Pratt Island

A couple of  months ago I wrote a simplified description of my ideas provided to a friend who wants to build a switching layout, and asked me for some input. Not being a layout design guy, I really just stole some ideas from the Model Railroader articles about their Beer Line project layout (see that post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2026/03/designing-switching-layout.html ). 

But while writing that post, it came back to me that I’d undertaken something similar, some years ago, for an acquaintance (who’s now deceased) about a different switching layout. Sure enough, digging through old file folders, I found some of the material I generated at that time. His idea was to model a switching district on an island, to make its compactness logical, and provide a marine theme. He wanted to call it Pratt Island.  

Much of his inspiration for these ideas had come from the excellent Andy Sperandeo article  in Model Railroad Planning 2014, pages 24–29, about Santa Fe’s Alice Street Yard in Oakland, Calif. (That issue, incidentally, contained quite a few insights for switching layouts.) Alice Street was on the mainland, not an island, but the compactly arranged trackage and industries were things he liked. Below is the prototype area, adopted by MR from a map by John Signor. 

You may note that there is no continuous running in this track arrangement, and only a single interchange (with the SP), so that most traffic in and out is via the ferry slip at bottom.

My acquaintance realized that one valuable aspect of the island format is that arriving and departing freight cars would come by ferry or bridge, eliminating the need for any mainline trackage. Obviously a ferry “cassette” to bring cars to and from the island could work, though that implied a ferry slip, which he didn’t find interesting. He leaned toward a bridge, of which he might only need to model the extreme end.

A one point in our discussion, I asked him, “Why the name ‘Pratt’ for the location?”  He got a mischievous grin on his face, and said that an industry he wanted to model was a steel fabricator, and naturally wanted to name it, “Pratt Fabrication and Truss.” I tried not to say I was sorry I asked. Actually, I think his real reason is that it was a short name, making waybills easier to fill out.

 On the topic of industries, I had given him the same list I used in my other switching layout design (see the link in the first paragraph at the top of this post). That list includes a fuel dealer, a wholesale grocer, a freight house, perhaps a cannery of some kind, very versatile industries such as warehouses, and the great  “universal industry,” the team track. Each can receive a wide variety of cargoes and freight car types.

He mentioned that he had a lot of models of a car type he liked, 50-foot double-door automobile cars, and I suggested he include a dock for unloading such cars (and 40-foot double-door cars as well). I’ve discussed that option before (at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2018/01/auto-industry-traffic-part-4-model-cars.html ), and below I reproduce a photo from that post. It shows 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air sedans being unloaded in Portland, an Allen DeLay photo from the Portland Oregonian newspaper. Obviously all that is really needed is a timber platform, level with the car doors. 

So I know he considered the ideas I suggested, and sketched some long, narrow track plans (recognizing that the primary element necessary in a switching layout is a run-around,so pencil that in first). I urged him to include streets throughout the layout area, and reminded him that you can label them on the fascia, as on the view below looking up Bromela Road in Ballard on my layout.

So those are some of the suggestions I made (as well as I can tell from my surviving notes and sketches). I suppose most of them are really points that could apply to any layout design, not just for a switching layout.

Tony Thompson 

New book on steam facilities from Firecrown

I’ve just received my copy of an excellent new book from Firecrown Media (successor to Kalmbach Media and all its assets). This book was created by Jeff Wilson, but as Jeff explains, it really was the dream of former Trains editor Jim Wrinn, who didn’t live long enough to do the project himself.

It really is a very handsome volume, with excellent photos featured throughout. An 8.5 x 11-inch book, it contains 208 pages, and is available for $29.99 at http://shop.trains.com/ . Here’s the cover: 

The book, naturally, draws on the very extensive resources of the former Kalmbach Library, particularly the part associated with Trains magazine (thus the Trains logo on the cover). 

Of course, you have to be interested in steam locomotives to fully appreciate this book and its photographic quality, but an image like the one below is surely quintessential railroading. (It’s Milwaukee Road 2-8-2 no. 354, taking water at New Lisbon, Wisconsin in July 1953; James G. LaVale photo.)  

The many photos of the interiors of roundhouses and shops are endlessly informative, as are the photos showing the scale of such facilities. I enjoyed this aerial view of the Santa Fe locomotive facility at Albuquerque, N.M., including the heavy repair shop at left (Santa Fe photo). This is just one of the numerous double-page spreads in the book; I apologize for the gutter image at center. 

