My 1:24 Scale Sierra Nevada Railway

I have been a model railroader for 65 years, first in HO then in O scale. Beginning in 2004, after retirement from the Chase Bank, my railroad was to be designed and built in one of our townhouse 10- x 15-foot bedrooms. I had no basement and no outside space. Because of the room size and four foot maximum radius, my twenty large radius brass Pennsy engines were useless.

After some research, I decided on 1:24 scale. My investigation found that a 3 truck Climax by Aster, West Side 3 truck Shays by Precision Scale Company, 2-6-6-2T by LGB, 2-6-0s by Accucraft, 2-8-0 C-16s by Sunset, and a 2-8-2 K-27 by Precision could all go around 48-inch radius curves with #4 turnouts. Early on, the layout began as an end-to-end logging layout called the Warrior Run Lumber Co., but soon morphed into the Sierra Nevada Ry with a circular track plan, turntable, and mainline connection. I used Llagas Creek code 215 nickel silver rail laid to 45mm gauge with track power.

Precision Scale K-27 pulling the SAN JUAN across a 28-inch high, 5-foot long trestle.

Denver South Park & Pacific Mason Bogie SAN JUAN, eases a train of Carter Brothers passenger cars across a trestle on the author’s 1:24 scale layout.

Most of the benchwork is on commercial spline sections, 54 inches off the white carpet. I used ½-inch plywood covered with ½-inch Homasote for the roadbed. The 5-foot long, 28-inch high trestle was built by my friend Clem O’Jevich of Warrior Run Model Works, and rests in a ravine of plaster-covered wire mesh. I painted the Masonite backdrops with acrylics and began a painting hobby that now includes over 150 paintings. There are 75, 24-inch tall pine trees on the layout. Bookcases and shelving are under the layout and hold the majority of my 16 locomotives and 102 cars. I also have a work desk, tools and parts storage boxes under the layout. I use a portable table for larger projects. My spray painting is done in the garage.

The SAN JUAN observation car, ALAMOSA, has a detailed interior.

A Sunset C-16 pulls a passenger train past the Chair Mill.

The scratchbuilt roundhouse front faces a Fall River Armstrong turntable.

Passengers wait for the next train at the crowded depot.

The lumber steamboat has deck machinery from England and is 48-inches long. Note the Flying Boat.

Structures include a Howe truss road bridge, diner, station-railroad office building, two Piko water tanks, oil tank, oil supply, sand house, 12-foot long lumber and chair mills, coaling tower, roundhouse front, trestle, log dump, station, pier, lumber steamboat, fuel ship, and an ocean tugboat. Each structure and piece of equipment was researched. Scale vehicles, figures, construction and logging equipment are used throughout the layout to provide realism.

Clem O’Jevich re-detailed most of the locomotives. Ede Biro built four West Side cabooses and a plow. The addition of D&RGW equipment, as well as other narrow gauge lines, broadened locomotives and car selection available in 1:24 scale. In the early days of large scale, Precision Scale Company and Accucraft would release 1:24 scale models, but all would run on 45mm gauge track, not 1½-inch gauge that 1:24 scale called for. Large scale narrow gauge moved from 1:24 to 1:20.3 scale on 45mm track to rectify the scale gauge difference. I use several small 1:20.3 geared locomotives including a Mason Bogie and a Bachmann 2-6-6-2T logging tank mallet. What was finally built was the Sierra Nevada Railway running from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Oakland, California, interchanging with every narrow gauge railroad in between. In my mind, the Sierra Nevada Ry. is controlled by the narrow gauge D&RGW. The Warrior Run Lumber Co. is owned by the West Side Lumber Co., and the layout takes place from the high Sierras to the Oakland docks.

D&RGW Rotary OO was scratchbuilt using a Daryl Townsend frame and rotary. The USA Trains crane moves logs to the log dump.

The crane was converted from a Car Works, 1:20.3 scale D&RGW Ditcher.

This modified McGiffert log loader rests on ties and allows LGB log disconnects to roll under the machine to be loaded. The biplane is a fire spotter.

This Clyde track layer is composed of the machine, a track car, and a tie car.

My pride and joy is the 1:24 scale, four car, professionally built, Rio Grande San Juan, pulled by a Precision Scale Co. K-27. I scratchbuilt the 48-inch-long lumber steamboat, fuel boat, and a 42-inch-long ocean tugboat, all in 1:24 scale. I also built a day steamer from a 1:24 scale kit. The D&RGW rotary snowplow OO, coaling tower, roundhouse and sawmill were scratchbuilt. The McGiffert log loader, Clyde track laying machine, ditcher, and turntable were professionally built.

Most of the scenes are free-lanced. I have created a series of somewhat intense mini scenes in small areas. In addition, I use some whimsy by having a 24-inch long Boeing 314 Clipper Flying Boat approaching Oakland harbor, and a World War I biplane used to fight fires. After all, I must continue to entertain my two grandchildren.

Darryl Townsend, Lee Snover of LeeTown Models, and Karl Geffchen helped over the years, sadly they are no longer with us. My friend, Stan Richmond of the Car Works, helped me throughout to create my Sierra Nevada Ry. Several times a year, I enjoy running my equipment on Clem O’Jevich’s large portable show layout.

My railroad suffered a crisis in 2019 when two windows in the layout room had to be replaced. This required the temporary removal and movement of two sections of the layout. It took four months of hands-on work to rebuild and restore the railroad. But I am happy with my railroad project in retirement.

Feature

Large Scale in a 10 x 15-Foot Room