The majority of the Sierra North-
ern’s motive power is brass. Steam power ranges from the SP’s smaller 2- 8-0’s through medium-sized 4-6-2’s and 2-8-2’s to the more massive 2-10-2’s and 4-8-8-2 cab forwards. Diesels are all first generation models with Bald- win, FM, EMD, Alco and GE products all represented. Specific models range from a little GE 70-tonner to a pair of A-B-A sets of Alco PA’s for passenger service and A-B-B-A lash-ups of EMD F7’s for freight service over Donner.
Up and operating in two years The new Sierra Northern Railroad
Camp 8 is the high Sierra terminus for the SNLCo.’s railroad operations. Once a full camp, to- day it serves as a reload point for the trucks that now bring the timber out of the deep woods.
use as backdrops on my layouts. I began with that same idea in mind and actual- ly took the required photos, but ulti- mately I opted to use a commercially available back drop product because, using new technology, the “stock” moun- tain scenes could be computer-blended and custom-matched to my layout’s size and shape. Additionally, many of the Sierra Northern’s lineside and railroad structures were modified and/or adapt- ed from my former narrow gauge lay- out, which certainly speeded up the con- struction process. Most were modified to fit the new Southern Pacific theme. The second largest town on the SN is
Colfax, California, where a large cold storage and icing facility is located. The many Pacific Fruit Express reefers that operate over the Sierra Northern are serviced here. There is also a team track and passenger depot at Colfax to add to the switching options available to operators.
Emigrant Gap, near Donner Pass summit, has both a freight station and team track. There is also a stock load- ing facility and distribution company located outside the Truckee yard to add more switching for operators of the in- side mainline.
Prototype equipment and consists True to my previous narrow gauge experience, all of the Sierra Northern’s locomotives and most of the cars are models of specific Southern Pacific Railroad prototypes. Several years back, I embarked on a project to acquire on eBay and build at least one of every S scale wood “crafts- man” type kit ever produced during the
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN 45
1950’s and 1960’s. This was a sort of a historical “tour” of S scale kit offerings. Each kit was upgraded as much as pos- sible to today’s standards using new detail castings and materials and was made prototype-specific. These cars were featured during operations on the Bristol Club modular layout and con- tinue to operate on the Sierra North- ern layout today.
layout was “completed” with full opera- tion and scenery in just under two years of weekend-only work. The two standard gauge mainlines and the nar- row gauge logging line are all d.c. pow- ered and operate using three P-B-L ra- dio controlled Sound System II units. All the locomotives on the SN are sound-equipped. The layout can be op- erated with one to three operators, as desired. No layout is probably ever really “fin-
ished.” Additional details continue to be added to the Sierra Northern Railroad, and various scenes have been modified over time. The Sierra Northern Rail- road is on the tour for the NMRA Pied- mont Division’s fall layout tour each year and is a featured layout for the Peachtree Express NMRA National Convention in Atlanta this July.
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