Planning Southern Pacific's Ventura Subdivision

[Colorado Ray]

Planning SP’s Ventura Subdivision

Background

It all began with an N-scale Intermountain AC-12, 4-8-8-2 cab forward Christmas present from my son.  I had to plan a layout that could use this locomotive.  I had a copy of Pentrex’s Railroading Southern California in the 1950’sHistoric Hot Spots video and was fascinated with the scenes of cab forwards on the Owl passenger trains, and pulling freight through Glendale.  Since my previous layouts had been focused on switching, I quickly decided that a Southern Pacific layout based on the Los Angeles area would provide more operational potential than a more scenic “mountain” division such as across Donner Pass. 

Southern Pacific’s Los Angeles Division stretched from Santa Barbara (Coast Line) on the west to Yuma (Sunset Route) on the east.  Major subdivisions were the Ventura Subdivision from LA to Santa Barbara, the Pomona Subdivision from LA to Colton, the Beaumont Subdivision from Colton to Indio, the Salton Subdivision from Indio to Yuma, and the Firestone Park Subdivision from LA south to the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach at San Pedro.  The Ventura Subdivision included the Burbank Branch and also carried traffic from the San Joaquin Division between LA and Burbank Junction.  Modeling the eastern end of the  Ventura Subdivision would provide the opportunity to model both Coast Line and Valley Line trains.  The die-was cast, and planning for SP’s Ventura Subdivision began in earnest. 

Organization

This discussion will be organized in several parts as follows:

·         Part 1 – Planning the layout

·         Part 2 – Establishing the Timetable

·         Part 3 – Operator’s Positions

·         Part 4 – Engine Assignments

·         Part 5 – Train Instructions

·         Part 6 – Industries and Waybills

·         Part 7 – The Freight Car Fleet

I should add that the plan is based on my currently available space.  I’m planning on retirement within the next five years or so, so I may just build a few “portable” modules now, and complete the plan once I’ve settled into retirement. 

Part 1 – Planning the Layout

The figure below shows the portion of the Ventura Subdivision that I’ll attempt to model.  It includes the mainline from Los Angeles Yard (aka Taylor Yard) to Hasson and the Burbank Branch from Burbank Junction to Van Nuys with continuation to rejoin the mainline at Chatsworth. 

 

The Room

The room available for the layout is in our semi-finished, walkout basement as shown below.  The main layout area is open except for one structural column.  The clear area around the furnace is slightly larger than require by code, but I wanted to allow more room for maintenance.  I initially tried to keep a walk-in design, but ultimately decided that a drop-down/lift-up access would be necessary.  I knew from the start that a double-deck track plan would be required to meet my goals of a decent length mainline run.

 

Developing the Track Plan

I developed the track plan using a variety of resources.  The book The Southern Pacific in Los Angeles by Larry Mullay and Bruce Petty was invaluable.  Bruce Petty’s website, Los Angeles River Railroads, http://lariverrailroads.com/ is another terrific website, and planning the layout would not have been possible without the information contained on Bruce’s site.  I also obtained SPINS (Southern Pacific Industrial Numbering System) books for Zones 60 through 64 (Coast Main Line from Simi to Burbank Junction), Zones 81-82-83 (Valley Main Line from Burbank Junction to Saugus) and Zones 71-72 (Coast Line Burbank Branch).  While the SPINS books were useful, the 1987 dates required some adjustment for my 1951 timeframe.  Period 1952 aerial photographs from Historic Aerials http://www.historicaerials.com/ were used to check/modify the 1987 SPINS track plans.  Don Winter’s compilation of rail routes includes an extremely detailed account of the Ventura Subdivision in 1991 from Burbank Junction to Ventura http://www.donwinter.com/Railroad%20Infrastructure%20and%20Traffic%20Data/Regions/Southern%20California/Route%20Descriptions/Los%20Angeles%20to%20Ventura%201991.htm and in 2009 from Los Angeles to Ventura http://www.donwinter.com/Railroad%20Infrastructure%20and%20Traffic%20Data/Regions/Southern%20California/Route%20Descriptions/Los%20Angeles%20to%20Ventura.htm.  Additionally, I watched, and re-watched my SP rail videos to look for track arrangements, etc. 

The final track plan is shown in the figures below.  The track plan was developed using 3rdPlanit version 10.10 from Eldorado Software.  The particulars are below.

The main line climbs at just under 1% heading westward from Taylor Yard through Burbank Junction as does the prototype.  The outer helix on the Coast Line goes from Burbank Junction to Hewitt on the upper level at 26.5” radius and 2.1% grade in 3.5 turns.  The line from Hewitt through Northridge at 0.5% and then flattens out through Chatsworth to avoid gaining too much elevation.  The Prototype is closer to a 1% grade.  The main line from Chatsworth to Hasson is just under 2% to simulate the steeper grade from Chatsworth to Hasson.  The Employee Timetable has a special instruction that “Westward freight trains with steam engine in service in train approaching Tunnel 26 at less than 12 MPH must stop and double hill to Hasson.”  I would have liked to have made this grade steeper, but I was already at 68” elevation and didn’t want to go higher.  The inner helix from Hasson down to Santa Barbara is a 25” radius with 2.2% grade in 7.5 turns.

