Model Railroading > San Joaquin Daylight, final chapter...

Had a chance to run my abbreviated but authentic 1969-era San Joaquin Daylight as a guest on the San Diego Tehachapi layout, La Mesa Model Railroad Club.

The locomotive is Athearn, equipped with two Scale Sound Systems speakers and weighted with tungsten putty. It's wearing a Rapido casting of a Nathan M3R horn because I prefer that sound from the onboard Athearn SoundTraxx Tsunami2 decoder.

The Economy Baggage Car, class 66-B-2 Pacific Car & Foundry 1962, is from The Coach Yard. The Articulated Chair Car, class 66-ACM/ACW-2 is from Union Terminal Imports, as is the Automatic Buffet Car and the trailing Shasta Daylight Chair Car, class 83-C-1.

The business car is SP 99, by The Coach Yard. All equipment is weathered and detailed appropriate to the era and my recollections. And as with everything I do, it's a work in progress. Thanks to our hosts for the weekend run! Always great to get equipment sorted and running well, and I was enjoying that. Only needed one fix on the fly, and that was a coupler box height adjustment with a paper shim -- naturally, the issue was between the only two cars in the train that I hadn't run together before!

Great weekend. Great layout. Many photo opportunities, but every time I get back and see how few images I really have from the sessions, I realize that I was just enjoying running trains!

~ BZ

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Nice recreation.

With all the spectacular locations on the La Mesa layout -- The Loop, Caliente's horseshoe curve, the cliffs at Cliff -- sometimes the simple ones are just as compelling.

Liz Allen really digs Magunden for the sort of textbook "Valley" feeling. And I really liked this angle. It's why the San Joaquin Daylight was such a favorite of mine, growing up in Fresno and environs: a cool train at speed!

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And speaking of Ms. Allen -- here's her meticulously scratchbuilt Alco S-6, looking as if it's just picked SP 99 off the Daylight and is spotting it under the Cooling Shed at Bakersfield. (The shed was gone by the time this train looked like this, but I don't care in the least.) What a gas to see a train I haven't seen in this environment since... well, since I saw this train in this environment, full-size!

~ BZ

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Very nice work, Bob.  That video at the grade crossing is outstanding!  The train really looks good.  The only thing needed to make it better is a driver sitting in the car.  Or, did the driver get out of the car to film the train?  Yes, that's it!  

What a sweet little.e train and on a gorgeous layout to boot.

Excellent job Bob! Very well done. 

Bob:

Your San Joaquin Daylight looks like the real deal on the fantastic San Diego layout wich is always a treat to visit. 

I rode the Daylight round trip over Tehachapi once in the late 1950s.  In those days the train was still mostly Daylight colors.  I recall what a treat it was to ride the dome car over the Loop.  

Gerry

Very impressive. I remember riding the San Joaquin Daylight of that era and being frustrated that they had placed a round end observation car backwards behind the baggage car.

Posted from iPhone

=15.6pxSP was saving a few bucks by not turning the consist.  The round end observation behind the baggage car was ugly.  

Gerry

Excellent modeling of a train that I always felt was "mine". I remember that at the time this version was running, you could not walk into a hobby shop and buy proper SP passenger equipment. Probably because SP's was Pullman Standard. Then times improved but it took years.  

Topfuel Wrote:
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> Very nice work, Bob.  That video at the grade
> crossing is outstanding!  The train really looks
> good.  The only thing needed to make it better is
> a driver sitting in the car.  Or, did the driver
> get out of the car to film the train?  Yes,
> that's it!  

Thank you for realizing the reality! Yes, the driver shot the video. (Sorry: shot the 16mm Kodachrome movie!) He made sure there was no traffic backed up behind him; he was an overly-considerate railfan, soon to be drummed out of the 1960s raifan corps for being way too polite. ;-)

SPMW5771 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Very impressive. I remember riding the San Joaquin
> Daylight of that era and being frustrated that
> they had placed a round end observation car
> backwards behind the baggage car.


Next time I'm able to make a run, that's exactly what I'm going to bring! Those cars had been released from the discontinuance of the Shasta Daylight, and they ran them butted next to the RPO because RPOs were no-no for pass-through. And they were still dropping and picking up cars for Sacramento at Lathrop (Junction), so an obs would have necessitated either sending that hi-cap car to Sacramento (overkill with seating) or a second layer of switching moves!

I really enjoyed that positioning for how odd it was. I have an SP 2295 in process, and the seats will all be turned around for that service! Only trouble? I have to make an RPO now. Nobody's done the 1964 cars like SP 5030, but there's a possible conversion from Rock Island that will be a pretty close stand-in.

~ BZ

SPB Wrote:
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> =15.6pxSP was saving a few bucks by not turning
> the consist.  The round end observation behind
> the baggage car was ugly.  
>
> Gerry

That's what I always thought! But they did still turn the consist, because those cars always operated behind the RPO, running 'backwards.' See my other response.

That backwards operation was generally 1966 and 1967 peak seasons, as long as there was still a through car to Sac and the Shasta had become history.

A few years ago, I had the chance to fake it with Chuck Sted's equipment at his old layout. Can't wait to do it with my stuff!

~ BZ

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> Your San Joaquin Daylight looks like the real deal
> on the fantastic San Diego layout wich is always a
> treat to visit. 
>
> I rode the Daylight round trip over Tehachapi once
> in the late 1950s.  In those days the train was
> still mostly Daylight colors.  I recall what a
> treat it was to ride the dome car over the
> Loop.  
>
> Gerry

Thanks so much, Gerry! It was really some time travel -- I hadn't seen that train in that location since... since I'd ridden that train over that trackage in 1969! Phew! What a treat, though!

Thanks, everybody, for the nice comments!

That era of the SJD was in many was a sad remnant of a much more spectacular train. But for many of us, it was "ours" indeed! Something about the underdog, I think, or the pound puppy, was just appealing. And that inappropriately big SDP being so mismatched to the prewar consist profiles made it even better, I think!

~ BZ

Notch16 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks, everybody, for the nice comments!
>
> That era of the SJD was in many was a sad remnant
> of a much more spectacular train. But for many of
> us, it was "ours" indeed! Something about the
> underdog, I think, or the pound puppy, was just
> appealing. And that inappropriately big SDP being
> so mismatched to the prewar consist profiles made
> it even better, I think!

SP did think high enough to give it a flat top lounge in the summer and winter and even a dome at times
>
> ~ BZ

Quite true. I rode Train 52 over Tehachapi with SP 3600, the prototype Dome Lounge, with the rest of the train so short that you could barely see the SDP swing around on curves.

~ BZ

Hey, I really enjooyed your video of your SJ Daylight passing the grade crossing with the 1950's Buick station wagon .More, please .

Thanks so much!

~ BZ