Model Railroading > 4449 over Tehachapi Loop

That's BNSF 4449... Sorry SP fans.

Sunday, Nov 23, I was cordially invited to participate in a layout run across the famed Southern Pacific Tehachapi Pass route of the HO scale La Mesa Model Railroad Club in San Diego, CA's Balboa Park. Spurred by recent successes with my BNSF ballast train on my own club's layout, I opted to test it out on the massive route through the Tehachapi Mountains. Power for the trip were three gussied-up Kato GEs, BNSF 4449, 5704, and 5656, along with 30 loaded and customized Walthers ballast hoppers. I may be slightly off with the exact locations of some of the photos, I've only railfanned along Tehachapi a few times over the years, and really only have a general sense the specific locales and area.

1200x images at my pbase site...
http://www.pbase.com/mrmrl/la_mesa_club


1) 4449 rounding the curves past Allard.
2) Panorama of the 30 car train now at Bealville.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/14 04:56 by MrMRL.

---

---

3-4) Hugging the rugged mountains between Cliff and Rowen.

---

---

5) This little 30 car hopper train is no match for the epic size of Tehachapi Loop.
6) Now passing Walong, upward towards Marcel.

---

---

7) Heading down the hill now, past the collapsed Tunnel 4.

---

8) Panorama of the train entering the horseshoe curve at Allard.
9) Closeup of the power, same location.
10) Exiting Allard.

---

---

---

11) Snaking downhill between tunnel 1 and 2.
12) Finally through Tunnel 1 towards Caliente and beyond.
13 ) One last wide shot of the train just above Caliente.

This layout is so immense, it simply absorbs whatever train you throw at it. They almost disappear, the scale of the scenery is unmatched in my opinion. Thanks for following along! & big thanks as always to the La Mesa crew for the invite!

Mr. MRL

---

---

---

Robby,

Wow. Truly fantastic modeling and incredible photography that actually does this layout justice. The panoramas are especially terrific.

If I may ask, how did you get that great depth-of-field in your shots? Software? or just straight from the iPhone/camera? Great stuff!

Cheers,
Harry

Harry, all images were captured on my iPhone 6 plus.

A couple images (6 & 10) are multiple exposures photoshopped into one to bring the backdrops in focus. Some brightening, balancing, and color correction was required to clean up each image. The massive layout is a bit of a challenge to realistically photograph, especially when going wide. There are hot-spots, and many soft and hard shadows to contend with. The human eye dumbs it down a bit when viewing in person, but cameras don't care and tend to find all the little flaws. I realize the logistical nightmare it must be to properly and prototypically light such a large space.

Mr. MRL

Now that s a wonderful, and huge, layout! The expanses really give you that helicopter view of operation, very impressive. The model is excellent!

So pleas share with us the number of modelers and the number of years put into this masterpiece!

Thanks for sharing this! I would love to come and see it.

J

Joel Brazy
Coatesville, PA

Do those ballast cars have solar panels? We may need some pictures of them if you can!

Wow, impressive. Thanks for posting!

It shows what we have come to in the age of digital photography when outstanding model railroad photos, such as these, were taken with a phone.

Here ya go...

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,3211758

Really cool stuff Robby! That layout is absolutely ridiculous! Great editing on those pics...

Outstanding modelling of a wonderful train and superb photos.

Chris

That is incredible, very nice pic's. I would love to be able to see one of my trains go around a layout that large.
Really gives some sense of the railroad being part of a larger scene, where as on most of our layouts the trains
dominate the scene.

Kris

Wrong 4449!

That must have been a real hoot to have been able to to do that.

I would love to have that opportunity, albeit with a quartet of Cotton Belt GP20's and a caboose on the rear.

jobrazy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...
> So pleas share with us the number of modelers and
> the number of years put into this masterpiece!


A few links...

http://www.lamesaclub.com
https://www.facebook.com/LMMRRC
http://www.sdmrm.org/#/the-tehachapi-pass/4533421367
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=la+mesa+model+railroad+club

Thanks for the comments and feedback folks. Thanks also to flippin77 for the link to an earlier thread of mine exploring those modernized ballast hoppers.

Mr. MRL