CALIFORNIA logging lines in JAPAN
This 20 x 23-foot HO scale layout features standard and narrow gauge operations
My journey in the hobby isn’t the typical one you read about in Model Railroader. During the 1940s, when I was a small child, an O gauge train ran around the pond in my yard. It was a Japanese-style train made of tinplate, as materials were limited after the war.
I fell in love with American railroads thanks to the 1950s syndicated television series Casey Jones. The program featured the adventures of the show’s namesake and his co-workers on the Midwest & Central RR.
American Western movies further sparked my fascination with American railroads, specifically the Sierra Ry. in California. The railroad appeared in many of the motion pictures that I watched in my younger days.
My interest in logging locomotives can be traced to brass models offered in the 1960s. United Scale Models, produced by Atlas Industries Inc. of Kawaguchi, Japan, built brass logging locomotives for importer Pacific Fast
❶ This spectacular bridge scene takes place on Toyoji Sekine’s Pickering & Sierra RR. The 20 x 23-foot model railroad, set in the Sierra Nevada mountain range between 1920 and 1940, features HO scale standard and narrow gauge operations.
Mail, including Climax, Heisler, and Shay prototypes. In addition, the company manufactured a 2-6-6-2 that John Allen used on his well-known HO scale Gorre & Daphetid.
All of those memories culminated with the 20'-7" x 23'-3" HO scale (standard and narrow gauge) Pickering & Sierra RR shown here. The model railroad’s name is a hybrid of the two California railroads that influenced my work: The Pickering Lumber Co., a standard gauge logging railroad, and the Sierra Ry.
Lessons learned
The Pickering & Sierra RR is my fourth model railroad. Prior to this, I had two 9mm gauge layouts and one in HO scale.
I started construction on the Pickering & Sierra in 1994. I was still working at the time, so the initial
progress was slow. Now that I’m retired, I have more time to spend on the layout.
The model railroad uses open-grid and L-girder benchwork. Based on experience with previous layouts, I made sure the legs supporting the benchwork were stable. The current model railroad is so sturdy that I can stand on the benchwork while working on the layout.
I used ⁄4" plywood for the tabletop. I
3 added Homasote, a material frequently used as roadbed, on top of that.
Track and scenery
I installed Shinohara code 83 flextrack on the Sierra portion of the layout and code 70 on the Pickering and dualgauge areas. At Pickering I installed a code 83 30-degree crossing. All of the turnouts are powered by Tortoise by Circuitron switch machines.
The track on the logging section has 17" radius curves. I also included a switchback, which was typical on full-size logging lines. Both the Shay and 2-6-6-2 logging Mallet can comfortably negotiate the tight curves.
The Sierra section has broader curves, allowing me to run my Union Pacific Big Boy, Southern Pacific Cab-Forward, and other large locomotives.
I scenicked the layout using a variety of techniques. To model mountains, I applied plaster over Styrofoam. I used rock molds and plaster to model the various outcroppings. For color and texture, I used Woodland Scenics Earth Colors Liquid Pigments and casting powder. I modeled the pond, mill pond, and river using Woodland Scenics Realistic Water.
The trees were made from kits that I purchased while attending a logging railroad convention in Washington state. The instructions said the kits contained a filter material. I asked my sister-in-law, who lives in the United States, to send me a household furnace filter.
When I received the filter, it didn’t seem right. I asked an acquaintance in