Building the Sierra Pacific Railroad – Part 6

As many of you can relate, twists and turns can sometimes slow us down or even pause our beloved hobbies. This has been my reality for the past 12 months. However, the transition of two of my sons to college has opened up new opportunities for me to expand my track plan, utilizing more of the basement. I’m also making a conscious effort to free up time for building models; this journey has been a challenging but rewarding break from work.

The benchwork for my current layout spans 11 feet by 8 feet and features the Angels Creek scene and interchange track. But here’s the thrilling part—the expansion I’m planning would increase the layout size to 11 feet by 22 feet, allowing me to model part of the Alpine lumber mill intricately. The possibilities are truly exciting! 

I began to draw a rough track plan and send it to Tim Horn so he could start planning the modules needed for the expansion. The early drawing shows how the current modules integrate with the new modules, shown in white. I was able to incorporate the feed supply and the lumber company. 

With the basic idea in hand, I started drawing a more detailed track plan. 

Track Plan & Operation

The new plan would give me more room to store equipment starting in the shops. As with the previous plan, I want to keep curves to a minimum of 48 inches in radius, and the shop extension helps reduce the tight curves on the current module. The interchange tracks and Angels Creek module would remain untouched. Scenery has begun in these areas, and I’m pleased with how they look. 

As trains travel upgrade, the first customer would be feed and tractor supply. Box cars and flat cars of feed, tractors, and other farming supplies would be the leading freight cars to be located here.

As the train continues up the hill to Murphys, the track would travel over Highway 4 and Coyote Creek before reaching the Alpine Lumber Company. The trestle crossing Highway 4 would be almost 4 feet long and the first scene people see as they enter the basement. This should be an impressive sight.

Alpine Lumber Company

As mentioned in the first installment, Alpine Lumber is one of the owners of the Sierra Pacific Railroad. The Alpine Lumber Company property would have an old loading shed for lumber storage and loading onto box cars and flat cars.

I purchased a Rich Yoder 45-ton diesel and would like to paint it for Alpine Lumber. This locomotive would move cars for loading and unloading throughout the property. 

The lumber company would also have tank cars to supply fuel and oil for the facility and its operation. Finally, an old slash burner would be modeled in disrepair, and a new woodchip loader would be added for shipping material to plywood makers.

Final Thought

Since I’m using the Sierra Railroad as my inspiration, I would like a Y track for turning locomotives. Since space is limited, I suggest building a traverser off the layout, similar to what micro-model railroaders use to turn their equipment. This can be attached to the side of the layout on the main heading to Arnold.

I will once again be using Tim Horn Lasercutting to build the modules. Tim is a wonderful designer and just great to work with. He is going to be a big help in designing the modules. 

Finally, I have started putting together a “mood board” to help plan and inspire the design of the buildings and scenery. Designers use mood boards daily to help inspire ideas for product design and product strategy. They are wonderful tools to help guide and inspire modelers as well. To build this I pulled images from Facebook groups and Google searches.

I’m planning on moving the current layout from its current location to the new basement location. As I progress, more updates will follow.