beside the Texaco station he had previously built for my Lower Narrows scene:

During the week I did some research into bulk oil dealers and got some ideas for moving things around on the Standard Oil lot drawing, as shown here in red ink:

The drawing shows adding a standpipe for (sometimes?) unloading tank cars via the dome, with pipes going to a pumphouse, both of which Don Hubbard plans to build from the Walthers Interstate Fuel & Oil kit that I gave him for that purpose.  

The drawing also shows adding a platform on the right side of the warehouse, so that oil drums can be unloaded from boxcars there.  A model for that has not been determined yet.  

Finally, it shows moving the tank truck loading station to the left and rotating it 90 degrees, so that its pipes will connect to the oil tanks.  The truck loading station is another part of the Wlathers kit that Don plans to use.

We are also working on plans to build the three horizontal oil tanks, using plastic pipes, plus the pedestals from the Walthers kit.

On Saturday morning, June 8, I attended the annual 4th Division Meet of the Pacific Northwest Region of the NMRA, which this year included a train ride from the North Bend depot to the Northwest Railway Museum shops near Snoqualmie.  Here's a shot of the train as it was boarding at North Bend, with Mount Si in the background:

At the museum and shops, we each attended two of the three excellent clinics and also spent one of those three hours getting a rare tour of the shops where they restore old rolling stock.  Here's a shot of their NP 0-6-0 in the shop, which was scheduled to run under steam on Father's Day weekend:

At noon we all met for a sandwich lunch and then the annual business meeting in the museum building where all the restored rolling stock is on display.  For example, this Heisler geared loco is on display there:

Outside the museum building, a full-size model of Thomas the Tank Engine is on display, along with the diesel that actually pushes and pulls the train from the other end when they have a special Thomas weekend:

At about 1:30 we all boarded our train back to North Bend, and then some folks (not me) drove to visit layouts that were having an open house that afternoon.  It was a very good event, with perfect weather.

The next day I got two new photos from Craig Wisch in Victorville, showing more progress on the Hayward Lumber store that he has been building with cardstock.  Here's the front of the building -- the clerestory had been removed while he worked on the roofing, but the office wing had been added on the left side:

And this was his photo of the track side of the building:

Bill Messecar was continuing to work on the freight carbody to go with his passenger carbody, so thanks to him and to all of my helpers!

On June 9 I practiced giving a bit of my "Modeling Postwar Victorville" clinic via Zoom, with Don Borden and Mike Davis also in the meeting.

I spent a lot of this week getting my clinic updated and reviewed in time for my Saturday, June 15, Zoom presentation to the East Coast Santa Fe Modelers Meet in Doylestown, PA.

As one of the updates to the slides, I wanted to show them the HO models of Victorville buildings that some of my friends have been building for me. Last week I showed you two models by Don Hubbard, and here's a new photo of some of the models that Bill Messecar has scratchbuilt for me:

In the foreground is the Victorville depot, and behind it is the scene with the water tanks, section houses, and pump houses, with the elevated fuel oil tank for the wye area on the left.

I also shot a photo showing the buildings that Craig Wisch has built for me:

From left to right are the Peterson Feed Store, the Lower Narrows Switching Station, and the Old Jail, with the large Victorville Lime Rock Plant in the background.

My presentation via Zoom went well, although they were 40 minutes behind schedule by time it was my turn.  This was the schedule for the main day of the East Coast Santa Fe Modelers Meet:

I got to watch Kevin Hunter's slide presentation about Touch Toggles, which was just before mine.  My presentation included about six new slides about my own use of Touch Toggles.

This week I had more email discussions with Don Borden and Tim Fisher about how to mount my control panels.  

My current idea is to hinge each control panel from the top, so that it normally hangs vertically and is out of the way in the narrowest aisles, but it could be rotated up to about 25 degrees short of horizontal when in use, and also rotated all the way up by 180 degrees if I need to open the back of the panel to make changes to the track diagram and toggles.

Then the larger base board, which will hold all the base units and power units for the panel, could be mounted on hinges behind the control panel, so that when the control panel is rotated up by 180 degrees, the base board could be rotated up to horizontal when I need to work on it.