And many of the activities associated with locomotive servicing are shown throughout the book. Here is just one example, showing a Union Pacific self-propelled crane, unloading coal from GS gondolas at a coaling dock. (Trains magazine collection). As the book notes, the Utah Coal Route gondola nearest the camera represents a jointly-owned operation of the the Utah Railway and UP’s Los Angeles & Salt Lake. Originally the UCR owned 2000 of these gondolas.

I continue to browse the book and find more and more interesting and informative photos. Kudos to Jeff Wilson for making this book a reality, and to Firecrown for publishing it in the size it deserves.

Tony Thompson 

My 50-foot Erie auto car, Part 4

I began work on a kitbash of a Branchline 50-foot automobile car, adding a Viking roof and preparing to model a Chicago & North Western car. But as described in a previous post, I pivoted away from that goal and decided to model an Erie car with this roof.  (Here’s a link to that earlier post: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2026/04/my-50-foot-automobile-car-part-3.html .)

I have not found a good end view of the 50-foot Erie Viking-roof cars, but there does exist a nice Magor Car Co. image of the B end of one of Erie’s 40-foot double-door cars, also with inverse Hutchins ends. This is probably an adequate guide to what the 50-foot cars with those ends would look like.

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Continuing with model work, I added Branchline grab irons to my model’s car sides and ends, locating the end ones as shown above, and also attached the end placard boards.

For the B end brake gear, I used some Tichy parts on hand from other projects, both for the brake step and supports, and for the gear box and handwheel of the hand brake. I added a length of brass rod to represent the brake shaft. 

Completing side details are the sill steps. The sill steps that you see in the photo above are what A-Line calls a “Style B” step, and I applied those A-Line steps. All these parts installed with canopy glue. Since I planned to attach coupler box lids with screws, I made new lids to fit. The model was then ready for paint.

I chose to use Tamiya red primer (“Oxide Red,” no. 87160, a paint I have previously found to give excellent boxcar-red color. The model below rests on my “interim truck support blocks” for painting (for a description, see: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2014/11/interim-truck-support-blocks.html ). A running board from Kadee will be installed later.

Next came the decision about black roof and ends. From what I gathered from Erie modelers I consulted, and learned from the late Richard Hendrickson, the common black end on Erie box cars was car cement to protect the steel end, not a paint scheme,  and was applied to cars as needed, not throughout the fleet (though some car were evidently delivered with black ends). I decided to do my model that way. 

Masking car sides with grab irons and ladders already applied can be challenging, but it’s much easier with a capable masking tape such as the fine Tamiya product. It can readily be stretched to place it where it’s needed. And since the paint already on the model is Tamiya, I thought it best to use a black color of the same maker. I chose Tamiya “Rubber Black,” TS-82, as a kind of off-black color. 

Next comes lettering and weathering. I also will need to choose a car number. I don’t have as much information as I’d like about the prototype, but it looks like the Erie cars numbered 68200–68275 are my prime candidates. I will discuss that point, and show all the finishing, in a following post

Tony Thompson 

The AAR Mechanical Designations

Designations of freight cars to describe their suitability for different cargoes have a long history. The American Railway Association (ARA), predecessor of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) was printing them in the back of Official Railway Equipment Registers (ORER) at least as early as March 1923 (the oldest ORER issue I have), and they continued to be so printed at least as late as July 1970 (the newest ORER I have).

What did these listings contain? They comprise descriptions of different freight car characteristics, and two-letter or three-letter designation codes for each. Some of these are so familiar as to require no explanation, such as “XM” for ordinary box cars. Others, such as RSM, may draw a blank. That designation happens to describe a meat reefer; here is the listing for RSM, and the more general ice reefer designation, RS.

An example of such an RSM car is shown below, modeled by upgrading the ancient Varney/LifeLike plastic reefer, as I described in a series of posts (see for example this one: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2013/05/modeling-meat-reefers-part-5.html ).

Modelers of earlier eras tend to know these codes; but modelers more recently in the hobby, or those modeling more recent eras, often give you a blank look if you refer to them. I thought it might be useful to make them available. More than a dozen years ago, I posted an introduction to this subject (see that post at: https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2011/09/aar-car-types.html ) and now am going further by making the entire listing available.

