Sacramento Central Railroad

Existing Modules

Many of our members develop a track plan and industries for their own module. (Building and owning a module is not required.) On this page, we have provided brief descriptions of some of the many modules which appear in our layout when we get together. Before each meeting, the Module Coordinator asks each member whether s/he will bring a module. He then creates a layout map where each of the modules is placed for that particular meeting. When the layout is assembled, the yard and the wye at the end of the yard are placed first and then the member modules are placed according to the map. We are usually up and running within two hours. Take down takes about an hour.

Descriptions of our Member Modules

Isaac's Ranch

Isaac's Ranch's scenery is mainly an apple orchard and cattle ranch. Its apple packing shed and cattle pens are reached only by the branch line, from another module with branch line trackage. Newton's Siding is a team track and loading dock, switched off the outer mainline track. Even though physically located on the Isaac's Ranch module, it is considered a totally separate location for switching purposes.
Details include a farmhouse with outhouse, barn and horse corral, rock outcroppings, a long masonry retaining wall, and a mail truck making a delivery to several road side mailboxes.
The name for Isaac's Ranch came as the module was being built. First I considered names related to the Apple Hill area east of Sacramento, but didn't like anything I came up with. Then I tried other associations for apples and thought of Isaac Newton and the story of his discovering the theory of gravity from watching an apple fall. Since there were also cattle, Isaac's Ranch was the result. Newton's Siding just seemed natural from there.

Bendo

Bendo is a small foothills town. I wanted a small yard, a railroad station, passing siding and several industries and a locomotive servicing facility and house track by the station, along with branch line trackage. It was a bit of a challenge fitting all this into 8 feet of modules. Sacramento Central crews and personnel can use meal vouchers at Sam & Ella's Cafe. The switching locations includes Jenn-Erich Sierra is on the same modules as Bendo, but Sierra is reached only off the outer main. (When the modules are in my home layout, operationally Bendo and Sierra are miles apart.) Sierra's industries and trackage are a variation of John Allen's Timesaver switching puzzle. This area can be set with a separate throttle, and has been available at public shows for spectators to try their hand at switching. Bendo was named for the town in a favorite story. As part of the story went, the town was named for either an early pioneer, or being near the "bend o' the river". Sierra was named by considering that it represents the western foothills of the Sierra mountains. Several communities and a county in northen California have "Sierra" in their names, and the town also represents the local Sierra Division of the National Model Railroad Association.

Calaveras

Calaveras This 30"x 10' module is somewhat based on Southern Pacific's Kentucky House Branch in California's Central Valley foothills east of Lodi, California. Calaveras includes rugged scenery, Tunnel 1, and lots of people and animals. Industries served by Calaveras Western Railroad, a subsidiary of the Sacramento Central Railroad, include the big Kentucky House Cement plant, DMD Feed & Seed, and Panzer Reefer Service. An automobile collision near the station at Calaveras has Calaveras Road blocked by numerous fire units, CHP units, police K-9 cars, a coroner van, and Larry-The-Lawyer with his brief case riding on the back of a responding ambulance. Calaveras was built in 1998 on two SMR-built lightweight modules.

Elk Grove

Industries switched at Elk Grove are Elk Grove Beef Company and Thundering Herd Ready Mix. This 24"x 4' module is designed as a branch line that runs from the front of another module into Elk Grove, Galt, and eventually Ione Yard. Elk Grove structures include a large Walthers beef slaughtering plant, cattle stock yard, and Walthers ready mix facility with cement trucks. Rural country scenery is displayed on Elk Grove. Elk Grove was built in 1999 on one SMR-built lightweight module.

Galt

This 24"x 24" module is designed to be clamped to the end of the Elk Grove module to extend the branch line into Galt where L.A.D. Refer Service is switched by Sacramento Central local train crews. There is a major structure fire in downtown Galt with numerous fire crews fighting the fire from their various fire trucks. Galt also includes a park and busy bus stop. Galt was built in 2002.