I recently bought some hinges to try out, and I bought some craft boards to cut to size and use as base boards.  I need to make some drawings for how all of this might work, and how the panels and base boards could be supported when not hanging vertically.

Today I got some new photos from Craig Wisch, showing his virtually complete cardstock model of the large Hayward Lumber store, which was between the depot and the feed store.  This week he made some sign boards to go on the rooftop by the office wing.  Here is the front of the model:

And the rear, track side of the model:

Many thanks to Craig Wisch for his great work on this large model!

Today I had a wonderful Father's Day with my family.  We met for lunch in nearby Snoqualmie, WA, then waited at the depot for the steam train special to arrive for its 1:00 pm departure with a new load of passengers.  Here we see NP 0-6-0 #924 (which burns wood) shortly after it arrived:

Of course, I had to pose in front of it, as in other years:

Here we see the train departing, amid lots of smoke and steam and noise (wonderful!), as it crosses the street by the depot:

Here is a going-away shot, in which you can see the wood in the tender:

There was a diesel at the back end of the train, to serve as the guide loco when the train is backing up.  Here's a shot of the train as it returned toward the depot, with the orange diesel on the far end and the steam loco backing up on the rear:

After all this fun, I need to get back to work on the layout next week.

John

Santa Fe's Freight Diesel Locos in Victorville, Visiting Some Layouts, & Assembling a Control Panel

This time I will provide links to past blog entries about Santa Fe's freight diesel locos, and then I will cover some layout operating sessions I attended in Canada, and some recent progress in assembling a control panel with Touch Toggles.

Here's one sample of the Santa Fe freight diesel locos we have covered in our past blog entries:

Here we see F7 #206 climbing west from Victorville to Frost in Oct. 1950, as shot by Frank Peterson:

Here's a list of links that should take you to any of the past blog entries for Santa Fe's freight diesel locos:

SF Freight FTs with Full Red Stripe – Nov-28-2021

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2021/11/santa-fes-ft-diesels-1st-paint-in.html

SF Freight FTs with Partial Red Stripe – Feb-12-2023

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2023/02/santa-fes-freight-ft-diesels-in-postwar.html

SF Freight F3s & Early F7s – Jun-26-2022

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2022/06/santa-fes-first-freight-f3-f7-diesels.html

SF Freight FTs with No Red Stripe – Jul-23-2023

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2023/07/santa-fes-fts-with-no-red-stripe-in.html

SF Freight FTs in All-Blue Scheme – Nov-13-2022

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2022/11/santa-fes-all-blue-fts-in-victorville.html

SF Freight Late F7s – Nov-5-2023

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2023/11/santa-fes-later-freight-f7s-in.html

SF Freight F9s – Mar-6-2022

https://victorvillelayout.blogspot.com/2022/03/santa-fes-freight-f9-diesels-in.html

Here's a sample photo from each of these previous blog entries:

SF Freight FTs with Full Red Stripe – Nov-28-2021

Here's a Jan. 1945 photo of FT set #107 arriving at Summit from Victorville, still in its ABBB configuration, as shot by Fletcher Swan:

SF Freight FTs with Partial Red Stripe – Feb-12-2023

Here we see FT set #145 (in partial red stripes) heading west out of Victorville, past the Rainbow Bridge and through the Upper Narrows, thanks to Chard Walker:

SF Freight F3s & Early F7s – Jun-26-2022

Here's a shot of F7 #206  descending Cajon Pass with a westbound freight at Keenbrook, thanks to Chard Walker:

SF Freight FTs with No Red Stripe – Jul-23-2023

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):

SF Freight FTs in All-Blue Scheme – Nov-13-2022

Here we see FT set #170 as a helper at Summit in May of 1951, as shot by Chard Walker:

SF Freight Late F7s – Nov-5-2023

Stan Kistler got a magnificent shot of new F7 set #234 leaving Victorville with a westbound freight, coming through the Upper Narrows in May, 1951:

SF Freight F9s – Mar-6-2022

Here is F9 set #283, with 283C in the lead, climbing westbound just outside Victorville, passing the West Victorville siding and nearing the Frost Flyover, in April of 1959, as shot by Allan Styffe:

My next subject is the three layouts I visited in Surrey, BC, Canada, during the NMRA Pacific Northwest Region's convention of May 22-25.  I was on a road trip with my friend Bill Messecar to attend the convention, which included a mix of clinics and visits to local layouts.  I didn't make any progress on my own layout that week.