I have scanned these definitions from the back of the January 1953 ORER, made up a five-page PDF, and posted it in Google Docs for anyone to access.  You can find it at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XbupnOIXC9RVpFvPAyf-xwDX8Saz9yot/view?usp=drive_link .

A complication to keep in mind when looking at the designations is that one needs to read even the footnotes in the designation pages. An example is the flat car listing, shown below: see Note 1 at the bottom.

It is only a small note at the base of the entry, but it is essentially the new designation for bulkhead flat cars, FMS, that is described. This designation remained as a footnote for years, even as bulkhead flat cars became commonplace on mainline railroads. 

This is of interest to me because the Southern Pacific began building such cars in its own shops as early as 1949, and the SP Historical & Technical Society issued parts to add bulkheads to the accurate Red Caboose SP Class F-70-7 flat car. Subsequently Red Caboose issued ready-to-run models of these cars, using the Society bulkheads. The photo below by the late Paul Lyons illustrates one of these models.

I make use of these designations in operating my layout. They are included on waybills, as shown below, to help operators recognize cars and spot them at industries correctly when necessary, though  the AAR’s prototype waybill form did not include the AAR designations.

 So to me, the AAR designations or codes are cool, informative, prototypical, and useful. I enjoy including them in layout operations.

Tony Thompson 

My state highway facility

Among the many industries in my layout town of Ballard is a facility of the California Division of Highways, predecessor of today’s CalTrans. I chose this regional facility in part to be able to receive cement cargoes in covered hoppers. In the year I model, 1953, covered hoppers were almost entirely used for bulk cement. Many of their cargoes, familiar in later years, such as dry chemicals, grain, animal feed, and so forth, were mostly in the future in 1953. 

The cement loads are appropriate because in 1953, the Division of Highways continued to build and maintain many secondary roads and bridges in the state. The advent of freeways after 1940, usually enormous projects, had made contractors essential in major works, but local roads and highways were still the responsibility of the Division of Highways. Thus inbound cargoes of both cement and asphalt are appropriate, along with all kinds of supplies like fence and sign posts, rebar, bridge girders, lumber for concrete forms, and so on. 

I built the structure from a Rix Pikestuff kit (intended as an auto repair garage), a simple styrene kit that went together easily. It represents a cinder-block building with steel-framed windows. As I built it, it has a 3.5 x 7-inch footprint. I went online and researched the geographic districts of the Division of Highways in 1953, and found that the Central Coast area I model was in District 5.

As stated above, my primary motivation for including this industry was inbound cement loads. So the classic view you would have of this industry in most of my operating sessions is as below. That’s Nipomo Street at left.

In addition to the cement loads and other highway materials mentioned above, occasionally some work equipment may arrive. In the photo below, it’s a road grader. 

In creating waybills for this destination, I knew that cement, a heavy and not particularly expensive commodity, ordinarily does not travel far from  origin. It is easy online to research what cement plants existed in California in 1953, and I show a partial list below. I’ve omitted a few, such as the Calaveras Cement plant at San Andreas, on SP’s Kentucky House branch.

One feature of the list above is that one of the plants, Southwestern Portland Cement, was located on the Santa Fe. This provides a reason for inbound Santa Fe freight cars on my layout. Given the often-fierce rivalry between SP and Santa Fe, empty Santa Fe cars would effectively never be loaded on the SP, but of course inbound loads could well travel in them.

For waybills, there is nothing exotic about the ones for this industry. I show an example below. And in addition to the occasional Santa Fe covered hopper with such loads, I can also use T&NO, SSW, and UP cars, all of which would be available in California for loading at the plants above. 

This industry, like a number that are on my layout, was chose specifically for the loads it would receive, and has worked well in that capacity.

Tony Thompson 

Bay Area Prototype Modelers 2026

As happens nearly every June, the all-day Bay Area RPM meet was just held again, this year in El Cerrito. The logo for the meeting remains the same, and I was delighted when the announcement appeared. 

There was a big crowd this year, partly magnified by the smaller quarters than in some previous years, but it was a lively and active crowd. There was also a program of talks, of which I saw two. I really liked Matthew Teixeira and Justin Leong’s talk about designing a shelf layout, with really good descriptions of alternatives considered, and how the plan was worked out, to model the Ballard Branch (originally of BNSF) in Seattle.

