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Finally, could one model the northern end, at Oscar’s junction, or the southern end, at Watts, of the four-track main line?  The prototype track layouts below are taken from the Model Railroader article.  Both have real potential as stand-alone layouts, but may need some adaptation for modular use.  I haven’t drawn these up, as yet, but just suggested a few modifications for modular use.

Oscar’s Junction

Perhaps Oscar’s Junction is the easier of the two.  There are four tracks all the way through from the Watts end to the Eighth Street Yard leads.  One would, however, have to accept trains running through the small yard on the opposite side of the tracks to Long Beach Avenue.  Incidentally, the metal sheds in the yard were still standing just a few years ago.

If building this for N-mod, it might be best to flatten out the gentle S-curve of the prototype.  The double track lines leading to Main Street Terminal could provide an N-club link, provided an extra link was added between the double track section and the small yard.  Perhaps there is indeed potential for Oscar’s Junction and modules?

Watts

Watts is rather more difficult.  The station itself and the single freight road would be easy to model.  The slips and crossovers leading from all four tracks into the car shed and yard would also be easy to model, although care might be needed in track laying with the slips on the main lines.

The main modular challenge is the triple junction, as the main lines scatter to various destinations.  One option would be to simply run four tracks past the car shed and keep the linear modules.  This would look good, and make an interesting model, but it would loose something of Watts’character.  A better option would be to modify the track layout slightly, so that one of the three lines (probably the one to Long Beach) becomes a dummy junction.  The other two double-tracked lines could then link up in a loop and form an end loop for an N-mod linear layout.  Looking more closely, the links are actually already there – the Santa Ana line can run from tracks 1 and 3, and the Torrance line from tracks 2 and 4.  This would need an operator in charge, as there is a diamond crossing where lines 2 and 3 cross!

Yes, Watts is difficult, but it still has potential for an N-mod layout.

And here’s a final photograph, taken just north of Watts in 1948 (by G. Krambles) showing the character of the main line.

Maxine and I have just had a long weekend in Berlin seeing our eldest daughter.  Hopefully, I’ll have been allowed to look at a few trains or trams, and there will be photos to follow….

Now for a couple of simple ideas for Pacific Electric N-mod modules.  I’ve selected two places where other lines crossed the four-track main line.  The first of these, nearest Watts, is at Slauson Tower, where the ATSF Harbor branch crossed the PE.  The ATSF paralleled Slauson Avenue, as can be still seen today on Google Earth, even when the rails are all gone.  The delightful picture below shows a PE freight at the tower.  Yes, the diesel units heading the train do have trolley poles – they were fitted to trip the train detection equipment.  The junction from the PE to the south-east of Slauson Avenue was the junction to the PE Whittier and Yorba Linda line.  It could be included as a dummy junction, but I would be tempted to leave it out and focus on the crossing.

To the north, not far south of Oscar’s Junction was Amoco Junction and tower.  The distinctive lattice-built tower spanned all four tracks and watched over the crossing and junction to the major PE Butte Street Yard (to the east and fully redeveloped on the aerial photo below) and the PE Santa Monica freight branch to the west.  The scene is made more interesting by the roads (Long Beach Avenue) lying both sides of the tracks.  Long Beach Avenue extended (and still extends) all the way from Oscar’s Junction south to Slauson Avenue).  Here, the interesting junction layout would have to be modelled, although it would again be a dummy.

As can be seen from the photos and from Google Earth, Long Beach Avenue is flanked by light industrial structures and residential bungalows.  A chance for some good scenic modelling, and there are plenty of photos of the area available, although one might aim for ‘typical’ structures.

Finally, what would the modules look like.  Here’s an idea.  I’ve used 4′ modules to suit N-mod, but reduced the width to the N-club 400mm – it’s more portable and better suited to a linear scene like this.  I’ve also moved the tracks in from the edge of the board closer to the N-club locations.  This gives more room at the front of the layout and allows one to model the roads both sides of the track.  One further idea would be to have three 2′ 8″ modules rather than two 4′ ones.  This would still tie in with N-mod geometry, but the modules will fit easier in the small cars we have here in the UK.  I’ve drawn it all like this below.

Do you think it would work?

Once again, it’s been a long time since I posted on traction and trolleys.  But I’m still thinking about modelling ideas, and while I wait, more interurbans and trolleys keep appearing on the Shapeways site.

One of my issues with N-mod is that I have had difficulty thinking of designs with a 4-track main line.  Why, I don’t know, as I was brought up near the SE commuter line to Orpington, all 4-track, with two fast and two slow lines.  But an interurban 4-track mainline?  Surely not??  In fact the Pacific Electric had two such stretches out of central Los Angeles.  One was on the northern district, but over the past few months, the other one, going south into the southern district, has been of interest as a possible N-mod basis.  This line is Pacific Electric’s well known 4-track expressway from LA to Watts.

The Model Railroader in September 1999 had an excellent article by Tom Wetzel with a layout plan and some prototype information.  I have refrained from using much of this for copyright reasons, but will probably reproduce the prototype track plans included.  The photographs in this and subsequent posts mostly come from the fascinating Metro Transportation Library site.

Travelling on this line, you would start on the elevated part of the Pacific Electric building, now converted to flats, but easily found on Google Earth.

Leaving the station, trains followed a raised trestle / viaduct and then down a wood trestle ramp at 3.89% grade to street level at San Pedro Street, near 6th Street.  The line then ran along San Pedro Street and Olympic Boulevard to Hooper Avenue.  This street track was about one mile in length.  At Olympic & Hooper the line entered a private right of way paralleling Long Beach Avenue, and was joined by the yard leads from the 8th Street freight yard.  This point was called “Oscar’s Junction” by PE crews after PE president Oscar Smith).  In the following photo (from “Pacific Electric in colour volume 1”) the tracks curving to the right are the yard leads to 8th Street freight yard.

The line then passed a small three-track yard on the west side of the main line and headed south.  San Pedro and Long Beach passenger trains used the center “express” tracks of a four-track mainline as far as Watts — 7.45 miles from 6th & Main Streets station.  The outer tracks were used by Watts local trains and freight trains.  The photos below give an idea of the dead straight, N-mod like, main line – the first being early last century.

Watts is often better known for the riots in 1965.  The station was one of the few building in the area not burned out – and is still there, as Google Street View shows.  Watts recovered from that mad time, and has now evolved into a largely Latino area of LA.

South of 103rd Street was a maze of slip switches and diverging tracks of a three-way junction. Watts included a passenger station, separate freight station, brick substation, interlocking tower, and four-track carhouse. Lines diverged here to Long Beach-San Pedro, Santa Ana and El Segundo-Torrance.

The main line from LA to Watts is still in use, reduced to double-track as part of the LA metro Blue Line.  Unlike the UK, even urban areas in LA are slow to gobble up unused tracks for development, and the old track bed and the crossings and branches along it can still be identified.  The old lines can still clearly be found on Google Earth – although the yards and car-house have gone.

That’s enough for this post.  How could we build an N-mod module of two from the Watts racetrack?  Next time….