On Wednesday evening, May 22, we operated at Mike Chandler's Western Midland Railroad, set in northern Montana in 1938 (all steam).  The operations are hands-off, using powered turnouts and magnets between the rails for uncoupling.  There is an agent stationed in each aisle to assist the one-man train crews and to report fast-clock times to a dispatcher.  We used plug-in walk-around DCC throttles.  The scenery is spectacular and nearly complete.

Here we see Mike Chandler behind his large roundhouse shared by the two main yards:

Here's the aisle where the rock scenery goes all the way to the floor:

Here's one more scene, showing the lumber mill (he scratch-builds virtually all of his structures):

I had a great time running his short passenger train around, and then running a way freight that stopped to switch several of the towns, using the usual car cards and waybills.

On Friday evening we operated at the very large HO layout of Blair Sturgeon, which models the Santa Fe in 1970 along Raton Pass in Colorado-New Mexico, plus a loop like Tehachapi Loop in one of the areas, so he calls the layout Ratachapi.  

We used DCC throttles and car cards and waybills, and Blair and a couple of other regulars helped us along.  The layout is three levels high and has an eight-level helix in one of the rooms.  There is not much scenery so far, but there are quite a few structures along the way.  Most of the turnouts are powered.

Here is Blair Sturgeon posing by his roundhouse scene:

In the main room, we see part of Raton yard at the left, and the Tehachapi Loop (in reverse) in the center:

Here's an action shot, showing three of the crew members switching Raton Yard, with Blair in the foreground and Bill Messecar in the distance:

I got to run the Hi-Level El Capitan all around the layout, and then I ran a Manifest Freight that switched cars in Trinidad yard, and then I ran the Fast Mail part-way around.

On Saturday morning we went to tour (but not operate) the HO layout of Scott Calvert, who models the Canadian Pacific around Nelson, BC.  The layout is named the CPR Boundary Sub, set in the early 1960s, and it's a very large muliti-deck layout, run by DCC.  There is not much scenery yet.

Scott posed for me in one of the aisles:

Here is the diesel shop and large yard at Nelson, BC:

Here's a staging yard with lots of CP power:

From there we left for home, reviewing what we had learned from the clinics and the several layouts.  We had a great time.

This past week was devoted to assembling the control panel for C Tower, which is probably the most complex panel of the 12 panels planned for the lower staging deck, and also devoted to considering where and how it should be mounted at the edge of the benchwork.  My friends also made good progress on the structures they have been working on for me, as you will see.

Let's begin with the updated control panel drawing that Don Borden made for me, moving some things over to make room for the 3/4" square that each Touch Toggle requires (and crossovers require a taller rectangle):

25 Touch Toggles with their wires are required to cover all these buttons -- 12 cab selection buttons (four sets of 3 buttons in a row for each DC block), 4 on-off loco parking spot locations on Tracks C2 & C3, and 9 turnout buttons (with 2 lights per turnout, or 3 for a crossover).

My first step was to tape the panel drawing to a window, with the back side of the paper facing me, and to trace the circular button locations lightly in pencil.  Then I took it off the window and used a ruler to lightly draw a 3/4" square around each circle, to be used to locate all the Touch Toggle squares.

Later I made a copy of this pencil drawing and went over it with darker pencil lines, and I added a label to each toggle square, based on its label on the front side.  Here's my drawing of the squares and labels as they are arranged on the back side of the panel:

My next step was to use double-sided tape to attach each Touch Toggle to its location on the back of the panel drawing.  Then I added one-sided tape over the tops, to hold them in place more firmly.  I routed all the wires to the bottom of the panel, thinking (wrongly) that that's where the base units would be located.

