Layout Tours &
Operating Sessions
Scott Inman
Layouts Chair
A number of self-guided layout tours will be available during the 2023 Convention. We are just starting to work with all the layout owners in the area. Check back periodically to see any updates.
Descriptions of the various layouts will be listed in the convention program and the schedule as well as maps, directions and site conditions will be available at the convention Registration Desk. Descriptions with photos are also supplied below the table.
NOTE: The below table lists times for the layout tours ONLY. They are not in anyway related to operating sessions. Operating sessions are being arranged separately via email. There are no times or other data shown for operating sessions, only visits for layout tours. If you wish to discuss an operating session, contact Seth Newmann directly via email.
| Owner | Layout | Scale | Distance | Session Duration |
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| Don McKenney | 1) Mill Valley Lumber Co. and 2) South Pacific Coast | On3 | El Cerrito | Wednesday, 4/26. 9am-12noon |
| Steve Redeker | Hetch Hetchy Railroad | On30 | 18 mi. | Thursday, 4/27. 9am-12noon and 5pm-10pm |
| Phil Gulley | Union Pacific & Summit County RR | HO | 31.6 mi. | Thursday, 4/27. 5pm-10pm |
| George Hardy | Spokane Portland & Seattle California Sub | HO | 17.5 mi. | Thursday, 4/27. 5pm-10pm |
| Dave Houston | Southern Pacific | HO | 21 mi. | Thursday, 4/27. 5pm-9pm |
| Larry Moll | Northern CA Lumber & Mining | HOn3 | 26 mi. | Thursday, 4/27. 5pm-10pm |
| Tom Weissgerber | Union Pacific Columbia River Gorge | HO | 26 mi. | Thursday, 4/27. 5pm-10pm |
| Roseville Roundhouse | Donner Pass HO, U-shaped N scale | HO, N | 13.8 mi. | Friday, 4/28. 12noon-8pm |
| Steve Redeker | Hetch Hetchy Railroad | On30 | 18 mi. | Friday, 4/28. 2pm-10pm |
| Dave Houston | Southern Pacific | HO | 21 mi. | Friday, 4/28. 5pm-10pm |
| Bill Burg | Sacramento Northern Beltline | HO | 3.8 mi. | Friday, 4/28. 6pm-10pm |
| Sacramento MRHS | SP/WP and large HOn3 | HO, HOn3 | 4.2 mi. | Friday, 4/28. 6pm-10pm |
| Mike Andrews | SP WP, & SN in the Sacramento Valley | O | 45.2 mi. | Saturday, 4/29. 10am-3pm |
| Walt Schedler | SP's Shasta Division Gerber thru Dunsmuir to K Falls | HO | 67 mi. | Saturday, 4/29. 10am-3pm |
| Steve Redeker | Hetch Hetchy Railroad | On30 | 18 mi. | Saturday, 4/29. 12noon-5pm |
| Bill Burg | Sacramento Northern Beltline | HO | 3.8 mi. | Saturday, 4/29. 2pm-6pm |
| Don McKenney | 1) Mill Valley Lumber Co. and 2) South Pacific Coast | On3 | El Cerrito | Sunday, 4/30. 1pm-5pm |
Layout Descriptions and Photos
Steve Redeker - Hetch Hetchy Railroad
A 13 x 24 Three level, dead rail layout in an upstairs “man cave”. Benchwork & track 100% complete. Scenery and structures 85%.
The layout is San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy RR in 1919. It includes the Sierra RR’s Oakdale and Jamestown. The railroad transported everything to build the City’s Water and Power Project which included a huge concrete dam (not modeled!) inside the Yosemite National Park, two hydroelectric power houses (one modeled), a sawmill (modeled), and 35 miles of aqueduct tunnels bored through granite. The HHRR branched off the Sierra at Milepost 26. Major aspects of the line are modeled in prototypical order.
WHY VISIT THIS LAYOUT? IT IS BLACK AND WHITE! You will never see another like this one. It’s all B & W: Structures, Trees, Bushes, and Groundcover, & Buildings. Layout scenes mirror the B&W prototype photos on the wall behind. IT’S DEAD RAIL. See how all the electronics, speaker and battery got crammed in to an ON30 Bachman 0-4-0 Porter and a two truck Shay! There are quick change and disappearing background photos. See how to make them on the cheap. IT’S CLOSE: 20 minutes south on Hwy 99.
