Plan for Southern Pacific El Centro Branch 1982

[chuck geiger]

When I was living in Yuma, AZ - I went to El Centro and fell in love all over again with The
El Centro Branch of The Southern Pacific. Last year I had to abandon my layout projects
for a move to AZ. Well - It didn't work out and I moved back to Fresno. Been arm chair
modeling for a few months. I took some shots for the LDE and need a door layout plan
to test it for a bigger layout later. My daughter's new home in Sanger, CA (outside of Fresno)
has this wonderful room and shop as part of a massive three car garage and perfect for
Grandpa's trains.

This is a plan I designed for HO for the same road in 2006:


Here's the LDE shots that make this a fun project:
Yard at El Centro where the interchange is:


Small two track yard at Seeley:


This is the big money maker and the reason for The SD&AE from San Diego to
El Centro. U.S. Gypsum Plant at Plaster City.



Grade crossing on old US 80 near Octotillo Wells.


Several cool bridges on the single track route.



Looking for a door track plan with scenic divider to start and need some input. The
branch is basically a straight line from the "wye" at the interchange in El Centro
through Seely, where it's all agri-business, over the New River then the desert
starts. US 80 and the line run through Plaster City (U.S. Gypsum) with some spurs
and sidings and an interchange with plants narrow gauge line. It winds to Ocotillo
Wells with a siding there and begins the climb up the mountains over Goat Canyon
and Carizzo Gorge. Only modeling El Centro to Ocotillo Wells.

[Philip H]

Chuck,
Without being able to blow up your HO plan, I would ask first why a door top?  Why not an around the room shelf?  In N scale, this would make a really nice switching layout, and I think you woul dget a better order for operations (as you hinted) if you can do a shelf.

[chuck geiger]

Door to practice on and get the desert scenery right, it's tough to do - And room.

[Wlal13again]

I would look at the Carolina Central and modify it to suit your needs. it has a mountain backdrop used a divider, you can replace the river with a wash and have the bridges, and it could support a small town and a few industries on the front side. I like the idea Chuck, after spending 6 years in El Paso the thought of doing another door layout with a Southern Pacific circa 1988 west Texas/Southern New Mexico theme is an itch that I get sometimes..

[sirenwerks]

Chuck,

It was in one of the Kalmbach special issues or a recent layout planning book, but there's an interesting write up by a gent who's modeling a NYC branch in the Finger Lakes region in N, in stages starting with a door. I highly recommend you check this out and when I get home from the office I can try to locate it specifically, maybe even scan it in and shoot you a copy if you're interested. PM me if so.

Otherwise, I would recommend you concentrate on the gypsum plant and Plaster City as it will a) probably take the longest to model and b) provide you with some switching action to start with.

Bryan

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I think Chuck's going the right direction with his door.

He understands the scope of what it is (not a domino, just a door) and will have fun with it.

I like the Carolina Central idea. It's time tested and proven. Now just slap down some scenery (ha! like it's that easy...) and get going!

Oh, and take a bunch of pictures along the way.

[JoeD]

Yes...a fellow traveler!  Haven't seen too many SP fans in these parts...it's been lonely man!!  ;D

Bryan's correct, there are a few nice Door top/staging yard articles out there.  When I was living  in Florida I knew a few guys who had done some nice stand alone layouts on doors.  I designed one that was a simple race track oval with a hill down the center and tunnels on the ends.  Each side had a different theme and landscape with a few industries and turnouts.  The hill was just tall enough to block the view at standard N Track height which worked out well.  Simple and effective for the owner...trains could just run and you also had room for switching.  If you want to practice landscaping and even working on placement of industries and the like, this might work for you.  I have one set up in the garage just to have a place to run trains sometimes and burn off the oil...more interesting than running back and forth on a module especially if you live in an area like I do where there are no N scale Modular groups and few N Scalers.  As Billy Idol sang..,"Dancing with myself"

Did a little checking on the Carolina Centeral...here's a link the article. http://books.google.com/books?id=F9CZQyKPA4AC&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=carolina+central+layout&source=bl&ots=bbXBYt3goY&sig=sNYJmjMocgJz9T009bEMoBtnnXs&hl=en&ei=xyCMSobDB5CIswPQncirCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#v=onepage&q=carolina%20central%20layout&f=false

Joe
MTL

[conrail98]

I believe the article Bryan is referring to is in MRP 2009 and it was on a branch line out to Lake Placid I thought,

Phil

[davefoxx]

Did a little checking on the Carolina Centeral...here's a link the article. http://books.google.com/books?id=F9CZQyKPA4AC&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=carolina+central+layout&source=bl&ots=bbXBYt3goY&sig=sNYJmjMocgJz9T009bEMoBtnnXs&hl=en&ei=xyCMSobDB5CIswPQncirCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#v=onepage&q=carolina%20central%20layout&f=false

You can also check this thread on different modelers' interpretations and incarnations of the Carolina Central (all 27 pages of it) on the Atlas forum at this link:
http://forum.atlasrr.com/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=43495

Dave Foxx

[sirenwerks]

I believe the article Bryan is referring to is in MRP 2009 and it was on a branch line out to Lake Placid I thought,

Phil

That's the one Phil, thanks for nailing it for me. I couldn't find it in the Kalmbach article database for some reason.

Bryan

[conrail98]

I believe they do not put layout plans from annuals in their trackplan archive but that plan was pretty interesting, and from what I remember, essentially the curves on one end ended up being removed to connect to the rest of the layout while the other end was used as the turnback at the end of a peninsula,

Phil

[Wlal13again]

I think thats your best choice Chuck. I built it with a few modifications and I`m very happy with it..

[chuck geiger]

Wicked cool, nice job, I can see this plan working great. Simply
replace BIG BLUE w/ Bloody Noses and were there. Here's one of the
last shots of my old layout last year. I still have this section.

[chuck geiger]

I think thats your best choice Chuck. I built it with a few modifications and I`m very happy with it..

Can you share your plan and pics?

[TiVoPrince]

Really...
Just build the Carolina Central.  Drop the outer interchange track for another siding/storage track on the 'back' of the layout.  Route the sidings in a way that better represents the US Gypsum prototype and go to town.  While your own designs pack in a lot of interest, the curves are incredibly tight and you are representing the available space rectangle more as a 4x8 than the reality of a door.  You won't get a lot of scenery outside the tracks even with a 36" door.  Better to adjust your expectations before construction begins.  Never a bad idea to use masking tape on the floor with some sectional curves in hand to bring reality around.  Sad to see 'The San Juaquin Valley' go uncompleted, but that is the nature of life/layouts...