Time goes fast when your having fun!

I recently read a post in the prototype modelers group by Bernard Kempinski, who is celebrating 10 years of building his fabulous Civil War layout USMRR Aquia Line. I realized that I started the Placerville Branch a year later in 2010 and my 9th anniversary approaches. I've slowed my building pace, due to having too many projects going at once. I've found it difficult to operate the layout  once a month and build at the same time. In this case I operate, solve post operations issues, then swing back to whatever structure project I'm working on. You wouldn't think that would be much, but for me it is. Once building, I'll ignore whats needed for setting up the next operation session and as my goal date gets closer I'll postpone it simply because I'm not ready. I'm thinking the solution is that operations should be my priority and everything else should follow. I fight it because what I really enjoy doing is building, setting scenes and using the skills I've learned along the way. However sharing the layout should be the bottom line - otherwise why build it?

From this 2010

to this 2019

My latest build is taking awhile, but it is coming along. My vision is, "I would pack as many buildings and scenes as possible into the Upper Placerville." Call it structure scenery if you will. In any event I'm using South River Modelworks' Robinson Electric as one of those buildings. Its a multilevel structure with 4 separate buildings in the mix. I've completed the larger building and its here

and here

More next time - right after this Fridays Op session. I'm printing out clearance and train order cards right now.

The Station at Diamond Springs

Diamond Springs looking West
Photo by unknown - used with permission CSRM

Diamond Springs looking East
Photo by unknown - used with permission CSRM

The station at Diamond Springs was built in the end of the 19th century.  The photos above however were taken well into the 20th century. Radio antennas appear on the roof and the west facing door is now locked and boarded. I really enjoyed building this station and researching the footprint and approximate measurements. It was a good exercise in learning something about approximating structure lengths, widths, and heights using structure components. Essentially using one known element, in this case windows, to estimate the measurements of the building. I had asked for some help on the subject on the Prototype modelers group, and Jack Burgess got me in touch with Henry Bender, considered by most the expert on all things SP stations. He gave me the exact measurements  along with a PDF of an article written in 2015 on the Placerville Branch. I realized that those who are good at research, know exactly where to go to get the best value for their time invested. In this case Henry used valuation maps to list information specifics for every station along the branch.
The modeled station was built from wood sheet provided by Mt. Albert. The windows and doors are from Tichy.
Here are a few photos of the results.

WB 2-8-0 running light downhill past Diamond Springs

before basic scenery is added

making sense of Folsom Part 2 - the industries

During a period of research on rail served industries on the Placerville branch I discovered a piece on the SP Yahoo groups site written by Wendell Hoffman in October of 2007. It  contained a summary of  industries served by SP's  Placerville Branch throughout the branches history. Below is the track work drawing of Folsom and Latrobe on the layout. My trackage have trains entering from two directions on the same side of town. To your left and moving eastward toward Latrobe, then at the switch toward Elvas Tower (staging) moving westward. It means that all trains are turned in the yard at Folsom. The yard guy on operations days gets to figure out which direction, once turned, a train continues. In this case its pretty easy to do. West bounds come downgrade off the branch. They enter Folsom, turn and after the yard gets finished with any cuts or adds, head outbound toward Elvas Tower - staging. The prototype had the well known wye outside of town, at Folsom Junction. The Wye is still there. The model has a turntable on the western end of town. That's how we turn our loco's here.

track plan Folsom and Latrobe
drawn by Tom Ebert and 3rd planit

The prototype yard in Folsom existed in the late 1800's under CP control and was moved to Sacramento when SP took over. I obtained the track or station plan for Folsom from CSRM.  station plan Folsom. 
At the time of the drawing the plans shows the station at Folsom. Folsom station. The third and last. It still exist.
On the model, several of the on line industries existed in Folsom, but there are two which are entirely made up, like Campbell Storage named after a fellow Auburn modeler and layout owner, or Folsom Auto Warehouse which has a sliver of reality attached to it.  I was sitting at the research table of the Folsom Historical society, reading old 1930's newspapers, trying to get the "flavor of the place", when I came across some Folsom Chevrolet newspaper advertisements. The paper was dated in the late 20's, or early 30's. It got me thinking how automobiles were transport to Folsom then. The roads weren't that good, so I imagined that automobiles were brought by train. Presently a flat represents the spot where cars and parts are off loaded. I plan on removing it one day and simply have an open field, with a small ramped shipping deck and of course lots of 30 something autos.  
There is one not yet active project for Folsom. I'm going to convert my 90' Walther's TT to push button operation. This will be a plus for operations. The yards track power and TT are in the same power district. And shorts in the yard reek havoc with the DCC turntable. The push button operation is simple and is not affected by DCC shorts. 

