Most of the research I have done on Oakdale Junction has come from a variety of sources. A lot of it has come from my dad who is an avid fan of the Sierra Railroad and Pickering Lumber Company. Growing up, my father was working on an HO Scale shelf layout set up along one wall of the garage. His layout was loosely based upon the Pickerinig's interchange with the Sierra.
I have family members who lived in the Sonora, Jamestown and Twain Harte area which is where the Sierra Railroad Operated. I have made numerous visits to the area over the years. I have been to Jamestown several times and have ridden many excursion trains sponsored by the Sierra Railroad.
Two years ago, I met John Zachs, who has an impressive HO Scale layout depicting the Sierra Railroad and the interchanges with the Pickering Lumber Company and the Westside Lumber Company. Though it has been over a year since I have operated his layout, it was a pleasure to be a small part of that railroad operating crew.
Currently, I do not live too far from Oakdale. I have jumped in the car and made trips out there to look at the existing infrastructure that served all three railroads back in the period I am modeling. Various satelite maps (Bing and Google) have helped me in my research as well. I have come across historic topographic maps from the early 50's which depict the track layout and supporting structures in Oakdale.
The document that has helped me the most is an article "The Montpellier Branch" that was written by Gary B. Jones and published in SP Trainline (Summer 2010 No. 104) which is issued by the Southern Pacific Historical & Technological Society. So far, this article has provided me with the most comprehensive information about the Montpellier Branch and about SP operations in Oakdale. The article includes several historical pictures and SPINS diagrams of cities located between Stockton and Merced.
Friday, November 22, 2013
HO Scale Model Railroad
I began this blog well over a year ago when I first started to construct my version of Oakdale Junction. For some reason, I set up the general layout of the blog, but never posted anything. I have been actively working on the layout for the past year. Now that significant progress has been made on the layout, I should have plenty to post about it.
Oakdale Junction is a fourteen by fifteen foot "L-shaped" model railroad shelf layout done in HO Scale and is located in the living room of my house. By now all of the benchwork has been built and all track has been laid. Most of the electrical feeder wires have been attached to the DCC bus lines. DCC equipped locomotives have been test run on portions of the layout to confirm the electrical connections are solid.
The city of Oakdale is a real city in California and is located in the central valley near the foothills of the Sierras. Oakdale was once served by three railroad companies: Santa Fe, Sierra and Southern Pacific. Both the Santa fe and the Southern Pacific interchanged freight cars with the Sierra at Sierra's Oakdale Yard. The Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific did not interchange freight cars in Oakdale. For a more detailed history of Oakdale Junction, check out the "History of Oakdale Juncition" tab on this blog.
I have tried to keep the track diagram of Oakdlae Junction as close as possible to how it looked in the 1950's. The time period I am trying to model is the years 1955 to 1957. These dates are still considered to be a part of the "Transition Era" of railroading. This is the time where railroads were making the transition from using steam locomotives to using diesel powered units.
To make operations a little more interesting, I have used some modeler's licesne and added some industries and appropriate spurs even though these did not exist in Oakdale. I choose to model Oakdale Junction because I am able to depict the junction with three railroads. On one leg of the shelf, I am modeling the Sierra Yard and engine servicing facility. I have added a stockyard and meat packing plant operation in this area. There is also an ice house and icing track to ice refrigerator cars. Neither of these two facilities existed in Oakdale. Sierra freight trains will depart Sierra Yard and head toward the town of Jamestown which is represented by a staging yard.
The other leg of the shelf models the Southern Pacific's trackage through Oakdale. It starts just before the location of SP's Oakdale Depot and continues through the crossing with the Santa Fe's track into Sierra Yard. SP trains that head past the depot are on their way to the city of Stockton which is represented by a staging yard. SP trains can travel across the Santa Fe crossing and continue toward the city of Merced which is also represented by a staging yard. None of the staging yards have been constructed as of yet, but their designs are completed.
