Nightime on the Santa Cruz Northern

 I have occasionally posted descriptions of operating sessions on Jim Providenza’s venerable Santa Cruz Northern (SCN) layout. I say “venerable” because its roots go back 40 years or more, and during most of that time, it has been demonstrating realistic operation to many a novice in that aspect of the hobby.

 There are two posts that I might cite as previous examples of operating commentary. The first (with oddly yellowish photos) dates back to 2013, and can be found here: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2013/06/an-operating-session-at-jim-providenzas.html . Later I followed up with an extension post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2016/05/operating-on-scn.html . 

Given the information provided in these two posts, I won’t repeat details of the layout background, except to show the system map (also venerable), from San Jose at the top of the map, to Santa Cruz on the Pacific shore at the bottom. 

This was once the route of the South Pacific Coast narrow-gauge, later standard-gauged by the Southern Pacific, and in Jim’s concept, eventually sold to joint ownership by Western Pacific and Santa Fe and operated under the Santa Cruz Northern name (by now, in 1971, in receivership).

My point today is that even a venerable layout can occasionally try something new. This weekend Jim hosted an evening session, and as he was about to turn on the room lights, someone said, “Hey, we are in the night portion of the layout clock, why not leave the lights off?” The layout lights behind the fascia were on, just the general room lights were off. Here’s a view of the room.

Of course one’s pupils soon adjust to the lower light level, and it no longer seems very dark, but it was actually rather atmospheric. We could, however, look through the doorway into the kitchen, where sat the dispatcher, Brynn Ekroot, here caught studying the timetable (wouldn’t a dispatcher already know that stuff?). 

One thing  I enjoyed on this visit to the SCN was to see a particular boxcar, spotted at Fallon. Here’s my photo:

Why is this interesting? This is a car I gave to Jim some while back. I had upgraded the Athearn car with wire grab irons and A-Line sill steps, cut off the horrible door “claws,” and discarded the equally horrible Athearn brake wheel of the day.  I replaced the brake wheel with a nice Ajax wheel from Walthers, extended the width of the brake step, and added supports underneath (you can click on the photo to enlarge it).

So why hadn’t I kept the model? After doing that work, I discovered that this particular P&LE paint scheme postdated my 1953 modeling year, and I had offered to donate the car to a friend in Pittsburgh who was going to model the early 1970s, when running boards were being removed from house cars. So I pulled off the running board, but then his plans changed and I kept the car. But the car fits Jim’s 1971 era, so now it lives on the SCN. I was glad to see it alive and well.

Tony Thompson