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Click to see the layout on YouTube
Phil Gulley - Union Pacific & Summit County Railroad
The Union Pacific and Summit County is multi deck HO scale layout in a 30’x48' purpose-built building. The Summit County is a proto-freelance 1952 railroad based on the UP’s Park City branch, hauling coal, ore and livestock. It connects to Union Pacific’s double track transcontinental mainline at Echo. The operating system is TT&TO with telephones for communication. The sound equipped, primarily steam engine roster, is controlled with an NCE Radio DCC system. Freight is forwarded with a CC&WB system and all turnouts are Tortoise controlled.
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Click to see the layout on YouTube
Dave Houston - Rocklin Sub Layout
Freelanced version of the SP. Donner and Shasta crossings and Coast Line, Burbank Branch in the 60s A walk-in basement in California is not very common, but this one was available (house included) and a dream has become reality. 11’ x 55’ feet in size, a completed (yes, you read that right!) double deck freelance prototype HO scale layout. Emphasis is on operations with car cards, track warrants, long trains and two person crews. Digitrax and sound in nearly every locomotive makes the scene complete. The Rocklin Sub can handle 10 operators in a session and typically run 8 hours but be advised that is it not ADA compliant: there are stairs to reach the layout or the bathroom but if you are able to make the climb, a great time awaits you.
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Click to see the layout on YouTube
Tom Weissgerber - Union Pacific Columbia River Gorge
The Union Pacific Columbia River Gorge RR loosely follows the prototype from Portland to Pocatello on a 15’x37’ double tier shelf-like layout featuring staging yards at each end feeding classification yards. TT&TO operations facilitated by fast clocks, car cards, and waybills. This layout is superbly detailed with excellent scenes. The engine servicing facilities, forests, and scratch-built structures give this layout top notch quality. The layout is operated mostly by steam, but there are a few diesels here and there in service. The realistic scenery along the gorge and through The Dalles, Oregon is excellent.
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Roseville Roundhouse Club - HO & N scale layouts
This is an exciting time, as construction has begun for both the N scale as well as the HO layouts. While we are building certain portions of the layouts, we are still working with all members of the club to fine tune some of the design concepts for both layouts. It is truly exciting to see entirely new layouts being designed and constructed – using the most up to date technology as well as developing even more creative and original ideas.
Much has been learned from prior layouts and we know that these new layouts will be even better. Many of our members are excellent craftsmen and have honed their skills over many years of modeling. They are more than willing to help and teach those members who are new to the hobby or who would like to expand their modeling skills and knowledge.
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Bill Burg - Sacramento Northern Beltline
This point-to-point 11’ x 24’ shelf layout focuses on industrial switching in Sacramento, during the mid-20th century and features Sacramento Northern, Central California Traction, and Western Pacific railroads. Motive power is small diesel and electric locomotives and electric interurbans/streetcars.
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George Hardy - Spokane, Portland & Seattle California Sub
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Larry Moll - Northern California Lumber and Mining
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Sacramento Model Railroad Historical Society
HO Layout
The HO scale Sierra Central Railroad depicts the Southern Pacific’s California Pacific or “Cal-P” line from Oakland to Sacramento and the Western Pacific from Sacramento through the Feather River Canyon to Keddie.
Signature scenes on the SP include the historic Davis depot, the Yolo Causeway, and the passenger station, locomotive shops, classification yard, and R Street industrial district in Sacramento. On the WP, you’ll find Marysville, Oroville, Table Mountain, the Honeymoon Tunnels in the Feather River Canyon, Keddie Yard, and the Spanish Creek trestle widely known as “Keddie Wye” as well as a branch line to Quincy.
Construction of the current layout began in 2001. It is a double-deck design with a loop-to-loop configuration for continuous running. Its 600-foot mainline uses code 83 flex track, and most turnouts are hand laid. The layout is designed to accommodate 25-car trains with a two main tracks on the lower deck and single track with passing sidings on the upper deck. Two staging yards each with 7 tracks and a classification yard with 12 tracks complete the railroad. Trains are controlled via wireless Digitrax digital command control (DCC) throttles.
Mainline traffic is controlled by a Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) signal system operated by a dispatcher (or in an automatic ABS mode when there is no dispatcher). The system is implemented in JMRI Panel Pro (part of the open-source Java Model Railroad Interface suite), and we are now integrating our authentic lever-type CTC machine, salvaged from the Western Pacific Railroad in Sacramento, to control the layout.
