Layout visit - Golden State Model Railroad Museum

In late September a friend from the Ntrak club and I made a trip to the Golden State Model Railroad Museum in Point Richmond, California.  This Museum has N, HO, and O Scale layouts.  I had been here a couple of times more than 15 years ago when the Ntrak club had done a couple of setups in their meeting room.  During those times I had been kept busy with the Ntrak layout and did also run a train on the Museums N Scale layout but had not gotten the chance to spend much time with the HO or O Scale layouts.  My friend had not been here before at all but had been to this organizations previous location in Oakland as a kid in the 1950's.

My photos are a bit mixed up as to which layout they are so I labeled the ones I was sure of.  This first one Ais an overview shot taken from a high location at one end of the building showing the approximate locations of the three layouts.  The O Scale layout starts in the foreground on the right and goes all the way to the other end.   The HO layout wraps around the O layout at this end of the building and then runs about 2/3 of the way down the left side.  The N Scale layout starts at that point and continues to the far end of the building.

All three of these layouts have a California theme with locations such as Tehachapi, the Serria Nevada mountains, Sacramento and several Bay Area communities being represented.

This is a representation of the well known double tracked Elevis Wye in Sacramento on the N Scale layout.

All three layouts use a plexiglass screen to protect the details from probing hands so most of my photos are from a high angle to avoid the glare.

This is one of several round houses on the HO layout.  It had been donated from someone's personal layout.

Sitting on a siding on the O Scale layout was a model of a Southern Pacific passenger train in daylight colors and a GS4 locomotive.  This model was custom built in the 1930's for the Southern Pacific's exhibit at the Golden Gate International Exposition that was held on Treasure Island in 1939.

The HO Scale layout had an extensive network of narrow gauge track over about 1/3 of this large layout.  In this photo the section in the foreground is narrow gauge with standard gauge being behind it.  There is an access passage between these two areas.

This photo shows one of several logging / lumber industries that are served by the narrow gauge network on the HO layout.

We were fortunate enough to be invited to see the inner workings of the HO layout by Marc and Bob.  This layout has a several hidden staging yards, a couple of which are as seen in this photo.  The layout uses a Digitrax DCC system and from what I saw most of the members were using their phones as throttles using Wifi just like I do on the Palisade Canyon layout.  There was also an impressive number of boosters and PSX circuit breakers as part of the control system.

This was just a quick overview of what we saw at the museum.  This place is worth a visit if you are in or visiting the SF Bay Area.  Here is a link to their web site with directions to get there. www.gsmrm.org

A removable flat car load

I enjoy having removable loads on open cars.  In the past I've used removable scrap loads in gondolas, removable coal loads in open hoppers, and removable lumber loads on center beam flat cars.  Links to these posts below.

• Removable loads for center beam flat cars
• Removable scrap metal loads for gondolas
• Removable coal loads for Micro-Train hopper cars

This time I wanted to have loads that could be removed from a flat car after it has been offloaded at the team track in Lovelock.  I had some nice Fine N Scale cast resin crates and came up with the idea of crated farm machinery and parts.  With a bit of research I was able to determine that a major John Deere facility was in East Moline, Illinois and in my era would have been served by the Burlington Northern.  No BN flats in my collection so I used a CB&Q which was one of the BN predecessors.

To create a false deck I cut a section of Evergreen V groove siding to fit the length and within the post holes on a Micro-Trains 50 foot flat car.  The pattern closely matched the existing pattern on the deck of the car.  This sheet is only .020 thick so would not add a noticeable thickness to the deck.  One section was cut off at each end of the sheet and glued to the car deck with ACC so that the remaining sheet would fit within those two end pieces. 

The crates were painted with Vallejo Iraqi sand and after that dried, were given a light wash with Model Master black detail wash.  I was able to make some 1970's era John Deere decals from a photo on the internet and applied those to the sides of the crates.  Both the false deck and the deck of the flat car were painted with Model Master box car red which is a very close match to the original paint on the flat car.

To hold the false deck in place from side to side I made bars from staples and inserted them into the stake holes along the sides of the flat car.  Only three were needed as the brake wheel stand will do the job in that corner of the car.  They are hardly noticeable so shown here before being painted to match the rest of the car.

HO scale 2x4 wood was cut and stained with Model Master brown detail wash and glued to the deck with canopy glue.  The crates were also secured to the false deck with canopy glue.

