The Origins of the BC&SJ Railroad(s)
After moving into a new house with a huge garage my head was filled with
ideas for building a railroad. I was seriously considering an On3 model of
the South Pacific Coast narrow gauge in the San Francisco Bay Area and a
number of HO scale plans.
One thing these plans had in common was complexity. Most of them were
multi-deckers. All had a lot of track. After planning my brains out on
the South Pacific Coast layout I came
to the conclusion that I needed a simpler project to get my feet wet. I'd
never built and even remotely finished any model railroad at all. I figured
maybe I should start small.
These are pictures of that first HO layout. It was roughly 4x8 but bulged
out a bit at the ends.
It wasn't a flat lands layout though. I was fascinated by mountainous terrain
and designed it as a twice around passing through tall mountains. There would
be tunnels and bridges, creeks and a small waterfront area. It would have a single
town, South Jackson, with a bunch of industries (five in South Jackson and two else
where).
I built it with casters under the legs so it could be rolled around. And the facsia
was birch plywood giving it a furniture-like look (at least I hoped so). I wanted to
be able to move it into the family room when it was done leaving space in the garage
for a bigger (and better) layout.
Related links:
My John Allen Timesaver with scenery too!
The Jallen Branchline and Bear Creek Salvage.
The BCSJ I trackplan.
A mock up of this layout I built before making sawdust.
The BCSJ II page.
The BCSJ III page.
My Layouts - Bear Creek and South Jackson Railroad I
I recently found some video footage of the original 4x8 Bear Creek & South Jackson from 1998 and 1999.
