Layout visit - Carquinez Model Railroad Society

On a Saturday in late October I attended an open house at the Carquinez Model Railroad Society HO layout in Crockett, California.  This club is about 70 miles away so I went with a friend from the Ntrak club and we made a day of it.  Both of us had never visited this layout before.  This is quite a large layout that is based upon the Southern Pacific line from Oakland, California to Sparks, Nevada.  One of the outstanding features of this layout are the many familiar scenes along that route that are effectively modeled.  This first view is of the Port of Oakland.  Yes, that is a candy train in the foreground as it was Halloween season.

Heading out of Oakland we pass by Berkeley, California.  Berkeley is best known for it's major university but there must also have been a concrete ready mix plant because there is one on this layout.

Several of the landmark scenes modeled on the layout are very close to the club's location in Crockett.  This small town is known for the C&H sugar mill and that is quite accurately modeled.

Also modeled in the Crockett area is the old passenger station.  The Amtrak California Zephyr and Capital trains pass through here but don't stop.  The building now houses the Crockett History Museum.  As indicated by the plaque on the fascia this point is 26 track miles east of Oakland.

Further east is a nicely done model of the railroad bridge that crosses the Carquinez strait.  This railroad alignment between Sacramento and Oakland was what Southern Pacific called their "waterline route" with little to no grades.  This bridge was a big part of what made that route possible. 

The area around the south end of the bridge is known for it's oil refineries and the layout includes a good representation of this type of industry.

Another industry represented on the layout is cement production.  I don't know the exact location that this model represents but there are several cement production sites in Northern California and moving the cement to those ready mix plants makes for some good layout operations.

And we reach Sacramento with this view looking down the Capital Mall toward the State Capital building.  The series of traffic lights were animated.

Continuing east into the Sierra Nevada mountains the line passes through Colfax, California.  This gold rush era town is a great place to stop for a break when driving as it's just off Interstate 80.  There is an old wood Northwestern Pacific caboose here next to the station.

The Southern Pacific line through the Sierra Nevada mountains is known for it's snow sheds at the higher elevations and that is also modeled on this layout.

The operators of this layout were running all types of trains and roads.  Someone even had a freelanced road that at first glance we mistook for the Eureka Southern which was a railroad that once had run for awhile on the old Northwestern Pacific line.

It was a fun day visiting this layout.  Here is a link to this club's web site for information on the layout and upcoming open house events. 

Carquinez Model Railroad Society | Model Trainclub in San Francisco Bay Area