Here is the finished project.  The false deck with the load rest securely between the sections on the ends and the rails along the sides but can be lifted off the car by picking it one of the crates. Not much to weather on a flat car but I did weather the trucks in the same way shown in my previous post on the covered hopper.

Weathering can make an old freight car seem new again

Sometimes a long neglected, ordinary looking freight car can seem like a new acquisition after a bit of weathering.  I purchased a set of 3 Delaware Valley cylindrical covered hoppers decorated for Union Pacific at a train show many years ago.  While they've had their share of running on Ntrak setups, they have been a bit neglected for the past 10 years or so on my current layout.  This first photo is an example is of one of these cars before any weathering.

And here is one side of one of these cars after a bit of weathering.  These cars are from the early 1960’s so by the time of my late 1970’s era on my layout they have been on the road for some time and I weathered this one to reflect that.  The techniques I used were detail washes, dry brushing, and weathering powders.  I added the data plaque in the lower right hand corner, and finished with a spray Dullcoat.

Here is the other side of the same car.  When I started this weathering project I attempted to fade the lettering using Micro-Sol and a pencil eraser as this had worked well on some other cars.  This time it was taking off the paint and not just the lettering’s so I stopped after doing a small test area.  Then I masked off the area where the paint was removed and sprayed on a gray color to represent an area where this cars has been repaired.  This can be seen in this photo at the top of the “P”.

Recently I have found an quicker and easier way to weather the trucks.  First I brush paint them with Vallejo gray primer.  After the primer has dried, I apply Vallejo flat brown again with a brush, then after that has dried, I apply black weathering powder.

Here are some side by side comparison shots of these cars weathered and un-weathered.

I have mostly been timid about weathering but have been happy with the results on the ones I have done.  As I am not buying many more freight cars these days, when I do weather a car it makes it seem like a new car again. 

Trying out IgMakes 3D printed products

Recently I learned about the IgMakes line of 3D printed N Scale items from watching a video on DJ's Trains Youtube channel.  These looked quite interesting and fit in with a scene I was thinking about building, so I ordered a few items.  These were solid, not too delicate, and were reasonably priced.  As a bonus, they also threw in a set of 4 cows.

There was no support spikes or flash to trim so the first step was to wash in warm water and spray them with Vallejo gray primer.  The pickups were solid similar to how a cast resin vehicle kit is so I was able to drill a hole in the bottom and use a nail to hold them while working on them.

The grain loader was painted and detailed following some images I found on the internet of some similar equipment.

The Mack R-600 truck was also finished according to some photos I found on the internet.  I use silver, orange, and red marking pens to color the finer parts.  The windows are painted gun metal and the tires are Mission Models tire black.  After the whole model gets a coat of semi-gloss, the tires get a final coat of Testors dull coat.  

The opened top grain trailer.  The wheels and rear bumper are a separate piece and that made painting and detailing easier.  License plates are from a Microscale decal set.

With the pair of Chevrolet pickups I finished them in two different colors with white roofs.  Following instructions on a video from IgMakes, I tried a light weathering wash on these.  It did bring out the door seams and other details but I think it makes them look duller and dirtier than I wanted.

On one of the trucks I added some side boards and a load of cardboard cut from brown packing paper.  This was inspired by my high school experiences of going after school with a friend who had a similar truck to collect cardboard and sell it at local mill.  

I found these to be quite nice and reasonably priced kits that were fun to work with.  I am sure to be ordering more and look forward to any new model kits they release in N scale. 

Check them out at: igMakes models and miniatures

A short Lovelock local - Part 2

Continued from Part 1.

The next customer is Diamond Plastics.  The road switcher makes a run around move by going to the west end of the siding and then moving on the main line to the east end.  Anytime the main line is occupied, it is coordinated with the despatcher by radio.  Now being on the east end of the train, the covered hopper can be pushed into the Diamond Plastics spur.

After spotting the covered hopper at Diamond Plastics, the Railbox car and the caboose are swapped in position by using both the siding and the spur, and then left on the Diamond Plastics spur.

The last customer of the day is the Halliburton facility which is on the main line.  There is a loaded covered hopper to be picked up there.  After receiving clearance from dispatch, the whole string of cars is pulled out.

Leaving the loaded car on the main line, the remaining empties are pushed back into the spur, spotting the first one under the loader.  This facility uses a winch to pull the cars under the loader.

After finishing at Halliburton, the loaded covered hopper is moved over to the siding and pushed past the turnout for the Diamond Plastics spur.  The road switcher then makes another run around to get to the east end of the siding.

