Playa Desnuda Branch of the Pacific Electric

[JMaurer1]

That crossing is VERY unsafe...not even any crossbucks?!! Keep the PE alive!

[johnb]

That crossing is VERY unsafe...not even any crossbucks?!! Keep the PE alive!

I need to get 3 wig wags, but there is only one maker, and  they run  $15 a piece...

[wazzou]

I need to get 3 wig wags, but there is only one maker, and  they run  $15 a piece...

Sounds like a bargain to me.

[johnb]

[MVW]

Nice video, John. Thanks for the tour!

I'm damn near inspired to do something similar. Better sit down til it passes. 

Jim

[johnb]

Nice video, John. Thanks for the tour!

I'm damn near inspired to do something similar. Better sit down til it passes. 

Jim

thanks, my video was inspired by Dr. Hotballz

[johnb]

Now I really need trolley poles...first 6 line poles are up

[johnb]

For a few years, I have been looking at this picture, and the missing ladder has been bugging me…until…

[johnb]

Few things scream Southern California than palm trees. I picked up 5 JTT palms that are 3.5 inches tall….I really don’t like palms, so to the rear they go.

[johnb]

My main complaint about operating the Playa Desnuda branch is that there is no way to have the train roll in, switch the industries, then leave town. I am looking at at adding the fictitious Washington Blvd. Yard.

Linda Sand drew up this yard for the 1999 Model Railroad Planning magazine and it will be the basis of my yard



I am still open for recommendations...

[johnb]

Went through my switch inventory....
This ish is getting real.

[johnb]

IF…I rotate the layout 180°, with minimal changes, I can add a staging track and make a functional junction. Washington Blvd would need to be relocated, and Playa Desnuda Shell would be the closest industry to the yard, and the freight station would be the furthest away.

Above is the basic track plan, the spur on the right is actually a straight line out of a #6 switch, and that is the Shell depot, and that is at the back of the layout.

By adding the staging track, the Southern Pacific can pull a train into the yard, and pull another out, enhancing operations and allowing the layout to grow at the same time…..the extension would possibly be a mirror image of the plan above.

[Hawghead]

I remember reading somewhere that all layouts should have a place to take trains off the layout and bring new ones on.  Looking good.

Scott

[johnb]

So…I have rotated the layout 180°, this will allow me to add a staging track and build a functional junction, making an interchange yard….

this is placing Playa Desnuda Shell on the front of the layout, and on the other side!

I also built the benchwork for the extension, and with COVID19 having us on lockdown, it was built out of recycled MDF and a mini pallet.

[johnb]

Well, the new extension is assembled and mounted Now the fun begins, expect to see Southern Pacific MOW equipment pictures.  I am going to change the crossing from 90° to a 15° crossing, a #4 switch will lead into the yard, and I wii have a staging track in the rear.