Walking around in the display room was, as always, interesting and fun. And I saw some really neat stuff. Pat Davis showed several Baldwin switchers in various Amador Central schemes, and gave information about how to get the decals from Precision Design Co. of Canada (email billy@pdc.ca ) . Below, these are nos. 9 and 10 in the light blue American Forest Products or Georgia Pacific scheme, and also no. 10 in the black and orange Amador Foothills scheme. 

 Some really super 3D-printed Southern Pacific towers were shown, available in both HO and N scales. These are produced by Common Standard Scale Models, which specializes in signature structures. You can visit their website at: https://www.commonstandardscalemodels.com/ . Shown below are Oakland’s 16th Street tower in both N and HO, and at right, Burbank Junction tower in N.

I also enjoyed seeing a number of gorgeous N scale freight cars with hand-painted graffiti, following prototype photos. These are from Alvin Ho, who got his aunt, an artist, to hand-paint the graffiti from photos (he said she enjoyed the challenge), then he added weathering, rust, etc. They are simply superb. Here is just one of a dozen examples.

Last but certainly not least, I enjoyed seeing a complete train by Dave Stanley, a version of Western Pacific’s Pittsburg Turn out of South Sacramento, bringing (among other things) steel coils to the US. Steel plant in Pittsburg (the plant was a facility of U.S. Steel’s Columbia-Geneva Division). WP had built some short 70-ton gondolas, 29 feet long inside, for the steel traffic, as shown here;  the models were made from cut-up cheap train-set cars purchased at swap meets. Pat Davis provided the “Roller Freight” decals.

As always, a fun day, seeing lots of friends and acquaintances, and tables and tables of interesting and well-done models. Most RPM meets are like this. If you’ve never been to one, keep your eyes open for an announcement of a meet near you, and give it a try.

Tony Thompson 

My article in the new Layout Design Journal

Those among the readers of this blog who belong to the Layout Design SIG (Special Interest Group) of NMRA will be familiar with the organization’s publication, the Layout Design Journal or LDJ (and its predecessor, Layout Design News). The newest issue of LDJ, no. 75, has just been issued, dated Second Quarter 2026.

The lead article in this issue is about my layout and its history. This had its beginning some years ago, when long-time LDJ editor Byron Henderson asked me if a track plan had ever been published for my layout, or any layout article. I replied that no track plan existed, and only part of the layout had been described in Railroad Model Craftsman in June 1990. Byron replied, “Write an article for LDJ and we’ll do a track plan — if you’ll commit to giving us your first layout article.” Sounded good to me,, so I said “Deal.” 

Well, as I said, that was some years ago. But finally I got to sketching out what I wanted to say, and ran a first draft past Byron to see if it it was what he wanted. His response was interesting: he thought it might be a better article for LDJ if I recounted my original goals for the layout I had built in Pittsburgh in the 1980s, and how and how why I changed it after moving to Berkeley in 1994. Lessons learned, in other words. So that’s how I wrote it.

Here is the cover of Issue 75,  The magazine is 8.5 x 11 inches and contains 40 pages. The top photo and drawing on the cover are from my article, designated (by Byron) as “A Layout Tale in Two Parts.” 

In the article itself, there are several drawings of what the Pittsburgh layout was like, including a sketch version of my exceptional amount of staging. Byron selected the photos for the most part, from past blog posts and other sources, and wrote all the captions. So in some ways, he should be recognized as almost a co-author in bringing this to completion.

Below is page 1 of my article. Note that now the full article title is “Compact Calif. Central Coast — Again,” with a sub-title that is sort of the name on the cover. No problem, it’s all clear. And note also the article’s division into sections, with Byron’s section titles. For the most part, I think they are excellent additions to the piece, so I’m not complaining. 

Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of the magazine issue can purchase it on their website, which is located at: www.ldsig.org/publications . 

I like what resulted from this set of interactions, and it provides a picture of my layout history more clear than my usual recollections, because I re-examined my thoughts and decisions comparing the old with the new layout, and sure enough, there definitely were lessons learned.

Now it remains to provide a broad description of the layout as it now is, including its range and types of industries, and how it is operated. I am starting work on that project now.

Tony Thompson