Santa Falls

Sacramento Central Railroad local trains interchange lumber cars at Santa Falls with the El Dorado, Lodi, & Fresno Railroad (ELFRR). Santa Falls features include a large and active Christmas tree farm, Deer Creek, a covered road bridge over Deer Creek, and mountain scenery. This 30"x 8' module was built in 2002 on two SMR-built lightweight modules.

Ione Yard

This 24"x 12' module will be built in 2003 on two SMR-built lightweight modules and two 24"x 24" modules built by Ione Yard's owner/builder. Ione Yard is based on Southern Pacific's interchange yard at Ione, California where SP interchanged lumber cars with the Amador Central Railroad. Ione Yard scenery is typical California Central Valley foothill features, Ione Yard trackage, Ione Station, Boredom Resins, and Amador Western Railroad tie up track and crew house. Ione Yard is designed for both inline main line locations and for use next to Galt to create an "L" shaped and long branch line operation.

Polk

Polk is a 30"x 8' SMR-owned module built 15 years ago by a longtime SMR member. This module features a large, active and scratch built refinery facility with all the structures, pipe lines, safety equipment, and personnel required to operate a modern refinery facility. The refinery's three spur tracks have a combined capacity of 17+ railroad tank cars. Polk is also the location for a large scratch built and highly detailed Safeway warehouse for loading and unloading trucks and rail cars. All of the facilities at Polk feature working exterior lighting.

Sacramento

Sacrameto is an 8' x 30" module representing Sacramento's R street in the early 50's. Businesses like Buffalo Brewery (receiving malt and barley and shipping the finished "suds") and California Winery (receiving grapes, bottles and barrels and shipping wine) as well as the warehouses along R St. are represented.

Mt. Isham

Mt. Isham is an old heavy-weight module originally built for one of our members, Monte Isham, who passed away while driving home from one of our club operating sessions. He loved trains but did not have the skills to build his own module. It was the first module design to have built-in legs because Monte would forget to bring the legs to his previous module when he came to meetings. The track and basic land-form had been laid out by the cooperative effort of other members. I purchased the module from his mother and named it Mt. Isham after the former member.
The main line originally crossed a dry wash on a fill and I built a low wood trestle from scratch to replace it using photographs of a similar trestle on the Northwestern Pacific. The grade crossing is protected by operating crossing gates activated by 5 photocells imbedded between the rails on both mainlines and on the track leading to the industries. The same circuit also activates a crossing bell on a digital recording recorded from the grade crossing bell at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Also, if you listen carefully, you can hear the frogs chirping in the swamp, where a lonely fisherman has his pole extended, his trusty dog alongside him.
Industries served by the Sacramento Central at Mt. Isham include Mt. Isham Publishing, Mt. Isham Building Supply, Brett's Brewery, Mt. Isham Fuel Depot and Team Tracks for LCL freight.

OK Corral

My module is 4 foot long and is called the O.K. Corral. By using a crossing I was able to get 3 industries in this small space. One is an oil tank car loading station, another is a freight station and the third one has a cattle loading ramp with a corral. At the time I was building my module, my teenage kids and I saw the movie "Gunfight at OK Corral" on TV, and that is how it got its name. My module backdrop is hand oil painted by my mother in law. This is a "must" to include in the description.

Ophir Junction

On the Sacramento Central, Ophir is a small town that was once a center of railroad activity. The car repair and machine shop are still operating but the roundhouse is usually empty as the local industries are now switched by locals from Sacramento. Industries to be served are Ophir Minerals (bagged and bulk products as well as supplying ballast from the mine tailings), Sutton Feed store, Oregon Seed Grains, West Coast Rigging Supply, A Dry Goods Warehouse, a Fuel tank, the machine shop and the car repair facility. Near Ophir Station there are crossovers in both direction on the main line as well as a water spout serving both mains.
The module is also part of a home layout where it serves as the junction of the main line and two extensive branch lines. In this mode the roundhouse is well used providing power for the branch lines as well as helper service for mainline trains.