Due to the confines of the garage space, the Santa Fe portion of track modeled on the layout is very minimal. It does include the crossing with the Southern Pacific's trackage and the two interchange tracks located in Sierra Yard. Santa Fe trains leaving Sierra yard and heading toward the city of Riverbank can travel across the crossing and then exit through a hole in the backdrop.
To run the layout, I have selected a DCC System developed by Model Rectifier Corporation (MRC). I am using the firm's Prodigy Advance 2 "Squared" system. I have divided each leg of the layout into two separate operational zones with their own circuit breaker protection. This way if a train operating in Sierra Yard causes a short circuit, a train operatiing on the SP tracks near the depot will continue to function. There is a third section of track with circuit breaker protection and an auto-reversing module which is the Sierra Wye portion of Sierra Yard. This wye track was used to turn locomotives. Due to the availability of the space, I had to locate the wye on the opposite side of the Sierra Yard tracks.
Oakdale Junction is a fourteen by fifteen foot "L-shaped" model railroad shelf layout done in HO Scale and is located in the living room of my house. By now all of the benchwork has been built and all track has been laid. Most of the electrical feeder wires have been attached to the DCC bus lines. DCC equipped locomotives have been test run on portions of the layout to confirm the electrical connections are solid.
The city of Oakdale is a real city in California and is located in the central valley near the foothills of the Sierras. Oakdale was once served by three railroad companies: Santa Fe, Sierra and Southern Pacific. Both the Santa fe and the Southern Pacific interchanged freight cars with the Sierra at Sierra's Oakdale Yard. The Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific did not interchange freight cars in Oakdale. For a more detailed history of Oakdale Junction, check out the "History of Oakdale Juncition" tab on this blog.
I have tried to keep the track diagram of Oakdlae Junction as close as possible to how it looked in the 1950's. The time period I am trying to model is the years 1955 to 1957. These dates are still considered to be a part of the "Transition Era" of railroading. This is the time where railroads were making the transition from using steam locomotives to using diesel powered units.
To make operations a little more interesting, I have used some modeler's licesne and added some industries and appropriate spurs even though these did not exist in Oakdale. I choose to model Oakdale Junction because I am able to depict the junction with three railroads. On one leg of the shelf, I am modeling the Sierra Yard and engine servicing facility. I have added a stockyard and meat packing plant operation in this area. There is also an ice house and icing track to ice refrigerator cars. Neither of these two facilities existed in Oakdale. Sierra freight trains will depart Sierra Yard and head toward the town of Jamestown which is represented by a staging yard.
The other leg of the shelf models the Southern Pacific's trackage through Oakdale. It starts just before the location of SP's Oakdale Depot and continues through the crossing with the Santa Fe's track into Sierra Yard. SP trains that head past the depot are on their way to the city of Stockton which is represented by a staging yard. SP trains can travel across the Santa Fe crossing and continue toward the city of Merced which is also represented by a staging yard. None of the staging yards have been constructed as of yet, but their designs are completed.
Due to the confines of the garage space, the Santa Fe portion of track modeled on the layout is very minimal. It does include the crossing with the Southern Pacific's trackage and the two interchange tracks located in Sierra Yard. Santa Fe trains leaving Sierra yard and heading toward the city of Riverbank can travel across the crossing and then exit through a hole in the backdrop.
To run the layout, I have selected a DCC System developed by Model Rectifier Corporation (MRC). I am using the firm's Prodigy Advance 2 "Squared" system. I have divided each leg of the layout into two separate operational zones with their own circuit breaker protection. This way if a train operating in Sierra Yard causes a short circuit, a train operatiing on the SP tracks near the depot will continue to function. There is a third section of track with circuit breaker protection and an auto-reversing module which is the Sierra Wye portion of Sierra Yard. This wye track was used to turn locomotives. Due to the availability of the space, I had to locate the wye on the opposite side of the Sierra Yard tracks.
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