and valleys just as it does in the layout room.
About three years went into the Snake
Canyon’s initial construction track lay- ing, scenery, and building the biggest in- dustrial structures. After that, hours and hours were spent detailing the scenes. By most standards, this is a large home layout, occupying a major portion of the basement in Cliff’s house. All the layout areas are fully finished, with carpeting, acoustical ceiling tiles, and fluorescent lighting. The pleasant surroundings are appreciated by visitors and operators alike, as is the comfortable crew lounge. Cliff’s wife Marcie has been actively
involved in the development of the rail- road as well, painting figures and assem- bling and painting structures, making this a family activity. Although it is Santa Fe, the layout it-
self is freelanced, and Cliff tries to cap- ture the flavor of the railroad, the region, and the cities and towns that would or could be there in the late 1950s and ear- ly 1960s. Freelancing provides an oppor- tunity to see and do things on the layout
without having to either edit prototype locations to fit until they are nothing like the originals, or being required to explain the “why” of everything. It is also a practical way to work within the con- straints of the available space and still build what you want, in this case, busy Class I railroading with its large facili- ties. No matter what size a layout room is, however, compromises are still need- ed, and one has to learn to live with and around them. “Make yourself happy” is one of Cliff’s layout design principles.
Operations and equipment
Although the Snake Canyon Rail-
road features a double-track main line through the mountains, it is primar- ily an industrial railroad. Freight dom- inates the operations. The railroad serves seven cities and towns, two large yards (not counting staging), and 36 in- dustries, some in outlying areas. Mori- ah Yard is the main classification yard and the destination for trains from Chi- cago or Los Angeles (staging). Trains
The Yards Above: The road engines for the main line freight orig- inating at Grand, SD24 967 and GP7 2799, idle under the State St. Bridge while the local switcher finishes gathering the cars for the outbound train. Grand Yard also encompasses the Hondo engine terminal, seen in the background. With the sprawling yard and indus- trial district here, extra crews may be called for Grand.
Opposite page top: One of only two Alco S-1 switchers on the Santa Fe’s roster, No. 2304, works the freight- houses at Grand. Inbound loads have already been spotted at Mastrahorn Cement’s regional distribution facility, and the empty covered hoppers and some boxcars are waiting in the local yard to be hauled to the sprawling Grand Yard; from there they will be moved on through freights to Chicago and Los Angeles (staging).
Opposite page bottom: Even with the emphasis on freight operations, Santa Fe’s streamliners ply the rails of the Snake Canyon Railroad behind units wearing the Warbonnet scheme, probably the best-known die- sel paint scheme in the country. F-units usually led the silver trains, but the road had a small handful of E6s like No. 15, blasting its way westbound out of Summit Tunnel.
FEBRUARY 2016 47
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