I was worried that the wires would not be able to reach their base units located on other boards, so I phoned Kevin Hunter, the maker of Touch Toggles, and he gave me the good news that they make extension wires that are 6" and 12" long, or longer, so the distance to the base units will not be a problem!

Back to the panel...  I decided to wrap an inch of masking tape around the lower end of each toggle wire, so that I could write the label for each wire on each side of the tape, so that I'd know which kind of base unit to plug it into (see below):

You can see all the toggles now taped to back of the panel drawing.  My map of the toggle labels is on the right, and all the wires with toggle labels are below the panel, and the rows of base units are on the left, not yet plugged into anything.

I cut out a sheet of polyester batting to fill the back of the panel, then attached the back of the panel, with the 25 wires squeezing though the bottom and causing a bulge there.  I may want to cut out the lower part of the panel back to prevent the bulge.

Then I plugged each toggle wire into its proper base unit -- the turnout controls and parking-spot controls go to one kind of base unit for 24V power, and the cab selectors all go to the 12V base units, as seen in the upper layer of base units below:

When the rows of base units were plugged into the nearest wall outlets, lo and behold, all the toggle lights came on, in various colors, as seen here:

When I touched the lights, they changed colors, depending on their functions.  In this photo, the green lights do not show up well, but they do when seen in person.  Some of the lights are not in the precise locations they should be, so I'll need to move them a bit.  My crossover lights were blinking, so I need to phone Kevin Hunter about that anomaly.

I felt that this was a major milestone, to actually get a whole panel of various Touch Toggles to light up and respond to my touch.  None of the base units are wired to turnouts or track blocks yet, so nothing happens on the layout yet.  One step at a time!

The other issue with the panel this week was how to attach it to the benchwork.  My first idea was to have it stand at an angle close to vertical on top of the 32"-high benchwork, but my panel advisors, Tim Fisher and Don Borden, warned that it would get in the way of seeing the tracks and reaching in to fix derailments.

They recommended a drawer arrangement, where the panel would slide out when an operator needed to touch a button, and then slide back in, but I don't yet see how that would work with the benchwork framing and bus wires in the way there.  They have ideas to solve that.

A third idea is to hinge the panel so that it hangs vertically from the edge of the benchwork, so that an operator can rotate it up to horizontal, push some buttons, and then lower it down to vertical again.  In the wider aisles, the panel could stay in the horizontal position.

Here's a photo of me posing with two C Tower panels, one above the benchwork (my first idea), and a hinged one rotated to near horizontal (my third idea), in the narrow aisle there.  I clamped a 1x4 board along the top, to show where the edge of the upper deck framing will be:

Tim Fisher reminded me that I'll want to stagger the lower deck panel locations with the upper deck panel locations, so that operators can use both at the same times.  So I made a first plan for where the upper deck panels might go, based on where most of the turnouts are located, and I came up with seven upper deck panel locations, as seen here with yellow Post-it notes, numbered 1 through 7:

The numbered panels are:

1. Industry Spurs

2. Right Side of Wye

3. Left Side of Wye

4. Cement Plant

5. Throat of Cement Plant

6. Triple Double-Slip Switches

7. Staging Tracks

So, one of the goals will be to locate the 7 upper deck panels and the 12 lower deck panels in different locations around the edges of the layout.  I should work on that plan sometime.

Meanwhile, my local friend Don Hubbard has completed a beautiful model of the Grandt Line Warehouse kit to serve as my Standard Oil bulk dealer (a stand-in, since we have no ground-level photos of the actual building).  Here is his photo of his model:

And my friend in Victorville, Craig Wisch, has been hard at work on his cardstock model of the large Hayward Lumber building.  Here is what the front side looks like, as of today:

And here is the track side, which we will not normally see from the aisle of the layout:

My friend Bill Messecar has begun working on a scratch-built model of the freight carbody building that was adjacent to the passenger carbody in Victorville (which he previously built for me).

In the coming two weeks, I need to focus on a PowerPoint presentation about my layout, which I am scheduled to give via Zoom to the East Coast Santa Fe Modelers on June 15.  I'm supposed to include information about my use of Touch Toggles, which is why I'm also working on those.