North Pacific Coast Garden Railroad

Overview

This is my third attempt to build a garden railroad.  The two previous attempts, I ended up tearing up a partially constructed railroad when we decided to move to a new home.  Now I have a perfect base for the garden railroad of my dreams.  It includes an indoor portion, my family room in my basement.  Outside there are four acres of land to use in developing the outdoor portion.  In the past I've tended to bite off way more than I can chew, so I've decided to build the railroad in phases.  The location of the outdoor portion of the railroad will be beginning at my rear deck, dropping down a hill to my pond, and circling the pond

I'll be modeling a real railroad, the North Pacific Coast.  The NPC was a short line that once ran from Sausalito ninety miles to the Redwood forests north of San Francisco.  It was a commuter and tourist line running steamers from the San Francisco docks to its own dock in Sausalito. From there it hauled commuters and vacationers in passenger cars all the way up the line.  It handled freight for a growing set of communities north of San Francisco.  And was a lumbering line, providing the motive power for the lumbering of the Redwood forests.  Lots of modeling possibilities are packed into only ninety narrow gauge miles. 

Want to know more?  There are links from this page to research material, standards for building the layout, and to pages documenting its construction.  The material will grow as I add to the site.  Enjoy.

Prototypes Modeled

The primary target railroad for my layout is the North Pacific Coast Railroad.  To a limited degree, I will also model it's successor railroads, the North Shore and the Northwestern Pacific.  I will also model the Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods RR, a standard gauge short line road fed by the NPC that ran from Mill Valley, CA. up to the top of Mt. Tamalpais and via a branch line, to Muir Woods.

Time Period

The time period modeled is the 1880 to 1910 time period.  However, I may occasionally run a train or rolling stock from a successor railroad, the North Shore or the Northwestern Pacific which would extend my modeling horizon into the 1930s.  Extending the horizon causes few problems in the northern part of the NPC operations as those communities were somewhat fixed in time.  The communities in the southern part of the route grew quickly as a result of NPC traffic, the automobile and the Golden Gate Bridge which was completed in 1937.  They will be modeled as they existed on the 1880 to 1910 time frame.

Scale

I'm not a scale fanatic and own narrow gauge engines or rolling stock executed in 1:20.3 and 1:24.  The primary scale for future purchases will be 1:20.3.  Where possible, buildings will be constructed in 1:20.3.

Railroad Site

The Raw Material 

My home is sited on 4 acres of land just outside the Madison city limits.  Land is mostly cut grass with a moderate amount of shrubs and mature trees.  The location is sunny and open and contains a roughly 40 by 60 foot pond.

The layout will begin on the inside of the house in my basement family room.  The line will run into the unfinished portion of the basement and through a basement window at the rear of the house to the outside.

The outdoor portion of the layout will run down a hill at the back of my house to a pond located at the bottom of the hill.  Once it reaches the bottom of the hill it will circle the pond.

Layout Concept 

This will be an indoor/outdoor layout, making use of the indoor portion of the layout for the most structure intensive portion of the line and to protect equipment with minimal handling.  The outdoor portion of the layout contains more than enough space to model the majority of the trackage of the NPC and MT&MW.

Indoor Layout

The indoor portion will model the NPC's Sauselito docks and the NPC's Sauselito yard and maintenance facilities.  It will be designed to be operated as a switching pike in the winter when weather outside is too inclement to use the outside portion of the layout.  Weather permitting, train movements can be modeled beginning at the indoor Sauselito docks and yards through a portal to the outdoor beds all the way to the end of the NPC line in Cazadero.

The indoor layout will also contain staging tracks just below the basement ceiling.  The staging areas will connect to the indoor portion.  At the end of outdoor operating sessions, trains can be run into the staging area and secured in a weatherproof lockable area without the necessity of handling the trains.  

The indoor portion can be operated on its own.  The outdoor portion can be operated on its own, fed by the indoor staging area.  With help from a few friends, both indoor and outdoor portions can be operated as a single layout.

Outdoor Layout

Outdoors, the layout will be modeled primarily on a hill that drops from my rear deck to a pond.  The hill presents challenges as the grade is to steep for a train to attack directly.  So the main line will wind back and forth across the face of the hill until the pond is reached. 

Construction

This will be a large garden railroad.  Yet I want to have trains running by fall of 2007.  So the layout will be built in phases.

Railroad Standards

Track Standards

I'm not a purest here and have a significant investment in LGB and Aristoctaft track so I plan on running code 332 rail.  

Structures

The majority of the structures on this railroad will be scratch-built.  One of the things I enjoy about model railroading is that it combines my interests in history, railroads, electronics, gardening, and woodworking.  As I get older, I become less interested in remodeling and building 1:1 structures and find the movement to scale structures to be more enjoyable.  Besides, scratch building requires a scale workshop, giving rise to justification of a life-long dictum, "He who dies with the most tools wins".  

At this point I'm making my own scale lumber from 1:1 stock.  Because the majority of the structures in the prototype are constructed from wood, I feel well equipped from the standpoint of tools and experience to take this on.  Some kit-bashed structures are likely to appear on the layout when I fail to have the time, patience, or materials to scratch-build the structure.

Over time I will individualize the structures with details.  As the 1920s were the steam era, I plan on constructing a number of steam power plants to add credibility to my layout.  Of course, the inside portion will be more detailed than the outside.  I also intend to electrify as many structures as reasonable.  Structure scale will be in the 1:20.3 range. 

Layout Base and Scenery

Inside, the base will be constructed of typical model railroad benchwork.  Given the industrial areas being modeled (dock, yards, maintenance facilities), the amount of plantings to be modeled will be minimal.  The majority of this portion of the layout will be trackage and structures.

Outside trackage will be located at ground level.  Terrain covered by the NPC was rough and hilly.  It much easier to model this kind of terrain at ground level.Other than in Sausalito, the majority of towns served by the NPC were small towns during the time periods being modeled.  This means more limited trackage, fewer structures and more plantings.  I find this to be desirable in an outdoor layout as I enjoy working with plants.

Human Access

A 12x16 foot viewing area (patio) will be constructed at the base of the deck.  From there a walkway will extend down the hill to the pond.  This walkway will be constructed as a raised bed staircase.  The walkway will allow humans to view portions of the layout up close and travel down to the pond without having to deal with a steep and sometimes slippery hill.  It will also provide an area for utilities to be run in a manner that will protect them from future construction.

Railroad Utilities

A variety of utilities will be carried under the inside benchwork and inside the outside beds to provide services to the railroad.  They break down as follows.

Plants

One of the reasons to build a garden railroad is to make use of nature's willingness to grow plants outdoors to provide much of the scenery.  Plantings will be selected with the following goals in mind.

Roadbed

The roadbed will be free floating as that approach seems to work best in a climate with long stretches of below freezing temperatures.  Stone chosen will be a toothy gravel of a size that fits in with scale.    Weed barriers will be used to keep vegetation from growing in areas of heavily traveled track.

(c) 2007 Iron Horse 1:29