A big THANK YOU to everyone who joined us for our Fall 2016 Open House and grand re-opening! We had a tremendous turnout, and everyone who joined us was very patient when we had technical glitches (like when we blew the most difficult-to-change turnout motor on the entire layout).
Some scenes from the Open House:
Something we haven’t seen for over a year — members of the public lined up in the aisle to see the Sierra Pacific Lines in action! For many of us, this was the most gratifying sight.
Here’s Zion Yard, stocked full o’ trains. As always, we tried to give our visitors a good variety: Passenger and freight, steam and diesel, Western and Eastern roads.
So, did we mention glitches? Here, a set of double-stack cars derailed and tipped over heading out of Midway Yard. Oops.
What we like best: Trains, trains, and more trains. Now that we are running under Digital Command Control, we can bring even more cool stuff to the rails. The SP Black Widows and the UP Centennials behind them all have sound and light effects, and the railroading action was better than ever!
Now that the Open House is behind us, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get back to work — we still have the eastern end of the railroad to convert, and that includes Alhambra yard, which posts the biggest challenge. Once again, thank you everyone for joining us, and we’ll see you at our Spring 2017 open house!
Wish I could have attended, but, I moved away from Southern Calif. back in May, 2001 and have only been back twice since then, but, none of these times were during one of your open houses.
Over the years, when I finally learned your club, I think through a model railroading magazine, I was able to make a few visits to your previous location, which I found quite nice to be so close to the Alhambra Yard to watch freight trains come and go, as well as various freights being made up when not dealing with an incoming freight.
Once you have gotten everything completed, is there a chance to “film” a run from Alhambra to Zion, from the locomotive, along with overhead views of the train as it progresses along? At least a cab ride for the whole distance would be so neat to have on a DVD. Living in Northern Iowa, the chances of my getting back there to see this marvelous layout are slim and none.
Another thought would be to have Model Raliroader do a big story on The Sierra Pacific, as I imagine it has been a while since it has been featured in a magazine. In my opinion, I think there is a big enough story here to have a special issue created!
Thank you,
Thanks for the kind words! We just restocked our 70th Anniversary DVD video, which does include some in-cab footage. Once our DCC conversion is complete, we’ll look at doing more video, including an Alhambra-to-Zion run with a camera train. MR last covered us in the 1990s…it might be time to have them back!