Speed bumps in the road

In July I started laying out the Yuma main yard using Fast Tracks templates on cardboard in order to create templates for future modules. Starting from 16th Street and working north I successfully completed the yard throat including the grain spur and scale track.  Progress however came to a screeching halt when I began trying to connect the "Old Yard" area to the newer "Main Yard" the first hiccup is when the mainline was relocated in the twenties it was placed on a fill due to persistent flooding in the area.  I know it sounds funny as one would not think flooding would be a problem in Arizona, however we must remember this was in the years before Hoover Dam was constructed so aside from the very small (in comparison) Laguna Dam just north of town the river was for all intents and purposes still wild.  So because of this fill the "Main Yard" in some places is about 15 feet higher than the "Old Yard" so this grade must be accommodated.  second the yards being slightly off parallel to each other means that they join at an interesting angle which must be taken into account when laying out the modules.  The industry tracks in turn go off from the "Old Yard" tracks at differing angles which also compounds planning for uniform modules. Since I am trying to keep the modules no more than30 inches wide and6 feet long this is proving problematic. The solution I have come up with to minimize problems is to simplify the "Old Yard" and eliminate some of the industries and their corresponding tracks. Which leads us to the final problem; a very large industry called Southwest Ice and Cold Storage.  when the line was relocated instead of building a new ice plant the railroad just ran the tracks down the other side of the facility.  So before the "Old Yard" tracks can return to paralleling the "Main Yard" they must first create enough space that this facility can fit between the two yards.  The measurements I had made the building seem too large to build with out significant compression and even then it would take up a large chunk of a 6 foot by 30 inch module.  Thankfully this impasse lead to a return to the local archives where I learned that the facility had had a significant fire in 1959 and therefore no longer matched the information on the Sanborn map in the period I model which is roughly two decades later.  Also some of the functions of the original plant had been moved to a second facility closer to the depot.  The problem is both of these facilities were long gone by the time I got to Yuma.  Thankfully Google Earth has both a historic photos function as well as a measurement function. these rough measurements were used and yielded a more manageable building.  hopefully in the next couple weeks I can develop a 3d model of the facility in Sketchup and track planning can resume.

So much going on.

It has been a while since I have updated this so I figured a quick update was needed.  Progress on the layout planning ground to a screeching halt for a variety of reasons first and foremost that I had to travel to attend a wedding.  The big hurdle right now is that I have to figure out how to effectively compress the Southwestern Ice and Cold Storage facility with out losing its aesthetics. This facility sat right between the old yard and the new yard and determining its size for the layout is crucial to determining the size and location of other industries and tracks.  That's not to say I haven't been doing work in the hobby, in the interim I have been helping my dad with a few projects for his layout.  He models the Great Northern circa 1955 so when ever I get frustrated with my layout, his projects are a nice change of pace.  On another note I had the privilege of going on Model Rail Radio and discussing my layout ideas with Tom Barbalet.  You can find that episode by following the link here: http://www.modelrailradio.com/archive.html#122.  If you aren't already listening to this fine podcast I cant recommend it enough, along with A Modelers Life and The Model Railcast Show.  Sorry for the short post but as I said there is so much going on right now.

Adventures in 3d printing

So today I finally recieved my long awaited package from Shapeways. The model is an HO scale Southern Pacific preformed concrete relay and baterry shed.  Needless to say I was amazed at how the model turned out however there are a few things I now know I need to tweek in the drawing. Some of these could be solved by working more on the kit form of the model however after seeing the size of the final model a kit may just border on insanity. For one thing the smoke jack is half the size it needs to be because I missread the common standard drawing I was working from. Secondly the door and window trim does not show up very well when drawn to true scale. This causes the door to blend into the model. That said i think this model might still be salvagable. There are two of these sheds near Prison Hill in the Yuma main yard both are in derelict condition and one has been moved from the location it was in during the period I am modeling. The photos I have seen on the internet and elsewhere show that even in the 80's one of these sheds had already had the smoke jack removed, so modeling this shed could solve the problem of the undersized smoke jack and prhaps the other details can be painted on. I have included some photos for reference of both the model and the prototype as well as the drawings I was working from.

 Drawings from Southern Pacific Common Standard Book volume 5

The model:

The prototype:

Shut up and take my money!!!

