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MODEL RAILROAD WEB PAGE I have a moderate size HO scale model railroad housed in its own 40'x15' building at the back of our home. The building has one large room and was constructed in 1962 by the original home owner, former NMRA president Leighton Keeling. The layout occupies about 65% of the room. The layout was begun in 1987 and has been on layout tours of the following conventions: 1990 San Bernardino NMRA-PSR Regional, 1996 Long Beach NMRA National, 2005 Buena Park NMRA-PSR Regional and 2008 Anaheim NMRA National. It has also been on several layout tours organized by the Model Railroads of Southern California Yahoo Group. The geographic setting for the layout is Southern California, with several prototypical scenes of citrus packing houses and other railroad-related structures. The model railroad generally represents a line between Colton (north of Riverside) and Orange County. In reality this is the domain of the Santa Fe's third district that runs from San Bernardino to Los Angeles via Riverside and Fullerton. The reasons for chossing this locale are (1) it allows me to logically operate the Southern Pacific, Santa Fe and Union Pacific equipment I've collected over the years, and (2) I have developed an interest in modeling Southern California citrus packing houses. Unlike the prototype, which is a Santa Fe-only line from Riverside to Orange County, the model railroad features joint trackage with two other railroads - the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific - over most of its length. Emphasis is on the Southern Pacific through a subsidiary named the Los Angeles and San Diego Railroad. The LA&SD operates from Los Angeles to both San Diego and Riverside via Anaheim, CA. It uses parent SP's track between LA and Anahem, the SP Tustin Branch from Anaheim to Tustin, then its own track to San Diego. To Riverside, it uses the Tustin Branch then its own track to Chapman, and trackage rights on the Santa Fe from Chapman to Riverside. [Chapman is the LA&SD name for Richfield-Atwood on the Santa Fe.] In addition, the Union Pacific has trackage rights over the LA&SD between Riverside and Anaheim. Beyond Riverside, LA&SD trains use the SP Riverside Branch to Colton where it joins the Sunset and Golden State Routes, while Santa Fe and UP trains continue on the Santa Fe's third district line to Colton and San Bernardino. The track plan includes a condensed representation of Riverside with several examples of prototype structures and scenery. The centerpiece of Riverside is a full-scale model of the National Orange Sunkist packing house.  James Lancaster Photo Locations on the layout from west to east are Chapman, Villa Park (Wanda), Marlboro, Prado, Corona, Riverside, Highgrove and Colton. To be precise, Marlboro should be west of Chapman, between the latter and the unmodeled Anaheim. However, the existing trackwork requires placing Marlboro east of Chapman.
Los Angeles and San Diego Model Railroad Click on a Link for a Virtual Layout Tour Layout Construction Progress Photos - Preparing for the 2008 NMRA National Convention in Anaheim, CA
For a Virtual Photo Gallery of trains from the 1950s, '60s and '70s, visit my Trains Page
For a look at my other interests visit my Home Page
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