From the east end of the siding the road switcher couples onto the covered hopper left on the siding and then pushes it into the Diamond Plastics spur and coupled onto the box car and caboose that were left there. After pulling clear of the turnout, the train is now ready for the return trip back to Carlin.

This main line is the westbound line in the paired track arrangement.  The local will go back to Carlin to the east on this line but first must wait for a westbound UP intermodal train to pass

Now on the move back to Carlin through the Palisade Canyon.

Arriving back in Carlin there is another UP freight waiting on the main line as the local takes the siding.

A short 1985 Lovelock local - Part 1

The Lovelock local doesn't always go all the way to Lovelock.  Today we have just two cars to deliver and two more to pick up from customers in Battle Mountain.  The SP box car is an empty for Premium Choice and the covered hopper is a load of plastic pellets for Diamond Plastics.

This train will be assembled on the siding so the yard switcher has pulled the caboose out and with it has coupled onto the two outgoing cars and will move them to the siding were the road switcher waits.

With the train assembled and an air brake tests done, the local starts rolling to exit the west end of Carlin yard running long hood forward.  

Within just a few miles the train has already passed through the Palisade tunnels and crossed the Humboldt River twice.  It will cross the river a few more times before reaching Battle Mountain.

While all of the turnouts in Carlin are controlled from the tower, everything is manual at Battle Mountain.  Arriving at the east end of the Battle Mountain siding, the head end brakeman dismounts and aligns the turnout for the siding.  He will then get back on the locomotive and the rear end brakeman will re-align it for the main once the train has cleared the turnout.

The first move to get out of the way is at Premium Choice.  It's a simple exchange of box cars.

The empty SP box car is uncoupled from the caboose then used to pull the loaded Railbox car out from the spur and then it gets coupled onto the caboose.  Sometimes this customer wants cars spotted at a specific door.  They didn't care this time so the empty is being spotted a door 2.

To be continued in part 2.

Summer 2026 Layout update

Summer of 2026 is moving by fast so I thought I would put out the quarterly roundup of some of the things going on with the layout that have not already been covered in other posts.

Soundtraxx Econami DCC decoders have now been installed for the Lovelock local in both Carlin and Lovelock and for the 44 ton switcher at the EP Minerals plant in Lovelock.  Plus, the original Digitrax sound decoder that was for the Carlin switcher died and got replaced with the Soundtraxx model.  There are now a total of 5 sound decoders stationed around the areas of the layout where switching goes on.

Recently I added this small section house at the east end of Carlin yard.  This will provide a place where main line crews can wait out of the weather while the yard crew is moving cars and also some equipment related to re-fueling activity can be stored here.  I scratch built is structure from styrene with the door and windows coming from Tichy.  The roof was printed on plain paper from a Visio drawing.

I recently acquired a holder for my phone that allows me to record a video while running the throttles at the same time.  So for the first time in over 3 years, I have a new layout video up on YouTube.  In this one, instead of background music, the locomotive sounds are coming from the stationary sound decoders.

Link to the video: https://youtu.be/CFmkwDiLaUU

In June we learned that the 2027 N Scale Enthusiasts convention will be held in Sacramento.  This is only about 100 miles from me so I am looking forward to making it to this one.

Lights for Carlin Yard

For some time I have been wanting to add some yard lights to Carlin Yard.  I had seen some interesting ones on ebay but they were all shipping from China and I am reluctant to buy directly from China.  So I checked on Amazon and found the same ones that shipped from the US.

There were 3 light towers in a pack for about $20.00 including tax.  They each have two LED's and have plastic towers similar to what is on some of the Miniatronics products.  The set comes with 1000 ohm current limiting resistors for each tower.

While I liked the green color of the towers, I felt they were too shiny and plastic looking.  So I sprayed the towers with Dullcoate and that made a big improvement.  As Dullcoat is clear, no need to mask off the LED's.  I also painted the bases a primer gray to represent concrete.  I found that Evergreen #423 3/32 plastic tube fit inside the base of the tower with no adhesive needed.  This creates a stem to secure the tower to the layout.

To mount these, I drilled a  hole through the 1/4 inch thick deck that was just a bit larger than the plastic tube.  Then applied a small amount of canopy glue to the tube and pushed it into the hole.

To connect each of the yard lights to the 12 volt DC power, I made some small circuit boards with the resistor and a 2 position terminal block that the small wires from the light tower can be easily connected to under the bench work.  The larger 22 gauge wires were then connected to one of the 12 volt terminal strips.

And this is the result I was looking for.