HOn3 Layout
The HOn3 Sierra Central Railroad is a proto-freelanced layout features rugged scenery and spectacular bridges and trestles depicting a well-coordinated mix of western and Californian narrow-gauge prototypes, including Ridgeway, Western Flume and Lumber Company, and the Bear River Bridge of the Nevada County Narrow Gauge.
The layout contains more than 300 feet of hand laid track and can be operated in a point-to-point or loop-to-loop manner. Trains are controlled via wireless Digitrax digital command control (DCC) throttles.
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Mike Andrews - Southern Pacific, Western Pacific and Sacramento Northern in the Sacramento Valley
This 2-rail O-scale in a 35’x 55’ room features SP and WP lines. The layout includes Sacramento Shops, Yuba City, Coming, Sutter, Binney Junction in Marysville and Keddie Wye.
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Walt Schedler - Southern Pacific Shasta Division Layout
This large HO scale layout is located in a 1,200 sq.ft.upstairs room. Control is NCE DCC and 80% of CTC signals are operational. The layout has four levels and is viewed from the main floor or on elevated walkways. It is a loop to loop to loop design with no helix and features over 20 mainline freights, turns, and locals plus three passenger trains: the Klamath Mail Train, the Cascade and the Shasta Daylight.
Signals and ML turnouts are controlled via the CTC office downstairs. The layout has four levels and is viewed from the main floor or on elevated walkways. It is a loop to loop to loop design and features over 20 mainline freights, Turns, and Locals plus three passenger trains: the Klamath Mail Train, the Cascade and the Shasta Daylight. Presently there are about 830 feet of Mainline plus 430 feet of sidings and 96 feet of East/West Valley Staging. When completed with Weed, there will be over 22 scale miles (1,320 feet) plus all yards and spur tracks. Level One staging is West of Gerber, behind Redding. Level One also includes the Gerber, Red Bluff, Cottonwood and Redding stations. Level Two has Dunsmuir, at 55 inches above the floor. It is the main viewing point as you enter the room. It is built to mostly exact scale, using the SP drawings for trackage and buildings. The Dunsmuir South yard holds about 360 cars - total on the layout is over 750. Level Three is accessed from Dunsmuir, through the Sacramento River Canyon. You will travel over 250 feet as you pass through Small, Cantara Loop, Sawmill Curve, Mott, Azalea, and arrive at Mount Shasta. Level Four: Mount Shasta has an interchange with McCloud River Railroad that serves McCloud Lumber Co. The line continues to the Black Butte Wye where it splits to either the Siskiyou Line, which takes you to the lumber town of Weed, or head straight through to Grass Lake, Leaf (Interchange for Long Bell Lumber), Bray, Kegg Pit and the Klamath Falls Staging yard, having traveled almost 14 scale miles.
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Don McKenney - Mill Valley Lumber Company and South Pacific Coast Railroad Layouts
Don will have his layouts open for anyone who wishes to visit before and after the convention. So if you're driving up from the Bay Area, you can stop by on the way in on Wednesday and/or on the way back on Sunday. With permission: his address is 121 San Carlos Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530.
1) The Mill Valley Lumber Co. is located somewhere in Northern California. The layout is located in a spare bedroom and is about 10' x 10' in size, around the wall including a short central peninsula. It runs out and back, from the mill to the woods, empties up and loads down. Don scratch built all the structures and equipment based on Carter Brothers designs. Locomotives are brass imports and include a small Porter and a variety of geared locos. The track is hand-laid. The layout is dead rail, tsunami sound, and CVP throttles. Not much aisle space as it got sacrificed to his desire to include just a little more scenery.
2) The second layout, still in progress, is a freelance representation of the South Pacific Coast Railroad. All the equipment is scratch built to represent SPC/Carter Brothers cars and structures but also includes freelance structures, cars and locomotives that Don wanted to include on the railroad. The layout is located in a free-standing studio space in his backyard. It is an L-shaped room about 17' x 14' along the outside walls of the L and about 9' wide at both ends, with a central aisle about 3' wide. The SPC layout is also dead rail and hand-laid rail and turnouts. There are more structures and scenery yet to be built.
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Operating Sessions
Op sessions are being scheduled off-line by the Ops SIG. If you are interested in participating in an operations session but have not yet been contacted by the SIG, please email Seth Neumann to be invited at SIG Activities.
Scott Inman
Layouts Chair
