Model Railroading > A Glimpse of Tehachapi - Visiting the La Mesa Model RR Club

On the east coast in the 1980's, we were amazed at some of the model railroads that we saw in the pages of Model Railroader.  In fact, many of those layouts were so inspirational as to be memorable even 30 years later.  One of those, for me, is the Tehachapi Pass layout of the La Mesa Model Railroad Club, located in Balboa Park in San Diego, CA.  I had never been to California when I first saw images of Caliente and the model of the horseshoe curve there, but the 4 detailed and weathered SP SD40T-2's and SD45's spoke for themselves.  It was a defining shot of a defining layout for me.

Fast forward to 2018, and life is different.  I have been to California several times, even San Diego itself.  I have a layout of my own, a family and job on the railroad, and yet still that image remains in my mind.  A young family and full time work means less time to travel and photograph trains, so railfanning is not as central as it once was.  But, after the kids go to sleep, I can spend time in the basement.  Model railroading has filled the creative void left by railfan photography, and therefore has now become more important to me now than it ever has been.  My Conrail Onondaga Cutoff joining a group of layouts in northern New Jersey that host operating sessions. Through those, I became aware of a group of guys that have made a trip to San Diego several times over the years to actually operate the famous Tehachapi Pass layout.  They offered a spot if I could get away.  

So, when my gracious wife encouraged fulfilling the goal of getting there, I sprang at the opportunity!   The resulting trip was incredible.  The TTTO operation here is intense, so I didn't get to take a lot of photos.  Most came from the 'set up' evening when we were positioning trains for the actual session.  

1.  One of the regular members was moving this 105-car reefer block as we arrived.  We walked in a back entrance, and so my first sight of the layout was the iconic scene at Caliente, which is laid out and elevated just as the prototype is - Cliff Siding is visible far above and in the distance, maybe a scale mile or so from the viewer, but 7 or so rail miles upgrade from Caliente in the foreground.  WOW!

2.  Much of the bottom of the railroad, from Cliff down through Allard, is above the top of your head as an operator.  It's just as though you were railfanning the actual Pass.  Here ATSF F-units climb hard at Cliff after meeting those reefers in image #1.

3.  An SP manifest descends the iconic Tehachapi Loop, in a view from the operator desk at Woodford.  Thanks to several guiding hands I posted and then held the operator job here, copying orders to hand to passing trains, an intense and incredible time-machine sort of experience.  

More!

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4.  My first assignment during the actual operating session was to run ATSF train #23, The Grand Canyon, west from Mojave down to Bakersfield.  Here we are coming down the back side of Tehachapi Loop towards Woodford.   This is a first-class train in the timetable, running in the superior direction, and so 'owned' the railroad - provided I ran on my time every other move needed to stay out of my way.  So, an easy train for a rookie.  But due to crew shortages, I had to do it alone.  This railroad is so massive that you are literally by yourself for 5-10 minutes a clip, so I swallowed hard, gripped my timetable and special instructions, and departed Mojave 3 minutes late.  The easternmost part of the railroad is operational, with scenery coming soon.  

5.  After coming down the hill we rolled through Caliente on the main line, on-time, which offered a chance to shoot over the expansive scene here.  Note the crew in the distance, his train up at Cliff, which gives some scale here.  Incredible modeling!

6.  Here's the markers on my #23 at Ilmon, with its cool siding alignment.   Signals for this session were set to ABS mode, a nice way to compromise given the beautiful signal system that is in place in some spots but under development at most.  

In closing, photos don't do this railroad justice - I decided that the La Mesa club is to layouts what the Grand Canyon is to the canyonlands.  There is simply no way to describe or photograph it to convey the vastness or the atmosphere of being there.  The detail speaks for itself, but the operation brings it to life and is truly a masterpiece of model railroad operations.   Thanks to David Willoughby, Greg Luiz, and the rest of the crew that had the vision and that still make this work.  Wow!  I will be back!

~RGDave (Dave Abeles)
https://onondagacutoff.blogspot.com/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/18 04:57 by RGDave.

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Awesome looking layout and congrats on fullfilling a dream, thanks for sharing

Great layout! The Santa Fe Grand Canyon(?) train is cool. 

ATSF3751 Wrote:
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> Great layout! The Santa Fe Grand Canyon(?) train
> is cool. 

Yes, #23 was The Grand Canyon.

Thanks for the compliments!  As a charter member of the club who has been working on this railroad for over 35 years, when I look at it, I tend to mostly see all the things that need fixing -- unfinished parts of the scenery, things that we got wrong, etc.  Every once in awhile, comments like yours get me to stand back and take another look and I realize it really is a pretty amazing model rairlroad. 

BTW, Greg's last name is Luiz, not Ruiz (Ruiz is a more common surname than Luiz).

Hope to see you again soon!

D F W

23 was the westbound train which came through Mojave in the morning before the Daylight. 24 came back in the late afternoon. When I was a young teenager in the early '50s I would sometimes ride 23 to Bfl to visit relatives and hit a hobby shop,and come back on 52, the SJ Daylight, or viceversa. 
Those were the days...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

The Layout looks great. Im`m sure a lot of us look at the above pictures and can say "Hey,,I`ve been There,,Ohh,,I`ve been there too,," 

Fantastic huge layout modeled from topo maps to keep the total prototypical track arrangement. Visited it three times and absolutely loved those experiences. Huge thanks to all who arranged, developed and performed this excellent layout in a great area to view it. Last time I visited was just after a Santa Fe Convention in Bakersfield and got the inside tour and took a roll of pictures. It was awesome. Can't show photos as all were lost in forest fire in 2012, but still in my brain.

Don Allender

David,

Thanks for the guidance on Greg's last name, don't want to tick off the GM!  

Thanks again too for the hospitality and for your perserverence.  It's a world class layout and operation.

~Dave Abeles

Wildebeest Wrote:
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> Thanks for the compliments!  As a charter member
> of the club who has been working on this railroad
> for over 35 years, when I look at it, I tend to
> mostly see all the things that need fixing --
> unfinished parts of the scenery, things that we
> got wrong, etc.  Every once in awhile, comments
> like yours get me to stand back and take another
> look and I realize it really is a pretty amazing
> model rairlroad. 
>
> BTW, Greg's last name is Luiz, not Ruiz (Ruiz is a
> more common surname than Luiz).
>
> Hope to see you again soon!
>
> D F W

Great show!

Isn't the location in Photo 1. a depiction of Bealville?

Wonderful layout.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

E25 Wrote:
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> Great show!
>
> Isn't the location in Photo 1. a depiction of
> Bealville?
>
> Wonderful layout.

Yes indeed, just before it curves around the hill toward the Bealville crossovers.