more on Folsom next time

making sense of Folsom part 1

Folsom was the center of CP operations in the late 1800's. There were yard facilities, warehouses for CP freight transferred to horse drawn wagons bound for towns farther up the hill. There were repair shops for both cars and locomotives.

Type 22 station sitting at the center of the action
Photo Tom Ebert

Another shot of yard switcher 1307 working a cut
of  PFE's now iced and ready for delivery up the hill
Photo Tom Ebert

Eventually this was sold off to the Southern Pacific which moved its operation center to Sacramento.  I had planned for Folsom to contain a yard with trackage into town. It seemed ludicrous not have a yard for the Placerville Branch, where trains could be built and broken down. The yard at Folsom then is a work of fiction, based on the ancient yard of the Central Pacific. It was created so that I could fill a yard master position and provides a pivot point for all trains coming and leaving the Placerville Branch. The  point to point design of the Placerville Branch has Folsom being the western end of the modeled portion of the layout and Camino at the eastern terminus. There was a small turntable built by the CP at the original Folsom yard. Today its been unearthed, preserved and is part of a park just below Sutter Street. The Folsom wye came later when it was found that the 85' McKeen passenger car would not fit. So a wye was built so all power, no matter the size could turn at Folsom. Trains entered Folsom WB or EB ran down the wye and perform switching duties as needed, The cars going west could be left on the wye  be picked up  later by trains headed back down the hill. SP did not take anything unnecessarily up the 2% grade to  Placerville . Set outs up hill, pick ups down hill was the rule .It wasn't too long, probably in the late 40's that one train a day handled traffic on the branch save for the fruit rush where a 2-8-0 or two would handle extra traffic as needed. More next time

Switcher 0-8-8 performs switching duties east of Folsom Station
Photo by Tom Ebert

Pulling cars for Earl fruit at Folsom Photo Tom Ebert

 

Latrobe ramblings

I want to complete several of the thoughts posted last time regarding the model work at Latrobe, the rail serve industries on the Placerville Branch, and why I chose them. I've been thinking about this post over the past day or so, trying to compose my modeling rationale. In other words what’s my goal in modeling the Placerville Branch.
I'm not is a strict prototype modeler obviously and that's not to say I don't respect that option. As I move along in this process of building my layout I aspire to that goal. It maybe that “I’ll get there,” one day, and perhaps not. What gives me the greatest satisfaction is creating scenes that will burn in the viewers memory. I think my creative abilities are a barrier to following the prototype. I’m getting to the point in this process where how it looks to me as a modeler is more important  then a carbon copy of a photo I have. A friend once jokingly called me an impressionistic modeler. And that maybe it. I think my version of the Placerville Branch will always have signature scenes designed and built to capture the flavor of the Branch, just not exactly.
I do like to think that I'm ratcheting downward and bearing down to the prototype, but I'm not a stickler for it. I'm not a rivet counter. I am often amazed at the modelers who scratch builds everything on their layout to match their chosen prototype. I don't see how they do it and still have time for the rest of their lives. Perhaps their secret is that modeling is the rest of their lives - I don't know.
I had a vision of what I thought Latrobe would look like 2 years before I built it out. I drew lines on the bare plywood that essentially marked where the town would go and how it would look. Of course it changed over time,  and understanding what fits and what doesn't will cause these changes to occur. My last post showed the areas track work,  and I suppose if I had followed the prototype I would have had a station, perhaps a livestock pen with stock car ramps. I've never seen any photo's or station plans of rail served livestock pens at Latrobe, but when I drive out there I do see lots of pens in the area and close to the old line. So I use my imagination, and think, "what might have been," or "whats reasonable to assume." As is shown on the previous post, I positioned my Latrobe station on the main line. On the prototype photo in the last posting their is nothing except a line of trees and a field behind where the old station stood. I didn’t do that, instead choosing to build the town of Latrobe in front of the main and siding with plenty of vertical space to switch the industries in or near Latrobe. Here are some photo’s of the this part of the Placerville Branch

