Monthly Archives: December 2015

Layouts

San Fernando Valley Branch, 1973 (Part II)

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Back on the 7th of December I shared Rails West’s post about the San Fernando Valley Branch. Happy day – he’s back with another installment from the memoirs of B Smith’s adventures in the area in the early 1970s. And while this is specific to those modelling the SP in the Hollywood North area, the depth of information in this article will be important to those looking to model traffic density on a freelanced layout too. Enjoy and looking forward to the next part of this article.

CE Hunt's avatarRails West

In an earlier post, I shared B. Smith’s excellent coverage SP action in the San Fernando Valley in the early 1970s.  In this post, we will drill down a little further into the nuts and bolts of the line’s operations again in the early 1970s with a few new photos, maps and field notes made by B. Smith as he documented the line in 1972.  This will be very useful for people interested in modelling the line and give the rest of us food for thought as to how many lines operated in the 1970s and somewhat beyond.

Here’s an overview map to start (Each of the boxes will have detailed maps and field notes to follow.  All the photos were taken July 20, 1972 and copyright B. Smith)–

San fernando Map bright.jpg

North Hollywood

Let’s head east to west and visit a little around the North Hollywood area to start.

unnamed

The San Fernando Valley…

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Layouts

San Fernando Valley Branch, 1973

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For those who follow the Southern Pacific, this post goes into incredible detail regarding the car types and the amounts for each location for each receiver and shipper during my preferred time period of the mid to late 1970s.

Beyond that though there is the comments from the shippers and receivers that make it a very worthwhile reading and research piece for the freelance modeller. Enjoy.

CE Hunt's avatarRails West

Team track in Reseda. Tarzana team track–©photo B. Smith

The San Fernando Valley Branch in 1973 was an interesting operation with a lot of traffic.  There was a wide variety of shippers and a good deal of team track traffic.  B. Smith, the author of the below profile he wrote in 1973, talked to owners/managers of each business/industry located along the tracks as well as the Southern Pacific Railroad’s area manager who allowed him access to the railroad’s records.  Here is some of what he learned.  It gives us all a glimpse into 1970s to probably the late 1980s-early 1990s operations when single car traffic was still common and embraced by larger railroads. The diversity of the team traffic business really caught my eye.  (The verb tense is present since this is what B. Smith documented in 1973.)

Bakery still using rail, though no covered hoppers this day. Bakery still using rail, though no covered hoppers this day.–©photo B. Smith

Orowheat Bakery, receives wheat from Montana and flour…

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Layouts

The end of one year and the beginning of the next

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The year that was

My birthday is the end of my year. It is the time when I draw myself close, ease back on the throttle and reflect on the year just passed, and what I hope and aim to achieve for the year ahead. This past year has frustrated and challenged me. I’ve found myself confronted, defeated, discontented, discouraged, disheartened, embittered, and stonewalled. I think you may see the tone of the last year now.

In late 2013 the company I worked for moved from family ownership to a corporate behemoth; I worked hard to make that changeover go as well as possible; I wanted the changeover to work and threw myself into the task. With that project ended I was laid off from my role. I saw that end as a sign and as a time for change. I.T. is a time succubus.; my family life and thereby my modelling life has suffered. I love my family, and my modelling is a happy place. Being in I.T. for so long had stopped that and I wanted my happiness back.

In 2015 I decided to re-train, and move away from I.T. to my real loves of writing, training and assessment. Since June I’ve been working away on achieving my certification in training and assessment and thus my time to do non-training activities were limited. Today sees the end of that transformative pathway. While I’m not there yet work-wise,  in all other aspects I  am on my way.

Over the last year I’ve been able to spend time getting to know my two amazing kids. My eldest gained the role of co-School Captain for next year. My youngster has already stepped up this year and competed in his school’s Lego Robotics Challenge locally and at the state level (a first for the school). He has taken part in the RACV Energy Breakthrough. This three-day event pits young people against the elements, mechanics and themselves in human-powered vehicles around a course for 15 hours. It’s like the Le Mans or Bathurst 1000 of HPVs.

My modelling time has been limited despite having the time off to do more of it. I preferred to spend the free time I had going to my kid’s school events, and other opportunities that I’ve never been able to do before. I’ve not been able to do any of these. I’ve been on-call as a tech and manager since 1984. That’s 30 years with either a pager or a phone attached to my hip. It’s nice not to have to worry about it now.

What’s ahead for the next year of life?

Funny you should ask. My focus for this year is on cleaning up and adjusting course. Getting work and enjoying life a lot more. Along with that come my family and my hobby. During December I’ll be posting the first part of the layout build, now that I have access to a full wood working shop (through my membership of the Ballarat East Community Men’s Shed). I’ll also be posting the first Layout Design Element of that layout (after not being entirely happy with the current plan, and there’ll be a few more projects that I want to put to bed also. I look forward to posting more modelling over the next few months and hearing back from you too. There’ll be more layout designs and other ideas that I’ll post too. Looking forward to writing to you more this month.