Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[C855B]

Is that here?

Yessiree!

[Hamaker]

My God that freeway scene is familar.....I lived in Corona (The Circle City) in decades past.

[Cajonpassfan]

*THIS* is Colton Crossing, in a pre-freeway era...
Otto K.

[C855B]

Lots of memories of Colton, which is why it's a focus on my RR. These pictures from 1979 are worth repeating from way earlier in the thread:





That's Frank Eckler, a friend to many area railfans and a great guy in general. His hobby was repairing dolls, which explains that box of tools with the spray paint on his desk and the box sitting in the chair to his left. When they decommissioned the tower he still kept in touch until his passing in the '90s.

I'll rifle through a couple of carousels on the shelf here since I know there are at least a couple more interesting views of or around the tower.

[C855B]

Couldn't find the additional shots I had of the tower, but here are two of interest at the location in 1980, shortly after the tower was razed:



There are several interesting details in this shot. First is the ominous sky - very rare in Southern California. Yes, it rains, but usually overcast drizzles, not stormy downpours. The two electrical cabinets are the same ones as in that Google Streets view. You'll also notice the spur on the left to the grain elevator which is gone in all the modern views.



Sentimental favorite. Seriously road-weary after 11 years. Out of service and stored just weeks after this picture, retired in '84.

[Cajonpassfan]

An actual progress report! It's not much in the grand scheme of things, but this last little bit of track at Colton Tower was the only thing standing between me and starting work on... OMG... scenery on this end of the layout:

Mike, which way is this view? Do you have room for the elevator and silos? I assume the perpendicular double track is the SP Sunset line to L.A. and there should be plenty of space against the backdrop? I used to drive the elevated I10 quite a bit and remember thinking what a very modelable and railroady structure that was. Big, but not overly so.
Dick Donat photo from an earlier era below...
Otto

[C855B]

It is facing west. Slover Mountain will be off to the left, and I-10 to the right, through the middle of the scene. The spur with the train on it is the lead to the grain elevator east of the crossing, between the SP and I-10. So it puts the grain elevator (actually a feed processor) in the aisle, so don't step on it.

I'm a little confused by your picture, Otto. It appears to be looking north, with the tower behind us. If it's looking east, then what is a Santa Fe passenger train doing on the SP?

[3DTrains]

I'm a little confused by your picture, Otto. It appears to be looking north, with the tower behind us. If it's looking east, then what is a Santa Fe passenger train doing on the SP?

I believe the picture was taken from Colton Tower.

Looking North, the silos and the attached metal building is the Globe Grain and Milling facility, while the larger concrete structure behind it is the Hal Kelly Feed Mill. Just to the right of the screen (and barely seen) is the ATSF tower at Valley Blvd (just behind the tower are the ATSF Colton passenger and freight depots). The curved track in the foreground connects the ATSF Northbound mainline to connect to service Old Colton yard on SP Sunset Main 2 (crosses ATSF Southbound and SP Main 1), while the curved track in the background connects the ATSF Southbound main to to service industries and the PE yard along the SP Sunset Main 1.

Cheers!
Marc - Riverside

[C855B]

OK, now that makes sense. I was thrown off especially by not seeing the Valley Blvd crossing tower. The more distant of the two curved tracks into the PE yard must be the one that survived into my era.

I don't recall the Globe facility, but admittedly most of my time hanging there was at the tower. When was it razed? I'd be happy to put a stand-in there if it existed in 1970.

[3DTrains]

The Globe structure was removed shortly after the 1957 extension of I-10 (‘64~’65?). All traces of mill were gone by ‘68 (freeway cuts through where the silos were located), about the same time the Hal Kelly structure was also razed.

Cheers!
Marc - Riverside

[Cajonpassfan]

Well it looks like Marc beat me to it with the description and orientation. That is all accurate. Except I'm certain the Kelly buildings (and perhaps the silos?)survived till later, as I distinctly remember them during the seventies when I was a student at CalPoly Pomona.
Otto

[C855B]

... during the seventies when I was a student at CalPoly Pomona.

Resident, or commuter? I was one of the engineering majors in Aliso 3rd East in '73-'74, off-campus after that. Did you ever see the giant "Playboy" bunny on the north side of the engineering building promoting the spring dance? I heard that tradition faltered a little bit once campus maintenance figured out how we were breaking into the building and scaling the wall.

[Cajonpassfan]

Resident, or commuter? I was one of the engineering majors in Aliso 3rd East in '73-'74, off-campus after that. Did you ever see the giant "Playboy" bunny on the north side of the engineering building promoting the spring dance? I heard that tradition faltered a little bit once campus maintenance figured out how we were breaking into the building and scaling the wall.

Omg, I started there in September of '74, and lived at the Aliso dorm most of my first year there. Ground floor...west; met my future wife there and lived off campus after that. Remember having a fire drill one night and having to evacuate the all-male dorm with her Don't remember the playboy bunny, but do remember the giant "donkey dicks" sign on the new building going up, in reference to our friends in another dorm purportedly sucking such
Yeah, those were the good years, we just didn't know it at the time..
Otto

[C855B]

Our coincidences - more like convergences - are a bit surreal, Otto.

Did you ever get the chance to meet Frank? He was quite friendly to railfans. I first met him at Colton, then he transferred to Riverside Jct. for a while, then was able to bump the 2nd trick spot back at Colton. He let me run the pistol-grip interlocking at Riverside a couple of times, Colton was too busy and no fun anyway just throwing the little toggle switches on the miniature panel.

Oh... this site has a great picture of Frank on their home page, at Colton in 1966 when it was still armstrong.

[C855B]

I've been working on scenery techniques. Here's the latest test, incorporating rail painting, soil simulation and ballasting:



Pleased with the soil results. On the advice and experience of @Ed Kapuscinski , unsanded tile grout seems to be working very well. I have taken his techniques a little further, with two colors. Base coat is a grout wet mix using 1:4 diluted matte medium instead of water, blended to a consistency of thick paint. It's the lighter color of the two, and goes down very fast with a foam brush, smooth but not too smooth, taking care of any obvious brushstrokes. Let that dry, then spread dry grout in the slightly darker color with a palette knife. Once the surface looks reasonable, spray liberally (pump spray) with a mix of the diluted matte medium, let dry, then a second coat to take care of any lumps that weren't fully moistened on the first spray.

Rail painting test was as I suggested in this thread, hit the sides with Vallejo German Camo Dark Brown, then mist ties from the top with Chocolate Brown. I'm going with this, tweaking color as necessary for lesser tracks.

Ballasting... well, still need more practice there. It's taking too much time to get the profile to where I want it, and the more I brush it, the more it wants to wander places I don't want, and out of places where I want it. We'll work it out. Anyway, a side benefit of using my standby fixative, diluted matte medium, is that it clouds the ties randomly enough for a weathering effect. I'll take the freebie.