Compact Modelling Ideas. (Photo Essay. Long.)

In looking around for interesting ideas for my layout, I've found
several in my immediate area (well okay; within 35 miles) that are
small enough to fit onto most layounts.

Locally, we first visit the recently abandoned Santa Fe branch line in
Redlands CA, where we find a small "grain leg" that was still in use a
year ago to offload cargo from grain hoppers and load it onto trucks
bound for farms in the area. At only about 20' high and with a
footprint about the same length on each side, one of these could be
kitbashed from the larger Walthers version in an evening and would fit
practically *anywhere*!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/3784285106/sizes/l/

Turning 180 degrees, we look west down the now-abandoned team track
and find a young Washingtonia palm tree serving as an end-of-track
bumper just in case a runaway car jumped the half-buried rotten tie
that was originally supposed to stop cars on the circa 2% grade. (I've
already modeled this one.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/3783475861/sizes/l/

Still in Redlands, but now west of downtown on the long-gone S.P.
branch line, we find a bridge that is a modeler's dream come true: a
prototype through-truss bridge that's only about 60' long! This bridge
dates *way* back, as it was installed when the S.P. built the Redlands
branch in the 1890s, and the bridge was already well-used at that
point.(The S.P. removed it from it's original location, presumably to
install a heavier one, and shipped the dissassembled bridge to Redland
where it was then put back together like an Erector set. Nobody has
ever discovered where it was originally located.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/3784283678/sizes/l/

The bridge is so short that the track actually continues it's curve as
it crosses the span! All of the wooden parts; ties, walkways,
etcetera, are rotten and ready to fall apart (in fact, some already
have), so tresspassing beyond the chain-link fence is a *really* bad
idea. You could shorten a Central Valley truss bridge down to two bays
and get a fairly decent model of this bridge, although the original is
much more lightly built and appears almost lacy in comparison with
more modern structures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/3783474289/sizes/l/

Next we take a look at a use for that Athearn bay window caboose kit
that that you've had lying around unused because you model modern-day
stuff. This original sits just 5 miles west of Palm Springs CA, and is
still in daily use as the office of an off-road vehicle rental
business. It sits only about 100 yards from the then-S.P.-now-U.P.
tracks.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/3783478043/sizes/l/

The other side. Note the ample A/C unit and white paint, both needed
in Psalm Springs during the summer. (And not infrequently during the
fall, winter, and spring, as well.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/3784287464/sizes/l/

If you like colorful attention-catching details on your layout, this
sign fits the bill...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/3784288232/sizes/l/

And lastly (and not so compactly) this rock train loading bin sits
right next to the U.P. mainline in Cabazon CA. It loads crushed rock
into the overhead bin from a large quarry -that's mostly invisible
because it's below ground level- and drops it into the hoppers as
they're pushed along underneath. It only takes a couple of minutes to
fill a car, so the operation has almost constant movement when loading
is underway. The tail end of the spur is used as a RIP track because
those rock hoppers get used *HARD*, and several of them are usually
parked and awaiting repairs at any given moment. A big old front-end-
loader belonging to the quarry usually sits at the end of the spur,
serving as both an end-of-track bumper and a means of moving the bad-
ordered cars around when there's no loco handy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33885727@N03/3783477315/sizes/l/

Next up: building palm trees for bumpers...

~Pete
.

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