# Stanislaus & Sierra Railway



## janedoedad (Jan 24, 2016)

The Stanislaus & Sierra railway is built around the fictional town of Oscar in Northern central California. The line travels East-West from the Central Valley, Sierra Mountains and a small stretch of Nevada desert. Locomotive power for freight is provided by contact with Union Pacific and Santa Fe. There is limited passenger service and excursion trains operated by the local train museum under a shared track agreement. 

Layout Size: 5'X9' rolling table and 2" pink foam.
Track: Bachmann EZ-Track - 
Turnouts: Some DC, Some DCC and two manual. All will be upgraded to DCC as revenue permits.
Power: MRC Prodigy Express DCC system 
Scenery: Paper mache, cardboard lattice, foam and plaster. 


Looking South at the town of Oscar and Sierra mountains. 


Central Valley and Coastal Range. 


Tentative yard and road locations. 


My first (almost) completed scene for the layout. The ubiquitous Central Valley fruit and produce stand. 



The Sierra Railroad Museum. This area will require extensive renovation. 


This is the Sierra Mountain area. Due to drought the river has dried up, the waterfalls have stopped and the riverbed has turned pink. The bridge is schedule for demolition.



Modifications have been made to the track since these pictures were taken. A shunt has been added for the passenger station and freight staging. This required that the yard be moved and businesses shifted to the other side of the tracks.

Ideas, suggestions and comments are welcomed.


More Later!!

JDD


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

The little farm and produce stand scene looks pretty cool. 
Looks like a fun layout. Keep up the good work. 

Sure would like to find some construction equipment like you have in pic 5.
Everything I have found so far is too modern.

Magic


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## janedoedad (Jan 24, 2016)

Thanks! Hoping to have if finished sometime this year. 



> Sure would like to find some construction equipment like you have in pic 5.


ERTL "Mighty Movers" - Micro size construction set dates to the early 1990's. . The scale is somewhere between N and 1:100. Available on eBay and expensive. Got lucky and found these at a train show last week in mixed bag of vehicles.


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

janedoedad said:


> This is the Sierra Mountain area. Due to drought the river has dried up, the waterfalls have stopped and the riverbed has turned pink.


Modeling the Sierra Mountains under drought saves a lot of time and money building trees.

If you are serious about the drought scene, you could add some standing dead trees, or perhaps burnt trees and blackened earth from a forest fire.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Very nice. Have you had any problems with the EZ track?


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## janedoedad (Jan 24, 2016)

@MtRR75, My drought is a shortage of time.  I have around 200 trees to add to the layout once the paintwork and ground cover are done. Three waterfalls will fill the lakes and make the rivers flow. There will be a active forest fire scene somewhere. I was a seasonal firefighter with CalFire (CDF) adjacent to Yosemite and the Stanislaus National Forest in the late 80's before getting hired elsewhere. 

@Gramps, Using the EZ-Track because I got a ton of it for cheap when first starting the layout. Biggest benefit is being able to tear it up and reconfigure the line as needed. Downside is the limitations of using fixed sections and the oversize railbed. I have had no issues with turnouts - so long as the cars are properly weighted. Metal wheels work better than plastic in the turnouts.

Thanks for your input! Much appreciated! :smilie_daumenpos:


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## janedoedad (Jan 24, 2016)

Stanislaus & Sierra layout on SCARM.




A few things are different than in the pictures. Removed the long looping run from the tunnel into the yard, it now branches off from the inner loop. The tunnel location is a little off. I'm thinking that this is the track plan that will finish the layout. 

Haven't quite got the hang of showing inclines and elevations in SCARM. Will update with a 3D picture once I do. 

Added a shunt and spur to serve the passenger station and excursion trains.



More later!


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## ShaderMike (Jan 23, 2016)

I love the fruit stand.

It's a ubiquitous roadside Americana thing that doesn't take up a whole lot of room and gives character to the corner.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Great layout. It's crazy the similarities in our working patterns. I too am doing a farm and farmers market type scene, I too am finishing the farm scene first, I too put my farm in a far corner, and I too am putting a railroad museum and model railroad club between a meeting set of tracks like that. But hey, great minds think alike right? Nice work, I am really looking forward to seeing the lake and water falls.........sounds great.


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## janedoedad (Jan 24, 2016)

Worked on a couple scenes this week. The train museum was graded. Section above the tunnel will be an observation area and exhibits such as signals, handcars and the like. Replaced damaged roof on of museum building with tin sheets. The area between the mainline and spur will have 2-3 cars open to the tourists. On the other side of town, a small gravel and mulch yard has opened up next to the abandoned grocery store.

New yard setup. Used a 1/3 curves section with the turnouts to align the tracks for a more realistic look. 







Museum Area








Mulch and Gravel Yard


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

You have some interesting ideas on your layout, keep it up.

Magic


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Looking really good. It appears that you have a mixture of Bachmann EZ track and some pieces of Kato Unitrack. Is that correct? Also, are you running DCC or can you have a crossover on DC? I am asking because I have created a small rail yard. But only my freight trains, running the outside track can access it. I would like to have my passenger train able to run the outside track and the freight to run the inside sometimes. (I have two independent tracks on separate speed controllers).


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## janedoedad (Jan 24, 2016)

Thanks and Thanks!!

@VegasN, It is all EZ-track, no Unitrack. The black roadbed is steel, the grey is nickel-silver. Layout can run DC or DCC as set up without issues. 

All the locomotives are DCC running with a MRC Prodigy Express. That particular model has no accessory function, so DCC turnouts are operated manually. Plan to replace system with either a Bachmann Dynamis or (more likely) DigiTrax controller. 

Have a great day!


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