03-24-2014, 09:36 AM
I think there's a tendency to look at Southern California and the LAJ as somehow a "perfect prototype" for the shoebox ISL. (I notice Lance Mindheim mentioned recently on his blog that he was thinking about doing an LAJ layout, which maybe says something.) I think it's a great deal else. First, the LAJ, up to 1960, connected with four railroads, the Santa Fe, UP, SP, and Pacific Electric. There was, and partly continues to be, some use of each other's tracks. Right there you have justification for unique operation of five roads on one layout. And even when they didn't directly share trackage, they ran within a few blocks of each other or crossed each other. Second, there was a lot of transfer operation. Up to the mid 1980s, SP's Taylor Yard was part of the mix, with transfers to and from it by the other railroads and the SP. Third, you have the East Bank line, owned by UP but with SP and PE trackage rights, and transfers on that line. Fourth, there were several industrial districts closer to downtown served by all three Class Is, some of which are discussed by Bob Smaus, Keith Jordan, and Bruce Petty on their sites. Fifth, you have more remote industrial districts on all the Class Is and PE, Sixth, you have smaller yards all over the area, Santa Fe's First Street and Malabar, SP's River Station, Aurant, and J Yards, PE's very small Culver City yard, UP's Industry yard, etc. Seventh, you have a lot of trackage rights situations elsewhere in the area, SP on UP at Bartolo, UP on Santa Fe from Riverside to Daggett, etc. You also have scenic opportunities that you're ruling out. On all but the foggiest days, you see the mountains from Vernon. Check out Bruce Petty's discussion of backgrounds at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://lariverrailroads.com/mountains.html">http://lariverrailroads.com/mountains.html</a><!-- m --> . Even if you don't want to paint a permanent backdrop, you can have removable panels on hardboard or foamcore that would add a lot.
Naturally, this is just one small part of the country. You would have very similar situations in Chicago, St Louis, and many other places. It seems to me that you're focusing on just one aspect of railroading, on one hand, and as far as I can see, not necessarily making full use of the space you have on the other -- you actually have more space and more opportunities than a simple ISL provides. My inclination would be to pull back the focus and add other types of operation and use the opportunity to model more than one railroad at the same time, rather than deciding every few weeks that it's a whole different place. Even if you decide this isn't LA anymore, it's East St Louis, you have that extra dimension in concept working for you.
I just think you could make a lot fuller use of the concept and resources you have.
Naturally, this is just one small part of the country. You would have very similar situations in Chicago, St Louis, and many other places. It seems to me that you're focusing on just one aspect of railroading, on one hand, and as far as I can see, not necessarily making full use of the space you have on the other -- you actually have more space and more opportunities than a simple ISL provides. My inclination would be to pull back the focus and add other types of operation and use the opportunity to model more than one railroad at the same time, rather than deciding every few weeks that it's a whole different place. Even if you decide this isn't LA anymore, it's East St Louis, you have that extra dimension in concept working for you.
I just think you could make a lot fuller use of the concept and resources you have.