 

The Valley Line leaves Burbank Junction and drops back down to Bakersfield via the “Valley Line Return” at 2.3 %.  The Valley Line Return includes a reversing loop at a flat grade. 

The Burbank Branch leaves the mainline at the Burbank Junction wye and travels through North Hollywood and Van Nuys before entering the Burbank Helix up to Chatsworth.  The Burbank Helix is 15” radius 3% grade for 4.3 turns.  I recognize this as very tight, but only short Burbank local trains will traverse this Helix.  The Burbank Branch rejoins the mainline at Chatsworth on the upper level. 

The track plan is “true” in that westward trains are always going to the left.  Details of each of the stations along the route follow.  The next installment will discuss each station in more detail.\\

 

Ray

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Colorado Ray]

Anyone know why some of my text is showing as a link?  I've tried editing and can't seem to get it as plain text.  I had copied and pasted from a Word document.

Based on Mike's comment.  I simply moved the text.  I'd appreciate it if there is no further discussion on problems with the Photbucket.  I'd rather have comments on the merrit of the plan.

Thanks, Ray

[mbinsewi]

Not sure what's going on, but any photo I post from Photobucket, I get the same.  Before the photo, regular text, after I post the photo, from Photobucket, everything after is  "link" back to my Photobucket albums.

I'll be watching the replies to your post, to see what to do.

Mike

[hon30critter]

Ray:

Looks like a neat plan. You have obviously put a lot of work into it.

Your small helix does sound scary to me but I am in HO scale. I know diddley about N stuff. In HO, the equivalent helix would be about 28". The 3% grade would limit the size of trains. You have already taken that into account, but I don't know if the laws of physics transcribe that way.

Regards,

Dave

[Colorado Ray]

Thanks for the input Dave.  My original thought was that only the Burbank local with five to six cars would have to traverse the Burbank Branch helix.  Never having done a helix in N scale I was unsure what the vertical separation should be.  Jim Kelly in one of his N Scale Insight columns had suggested that his 2.625 inch separation was tight, so I was going for 2.825 inch.  

 

Just reviewed the new Canadian Canyons MRV Plus project layout and they have a 15" radius helix with a 2.1% grade, or only 2" vertical separation.   I guess if the pros can do it, I'll add another turn to the Burbank Helix and lower the grade.

 

Ray

[hornblower]

Quite an ambitious plan!  Interesting subject, too!  I just spent much of Monday in the Santa Paula/Fillmore area and was thinking how much fun it would be to model this line into Ventura.  A section of the SP coastal line through Ventura and Oxnard, the Santa Paula/Fillmore branch line, and maybe even the interchange traffic from Port Hueneme could be the basis of a nice layout with tons of operating potential.  Enjoy and good luck!

[Colorado Ray]

Visible Staging

The main "yard" on the layout is visible staging that represents both east and west ends of the Ventura Subvision.  The majority of train crews will pick up and terminate their runs in this yard. 

At the east end, the visible staging represents Taylor Yard, River Yard, and the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT).  At the west end, the yard represents Santa Barbara and Simi Valley on the Coast Line and Bakersfield and Saugus on the San Joaquin Line.

Engine service facilities represent the 120' turntable with two separate roundhouses and diesel shop at Taylor Yard.  A caboose track is adjacent to the engine service facilities.  Reporting crews will pick up their engines at the engine ready tracks, pick up their caboose and proceed to their westward or eastward train.

Tracks are numbered from the far wall towards the aisle.  Tracks 1 through 6 hold the passenger trains.  Tracks 7 through 9 and 11 through 14 are for manifest freights.  Track 10 is a through track for trains heading to the valley line reversing loop and engines running to their trains.  Tracks 15 through 18 are for local freights (turns).  Track 19 is a spare departure makeup track.  Track 20 is a switching lead for the classification and storage tracks 21 through 26.

Generally, the passenger and manifest freights will be premade semi-permanent consists.  The local freight turns will be made up at each session based on the freight car forwarding system (to be described later) using the switching leads.

Westward trains will depart to the left past the engine service facilities on their way to Glendale and points west.  Eastward trains will depart to the right and take either the Valley Line (trains coming from Bakersfield and Saugus on the San Joaquin Division) or the Coast Line Helix up to Hasson (trains coming from Santa Barbara or Simi Valley on the Coast Line).

The yard is 30" wide by 23' 4" long.  Track centers are 1-3/8". Turnouts are #6 with #8 on the through track crossover.