Concerning all those automobile carriers at the beginning of this video: according to local news about 450,000 automobiles are shipped into San Diego every year. Thanks to the ports of LA/Long Beach being over crowded.
27:26 That exact combine still exists too, it worked regularly on the Sacramento Daylight until a streamlined combine replaced it around '61. The car has been beautifully restored at Niles Canyon into its 1920's Pullman Green appearance.
Remids me of childhood. So much S.P. and Santa Fe back then.I actually got to go on a ride along with the crew of a local up in Carpinteria to Goleta to lumber drop. Thrill of a life to ride in a bouncing F 7. Thanks Bradley. Little League coaching haf its perks.😂.
In my 60+ years of model railroading I believe the La Mesa Club's layout is the finest execution of prototype model railroading in the world. I visited the club several times in the 80's , 90s and 2000s and even had the honor of running a few trains. The life's work of an outstanding group of top shelf modelers and builders. Sadly, many no longer with us. I very much appreciate your good video and it is refreshing to see a new generation of modelers stepping up. Thanks very much!
I did too, back in the early and mid eighties (never formal sessions though--just weekend running). You say some are no longer with us, and I almost don't want to ask who. Last I heard John Rotsart had retired as museum director but was still alive and kickin,' and Paul Lubliner was too, although I don't know if he's still active any more. Paul has a thing for the TV series "Seaview," flying subs and all, I think....
@12:00 The eastbound climb is actually compressed only by half~30` HO scale per mile, according to former museum director/La Mesa club member John Rotsart. The section from the top down to Mojave is considerably more shortened. One other interesting factoid: While the real Tehachapi grade is 2.5%, the club had to decrease it to 2%...lest the mainline run all the way up to and even through the ceiling (!) and it's about a 20' ceiling. Great choice too to skip the middle scenery and jump ahead to the loop. The original (La Mesa/Northern & Gulf) club guys are aging, and that gives them a chance to see the "signature spot" before they have to 'move on to other things.' I hope they all get to (or got to) see it.
This layout is always a pleasure to watch on YT. Hopefully I'll manage to see it in person one day. Some of those F units have a fair amount of dust on the - you can see where it has accumulated around details except where handling has removed it.
@@francisdoudney7000 My guy, have you heard of prototypical speeds? Slow is good in model railroading. It allows you to run trains more and emulate the real thing. Maybe you should have a bit more respect for the La Mesa Club and the lengths its members go to make their trains look and preform realistically, slow speeds being one of them.
This run was actually pretty good, for speed. Another video i saw was a bit on the slow side, twice the operators were told to speed up. Not so here. Keep in mind that some shots were trains going uphill, so slow is normal. On prototype runs, sometimes they're going even slower, straining under the tonnage being pulled uphill. On the passenger run behind the FT set, i at first thought things were a a bit slow going down to Caliente, but when he mentioned he was going to a short stop at the station, it made sense. After pulling out of Caliente, the two following scenes were running nicely, and matched speeds i saw in vintage shots - it felt good. This was an awesome video. Thanks!
This layout is most unfortunately compressed at a ratio of 3:5 which explains the absurd height to width relationships (1:1 ...which is impossible) as is visible on the "hills". Using a threefoot rule, Rick Fisher dimensionally proved that statement correct by measuring all at at Ilmon.... a number of decades ago! The entire "Great Mistake" would have looked far more plausible, believable or simply truly realistic had DFW and AFA not gone "curve for curve" but instead selected specific scenes modelled to actual scale, and also compressed (or deleted) the in-between connections of those scenes thereby keeping the same available floor space. ----But WHAT DO I KNOW!?
Well here you are, Paul. I'll defer to your compression figures, as you certainly know more than I do (you being Mr. "N&G Signals," and "Highliner's both.") We two did meet about '83, at tunnel 1/2 when you handed me the throttle and said "Be careful. That (power) transistor on the back is hot." It was. I'll also gather from one of your avatars (elsewhere) that you did build that Lotus Seven. Good to run across you again, and thanks for cutting me in on some of the fun.
