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How prototype was captured Railfanning has heightened my desire to model a modern, Class 1 railroad with the latest high-horsepower locomotives pulling long trains through rugged terrain. Living in California heightened my interest in the Union Pacific’s line between the Port of Oakland and the crossing of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range east of Portola. This 317 mile route offered local switching, city and rural towns, and spectacular mountain scenery. Selective compression was used to capture the essence of this route through interesting scenes and operations. Double stacks to and from the Port of Oakland, Auto Racks to and from the NUMI auto plant in Fremont, numerous grain trains servicing the fertile California Central Valley, and mixed manifest trains with lumber and other commodities tackling the mountain grade have captured the best of this route in an 18’ x 22’ double decked layout. Click to view track plan. lower level upper level |
A balance between spectacular scenes and the more typical scenes was maintained, as well as 'open running' between passing sidings and switching areas. This avoids aisle crowding that would be caused by switching areas located above or below each other, causing operators to share the same aisle space. The lower level includes the Port of Oakland, open running through Niles Canyon and the Altamont Hills, Greenvile Trestle, a large yard and industries at Stockton, detailed Sacramento city scene, and more industries at Oroville, gateway to the Feather River Canyon. Included in the 'Canyon' on the upper level are the North Fork Bridge, Keddie Wye, the branch line from Quincy Junction, Williams Loop, Clio Trestle, a large lumber operation at Sloat and a crew change point at Portola. Staging yards at either end generate trains from all points east of Portola (upper) and Fremont/San Jose (lower) which also includes diesel servicing facilities. Additional staging was squeezed in for BNSF trains to utilize trackage rights from Stockton to Keddie. |
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Signaling of the layout has
begun, and operating schedules have been drawn up
BNSF crosses Keddie Wye from the High Line |
based on the modern UP operations. All throttles are
wireless DCC to focus on engineering the train, not throwing control panel
toggles. Future plans call for remote dispatching via computer with
Loconet interface. Basic operations to date have taught us a lot and
allowed us to make changes that were easier to make now and allow greater
enjoyment in the future.