To say I am excited about Athearn's most recent announcement is an understatement. 


http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/052716/01_Genesis_GP40P-2_052716.pdf


I have always been a fan of the Bicentennial units and this was the last one I needed to complete the trio.  Also considering that the other two units were released by Athearn and Bowser respectively about the same time this announcement has been a long time coming.  This is also one of the units I asked Shane about a couple years ago at the Worlds Greatest Hobby Show in San Diego (here's hoping for DD35s and SDP40Fs will be coming soon). 


Now the sad part is that since I have decided to model the Sunset Route this locomotive will most likely become a shelf queen as the GP40P-2s like the SDP45s were usually held in captive service for the commutes in the Bay Area and when they did venture out in freight service it was usually only over Donner Pass or to Los Angeles on a Saturday so that they could return to the Bay Area on Sunday to resume commuter service on Monday.  So the likelihood that this locomotive would make an appearance in Yuma is low however if there are things I have learned in this hobby is never say never and there is a prototype for everything. So if anybody has any photographic evidence that these locomotives ever ventured to Yuma please contact me and share.  Since these were the reserve power for the business train it is possible they made a run in that capacity.


On another note I realize this blog seems a bit neglected which I hope to rectify in the future.  I recently returned from a two and a half week road trip across the southern United States and yes some railroad sites did make the itinerary but more on that another time.

Final closure on the status of the Somerton Branch?

So the other day I was driving by and noticed a Union Pacific work crew working in the area where the Somerton Branch begins.  For those not completely familiar with the layout of the tracks at the (railroad) west end of Yuma for the last few years there have been three tracks in the area of the passenger platform and the old yard office. At the end of the platform there was a crossover between the track closest to the yard office (true west) and the middle track.  After this crossover the closest track became the Somerton Branch and the middle and far tracks merge to cross the bridge.  A return visit today once again yielded a work crew in the area but in one spot where there should have been a crossover and three tracks there were only two tracks. It appears that after nearly three decades of not being used by the railroad and an embargo on the line the Union Pacific has decided to finally officially abandon the line (which has been unofficially abandoned since the tourist Yuma Valley Railroad ceased operations) and severed its link to the mainline.  While this is not a complete surprise as there are many segments of this branch that have been removed for road improvements further down the line but most of these were south of the power plant and desalinization plant  which both seemed to maintain rail spurs although if I recall correctly the line into the desalinization plant was cut the last time I drove by the area taking that industry offline. An interesting side note is that the desalinization plant was constructed well after the time period that most people give for SP ceasing operations on the Somerton Branch.  This is also an interesting move because when the Arizona Department of Transportation repaved Fourth Avenue a year or so ago they were required to replace the tracks crossing Fourth Avenue albeit with abandoned signs under the cross bucks.  One would think if the line was truly abandoned and was going to be severed from the mainline this unnecessary time and expense would not have been taken.  So it appears that the Somerton Branch is now officially history however as this is a key area in my planned phase one of construction I will be making repeated visits and keeping an eye on this.  below are some photos taken today unfortunately as far as cell phone photos go they are pretty bad lighting wise.  they are also taken from the opposite perspective that I had described the tracks from earlier.

A UP maintenance truck sits were the crossover used to be.  Interestingly a prototype for my current modeling project also appears in this photo.

The shadows make it hard to see, but the rail for Somerton branch end about the rear tire of the truck.

The Invasion is over

Since late December or early January (I really cant remember) our house has been invaded by the grandparents. first it was the in-laws who left at the end of February only to be replaced the next day by my parents.  So it has been a long time of having house guests.  The upside is that my father is also a model railroader and enjoys research so we spent some time digging through archives while he was here.  The Arizona Historical Societies archives are split between multiple locations and as previously mentioned we visited the Tucson portion of the archives.  On a whim we decided to revisit the Yuma archives and discovered that they had just gotten a bunch of their photos back from being cataloged.  These photos  yielded much information but as is always the case for every question answered at least two new ones were formed.  So now I just have to find time to go look through the non-rail pictures to see what they yield.  As far as projects go I am in the process of reorganizing my garage so that I can use my tools but with the temperatures already climbing into the 90's it will likely be next fall until I can start building phase 1(more on that later).

Another attack of life

Well not much too much has gone on hobby wise in the last few weeks.  Once again my work schedule changed and I have had a couple family members with health issues. So consider it another severe attack of life.  I did however find a short window to visit the Arizona State Historical Society archive in Tucson. While this did yield some information some of the areas I was most hopeful about finding information about turned out to be a dead end.  I am also currently  in the process of trying to better organize my garage so that I not only can find all of my tools but have the space to work on possible layout sections. So heres hoping that the coming weeks offer more progress than the last few weeks.