My Layout in the Summer of 2002

I posted these pictures of my layout on my old website when I started it in November 2002. I have rescanned them.

I took these pictures of my HO-scale layout when I was home from college during the summer of 2002, probably in late August. I had acquired an old Pentax Spotmatic 35mm SLR from the 1960s with a variety of lenses, and I had a roll of ASA 400 film that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with. Since lighting was a big problem with my previous attempts to photograph my layout, I figured the fast film would capture enough light for the pictures to come out. The camera also had a light meter, which was a significant improvement over my Vivitar 5500PZ point-and-shoot camera. I used an Asahi Auto-Takumar 1:2.3 35mm wide-angle lens with the camera mounted on a tripod. I also removed the diffuser from the overhead light fixture, in order to get more light down to the layout. These are by far the best pictures of my layout I ever took on film.

Progress on the layout since it had been last photographed included new signs on Robison Hardwood Furniture and McGladrey Publishing Company, completion of the grain elevator and the roundhouse, walkways on the turntable bridge and painting of the turntable pit, addition of a sand tower to the diesel servicing area, installation of sidewalks in Logan and driveways in San Miguel, addition of some road signs, and more scenery, including more trees and bushes.

The captions for these pictures were written as if my layout were a real railroad in Oregon called the Logan & San Miguel Railroad (or L&SM for short), and as if these pictures were historical photos posted on the company’s website. However, I have posted the pictures here in the order I took them, whereas when I wrote the captions the pictures were in fictional chronological order. Some of the captions include fictional information about locomotives that is not accurate for the prototype locomotives.

Most of the trains shown here are mine, with the exceptions of the Southern Pacific locomotives and passenger cars, the Great Northern locomotives, the Burlington Northern SD9 and its freight cars, the American Freedom Train, and the EMD Demonstrators and test cars, which all belong to my dad.

The northbound City of Logan arrives in San Miguel in 1969, led by Union Pacific E8A #926.

A Southern Pacific sleeper brings up the rear of the City of Logan.

Union Pacific GP7 #119 leads the local passenger train into San Miguel in 1964.  

The local makes its station stop in San Miguel.

L&SM Pacific #462 arriving in Logan with the daily local passenger train in 1969.

Spokane, Portland and Seattle RS3 #67 and Union Pacific GP9 #321 rest in the Logan diesel servicing area in 1969. The SP&S ran a daily local freight from Bend to Logan and return, as well as occasional though trains to and from Portland.

SP&S #67 takes a through freight north out of Logan in 1969.

UP H10-44 #1303 moves cars in the Logan yard after being purchased by the L&SM in 1968. The L&SM wasn't very quick at repainting locomotives in the 1960s, despite their striking paint scheme.

UP AS-616 #1265 after being purchased by the L&SM, already hard at work at the end of the Logan yard lead in 1968.

UP Baldwin DS 4-4-10 #1207 has just been purchased by the L&SM and has been immediately put to work in 1966, without even being given her new number of 51.

Weyerhaeuser Timber 0-6-0T #9 with a short log train near Belknap in 1969. While it was common to see Weyerhaeuser log trains on the L&SM north of Linn, usually headed up by a logging 2-6-6-2, movements south of Linn were rare. Little #9 was usually regulated to moving log cars around the mill at Linn, but she occasionally found herself out on the line if a small load had to be moved, as she could make faster speeds than the Shays and Heislers that would otherwise get the job.

Union Pacific GP30s led by #731 lead a northbound freight past the stores of downtown Logan in 1965.

Union Pacific GP20 #474 leads a northbound freight toward Linn in 1964.

A set of Alcos led by UP #1623 heads through Belknap with a northbound freight in 1959. #1623 would also become L&SM property in 1964.

An A-B-A set of Great Northern F7s, led by #316A, head up a northbound through freight through Upper Belknap in 1969. The GN would occasionally send trains to and from the Inside Gateway connection with the Western Pacific over the L&SM instead of taking the longer route to Portland via the SP&S's Oregon Trunk Line.

Union Pacific PA's lead the northbound #7, the City of Logan at Upper Belknap in 1955. This streamliner replaced the previous Pullman train, and was also scheduled better.  Southern Pacific through cars were common in this train.

Union Pacific F7A #1467 leads a southbound freight into Logan in 1958. The L&SM would purchase #1467 from the UP in 1964.

