Labor Day 2009 at the Museum

From Friday, September 4, through Monday, September 7, 2009, the club ran its modular layout at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park.

We started setting up the layout Thursday afternoon after the Museum closed.

Leveling and connecting the bridge rails between modules was the first step.

Then we added accessories and buildings and did the initial power check.

This is the Gilbert Siding which features American Flyer operating accessories and buildings from the 1950s.

Then we ran an engine on each mainline as an initial operational check.

And add the drapes to hid all the ugliness underneath! Each time we do it, we remark what a huge difference it makes!!!

Peter hangs the NASG and Club banners on the front.

And there we have it - ready to run.

Now for a little tour of the layout. First, on the west end, is Alex's farm.

A close-up of the vehicles and people outside the shed.

Inside the shed are the workbench and tools. A marvelous job of modeling by Alex!!!

And the lighted barn with cows in their stalls.

The long south side has the dairy farm and sidings with icing station. Between now and the December train show, it will become our railyard.

On the east end are the orange grove and mountain with two tunnels. And you get a view of the other end of the long south side.

Another aerial view of the east end with your first glimpse of the long north end which features the Gilbert Siding.

In addition to our own club handout, we handed out S-Gauge magazines courtesy of NASG and S-Gaugian, and catalogs from S-Helper Services and American Models.

And we brought our module tiles to demonstrate the value of the Krause Corner design, and to let people see the many kinds of layout you can create with modules.

Kids in particular had a lot of fun making layouts!!!

Roland and Peter greet our visitors.

We had a lot of visitors and a lot of compliments on the layout and the trains.

Everybody loves tunnels! Here a Missouri Pacific Alco emerges from the south side tunnel as visitors look on.

That Missouri Pacific Alco is part of the ABA engine set made by Lionel; it pulls the matching passenger train from Lionel. As it passes the orange grove, it meets a Santa Fe freight train pulled by an S-Helper DCC-controlled F7 diesel. Its consist features boxcars and reefers from S Helper Service, American Models, and S Scale America. All are equipped with scale couplers. Most have high rail wheels, but a few of the freight cars are equipped with scale wheels. It was a major goal of the club to allow a wide variety of S Scale equipment to run on the layout, and that goal has been achieved.

On the other end of the layout, they meet again at the farm.

Here, the Missouri Pacific passenger train meets another freight train, this one pulled by an S-Helper DCC Santa Fe NW2. Its consist includes gravel-laden hoppers and a tank car. DCC-control allows us to run two trains simultaneously on the outer mainline without risk of rear-end collision because the two are separately controlled.

Here it pulls by the Gilbert Siding.

As if to say "Goodbye," the Missouri Pacific passenger train disappears into a tunnel as the DCC freight approaches the farm.

The Southern Crescent passenger train by American Models emerges from the tunnel and passes the Gilbert Siding.

At the dairy farm, the Crescent meets the Presidential Pullman Georgia.

And just to see that the trains really did run, take a look at these videos:

Take a narrated tour of all four sides of the layout as trains roll by.

(Make sure your speakers or headphones are turned on!)

A long freight train with a consist of cars from S-Helper Services and American Models and pulled by an American Flyer Union Pacific Mikado rides the inside (eastbound) mainline while two S-Helper DCC-controlled Santa Fe freight trains roll westbound on the outer main, with a consist of cars from S-Helper Services, American Models and S Scale America.

The Missouri Pacific passenger train, with its seven cars and bell clanging from its Alco ABA diesels, streaks eastbound on the inner mainline, meeting the two westbound Santa Fe freights along the way.