Amador Copper above Latrobe photo Tom Ebert

Latrobe Livestock photo Tom Ebert

Latrobe Livestock photo Tom Ebert

Latrobe photo Tom Ebert

Latrobe detail photo by Jeff Aley

Latrobe freight house looking toward Amador Copper Photo by Jeff Aley

Close up Latrobe Freight Photo by Jeff Aley

Latrobe Freight looking west. The yellow building is the Latrobe Hotel

                                    Photo by Jeff Aley

Latrobe Livestock photo Jeff Aley

Latrobe EB mogul through town photo Jeff Aley

Unless otherwise noted these photo's were taken with an IPhone 8.

5 years in - The Placerville Branch so far

I haven't posted for quite a while and for those following I apologize. I don't seem to have the energy or manage the time needed to post as I continue to model the Placerville Branch. With that said I've posted a "5 years in" video of  branch progress. Here is the link to the you tube post.
You'll notice that very little is near completion, although some scenery helps convince that you are in the Sierra foothills headed up grade to Pville.
Enjoy!!!!
Placerville Branch 5 years in

Modeling Latrobe, Flonellis, east and west

One of the reasons I chose to model the Placerville Branch was due to its close proximity to home. I've spent some time driving by and over the branch, walking its trackage and recently riding the Sacramento and Placerville Rr from the very east end of Folsom up to Latrobe.

Site of the Latrobe Station 

Latrobe Station
CSRM used with permission

The new Latrobe station in or around 1914. The track directly in front of the station curves to the right toward the main and was most likely the freight siding for cars loading and unloading at the long freight pier connected to the station. Typically these were stub ended, but I cannot tell from the photo. The freight pier has a wooden dolly parked near its far end as well as, what appear to be stacks of filled burlap bags. The track to the far right curves to the left and is probably the Latrobe siding. A velocipede sits between the main (center) and the siding on the right. The station appears brand new and is painted 2 shades of what I assume is colonial yellow as was a standard in 1907. I can only imagine 7 years later that it was still standard.This is close to a  SP  station CS Common Standard #11. If you know otherwise, please let me know, but I am mostly suspicious about the wall paint colors I've described. Could they have been brown? Lastly there is no date on the back of this photo, so its not clear when it was taken, however I understand that the original station burned ( the one captured below top  right) in 1914 and that the station above was built to replace it until it was shut down in 1924.

Upper & lower right Latrobe Station pre 1914
Upper & Lower left Simas hotel 

I wanted to understand what Latrobe might have looked like in the early part of the last century. I wanted to capture in miniature - not in a precise or prototypical way, but in a way that sets a stage for what a very small foothill town might have looked like in those days. There were  2 scheduled passenger trains that stopped at Latrobe until the late 1930's. McKeen Car 45, headed EB at 4.30am, then again WB at 7.36am. I have no data as to passenger service before the McKeen car era. I do have some poorly scanned photos which show horse drawn wagons as well as early automobiles lined up at the station waiting for passengers. So more scheduled passenger trains previous to 1931 may have been the norm. I've taken a look at several of the train sheets in the 1930's and the crew names were always the same. I suppose the engineer and conductor were not about to allow anyone else to fill these positions. Times were hard in America during that time period and good jobs were not so easy to come by. Lastly note the upper right photograph that a train order board is sticking out over the roof. Next time I'll write of other influences I took from these and other Latrobe scenes and how I used various freight services provided by the railroad and some imagining to come up with my modeling scenes of Latrobe. Next time!

east Latrobe scene on the Placerville Branch