UP U30C #2913 on the point of a southbound freight in San Miguel in 1976.

Brand new Union Pacific SD40-2 #3123, UP's first, on display in Logan with one of UP's latest cabooses in 1972.

UP GP9 #321 handles local switching chores in Logan in 1969. It was common in the late 1960s to see UP locomotives doing L&SM jobs. This, combined with the many former UP locomotives still in UP colors, led many locals to think that the UP had bought the L&SM.

A southbound Union Pacific ore train at Upper Belknap, led by SD45 #3613 in 1969. Ore trains weren't common on the L&SM, but they did make appearances.

UP #3123, sometime later in 1972, leading a southbound freight out of Tunnel #2 on San Miguel Loop.

Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 #3985 pulls an excursion train through Upper Belknap in 1989, shortly before being converted to oil. The big Challenger left its extra tender in Portland for this round trip to Logan, as the L&SM has maintained water towers along the main line for its own steam excursions.

Union Pacific #844 with an excursion in Logan in 1997, after a major overhaul in Cheyenne. Compare this photograph with the one below, taken 42 years earlier.

Union Pacific FEF-3 #844 brings a southbound all Pullman passenger train into Logan in her pre-excursion days in 1945. This scheduled train ran overnight from Portland to Los Angeles, running with Union Pacific locomotives, head-end cars and dining cars between Portland and Logan, where it exchanged them for Southern Pacific equipment.  The Pullman cars made the entire trip.

Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 #4006 in general freight service at Upper Belknap in 1946. For a time the L&SM tested Big Boys to see if they would be worth the investment in the extensive new facilities that would be required for them.  (They never stayed long enough to need to be shopped during the tests, and wyes were available at each end of the line, though they were inconvenient)  The L&SM's postwar profits never quite reached the levels they had hoped for during the war, so Big Boys turned out to be unnecessary.

Union Pacific TR5 set #1874 helps a northbound freight up the 2% San Miguel Loop in 1952. These locomotives were purchased by UP for helper service, but they didn't remain in that service very long, as even the L&SM could eventually assign enough motive power for its grades.

The first American Freedom Train rests in the Logan Yard in the early morning hours of April 3, 1948. The train was to be exhibited in Eugene that day, but organizers wanted the arrival to be a "big show," so the train waited in Logan till after sunrise before continuing on from Portland. Because it had arrived in Logan after dark the night before, few people ever knew it was there.

General Motors Electro-Motive Division's GP60 demonstrators 5, 6 & 7 lead a northbound Southern Pacific through freight through Upper Belknap in 1986. The L&SM was considering buying some of these high-horsepower locomotives, and asked SP to assign them to some of the through freights they sent over the L&SM so they could evaluate them. Notice the SP dynamometer car and crew sleeper in the train. The L&SM, while impressed with the GP60s, decided the cost of the new units wasn't justified, and later bought used locomotives.

Southern Pacific SD40T-2 #8491 leads a southbound through freight though San Miguel in 1988.

Burlington Northern SD9 #6166 brings the local freight from Bend into the Logan yard in 1982.

Southern Pacific F7A #6352 departs Logan with SP's local passenger train to Eugene in 1969. This service ceased with Amtrak's creation in 1971. The City of Logan lasted a few more years, but was eventually cut as well.

Union Pacific's "Desert Victory" SD40-2 #3593 leads a southbound container train through Logan in 1990. The L&SM had recently lowered the floors in its tunnels to allow the double-stacked containers to pass.

BC Rail Rail Diesel Cars visiting the L&SM from Canada in 1999.  BC Rail has been considering retiring the RDCs and the L&SM borrowed a few to see if they would be interested in buying some of them. The RDCs are still in Canada though, as BC Rail has yet to retire them.

Union Pacific Track Geometry Car EC1 inspects the L&SM main line at Upper Belknap in 1978.

It has been over 20 years since Amtrak has had a scheduled train on the L&SM, but that didn't stop them from bringing P42 #9 into Logan with some Superliner cars to display in 2000. This was a promotion to encourage people to ride the Empire Builder and Coast Starlight.

This aerial view of downtown Logan in 1969 shows the yard and engine terminal with turntable and roundhouse, as well as the downtown area, depot, and industries.