Future Plans of the Modesto & Empire Traction Company Layout

[Trucklover]

Hi guys,

For the past year or so, ive had my heart set on modeling the Modesto & Empire Traction Company which is a shortline railroad in Modesto, California.

I got the idea from a buddy of mine, Tom Huffman, and ever since then, i have been crazy about this shortline railroad. Its RIGHT up my alley being that the M&ET serves the Beard Industrial Park which is a 2000 Acre Industrial Park. The M&ET is a family-owned corporation and has been in operation since 1911. The M&ET was initially intended to operate as a passenger service, but for over 80 years now, the M&ET has succeeded in satisfying local industry's rail freight and transload needs.

The mainline of the M&ET is only 5 miles long, but it operates on an additional 28 miles of sidings and spurs servicing nearly 50 rail customers in the Beard Industrial District. In total, the M&ET operates on nearly 40 miles of main line, yard and industry tracks. A brief list of industries served by the M&ET includes: Brake Parts Inc., Bunge Foods, Continental PET, Del Monte, E & J Gallo Winery, Frito-Lay, Georgia-Pacific, International Paper, Liquid Container, Nestle, Sierra Pacific Distribution, Seneca, Stanislaus Food Products Company, Watkins Shepard, and Weyerhaeuser Lumber. The M&ET also has connections with 2 Class I Railroads, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the Union Pacific, with interchange yards for each railroad.

The BNSF Interchange yard also has connections with the M&ET 70 acre rail/truck transload facility encompassing 6,000 feet of unloading/loading tracks. These tracks are surrounded by 52' to 78' concrete aprons. The facility offers full security lighting and fencing, as well as a single location access with checkpoint office. Also, a 70' public truck scale and fuel dock are on the property. Basically the old Intermodal yard serves as a HUGE Team Track. Businesses rent out space on the Transload yard, etiher for storage of bulk materials or other large, bulk materials such as lumber, and other building materials. The Transload facilty also has a 40-Ton crane on site.

The M&ET's first locomotive was actually a gas-powered passenger coach. Later, several steam locomotives gave way to the GE 70-tonners starting in 1947 with engine #600.70-Tonner #'s 600-604, 607 & 608 are currently still in operation today. #605 & 613 were retired in early 2009 to make way for the 2 new Genset RP20BD's they ordered back in October 2008. The M&ET also has 2 SW1500's that were ex. SP units. In total, there are 11 locomotives that serve the M&ET today.

I will be starting a new thread on the M&ET locos and my plans for modeling each and every one of them for this layout.

Well now that some history is out of the way on this shortline RR, ill post the plans for it that i have spent about a year developing using Google Earth, Google Maps "Steet View" and Windows Live Search. ALL the structures on this layout will be 100% scratchbuilt. All street and structure names on the plan are the real prototype names as well. Structures were somewhat compressed to fit on the plan, or slightly changed in order to better fit the plan

So here we go. Ill start with the color coding and Layout/Track specifications:

Name: The Modesto & Empire Traction Company
Scale: HO (1:87.1)
Size: 25' x 15'
Prototype: Modesto & Empire Traction Company, Beard Industrial District, BNSF/M&ET Interchange Yard (Modesto, CA)
Era: Modern Day
Style: Shelf Walkaround
Mainline Run: 25' for BNSF Mainline, about 120' for M&ET Trackage (not including Helix)
Minimum Radius: 22"
Minimum Turnout: Central Valley no. 8
Minimum Parallel Track Spacing: 2" (3" on helix)
Maximum Grade: 2.6%
Helix: Helix contains a 28" radius on outer track and 25" radius on inner track. 4" between turns; 5-1/2 turns traveling a total of 22" between decks
Benchwork: Shelf and Modular design
Height: Top Deck: (to be determined) , Lower Deck: (to be determined), 22" between decks
Roadbed: Woodland Scenics Foam Roadbed
Track: Central Valley Code 83 on BNSF Mainline and Interchange Yard, Central Valley Code 70 on all other Trackage
Scenery: Plaster with Foam Board
Backdrop: Painted Walls and Masonite Backboards
Control: MRC Prodigy Wireless
Grid Spacing: 6"
Color Code:

GREEN = Module/Layout Base
RED = BNSF Mainline
YELLOW = BNSF/M&ET Interchange Yard
WHITE = Helix
BLUE = Track on Lower or Upper Level
BLACK = M&ET Trackage
ORANGE = Scratchbuilt Structures
[color=#FFBFFF]GRAY = Roads

[Trucklover]

I have planned this layout to have 3 Islands of modules on the Top Deck of the layout. One (1) island can be hooked up at a time to the top deck. When switching is done on the Island, the modules will be taken down and stored away. Then, another island can be brought in from storage and hooked up to the top deck. Ill build a set of legs to go with the three (3) islands and make them interchangeable so that they can be used on any one of the three (3) islands. Storage for the modules will be under the lower deck of the layout


This first picture is of the Top Deck with Island Module #1, or the Del Monte Island




The Del Monte Module has two (2) modules that are 60" long x 32" wide. Tracks will serve the backs of the structures. The gray areas next to the buildings are Truck Dock Ramps and Loading Docks. The loading docks along the tracks will be covered docks with overhangs and platforms.

[Trucklover]

This picture shows Island Module #2, or the Georgia Pacific Island



The Georgia Pacific Island has four (4) modules, 3 of which are 60" long x 30" wide, and one (1) module which is 30.5" long x 30" wide. The Georgia Pacific building is the big one on this island. This island also is home to the Siligan Container Corp. and the Stanisiaus Food Products Company. There is also a small yard, the prototype is 7 tracks wide, mine is only 5 due to lack of space. Nathan Ave. is on the right end of the island and Doherty Ave. runs along the bottom of the island.

[Trucklover]

This picture shows Island Module #3, or the Versa Cold Logistic Island



The Versa Cold Logistics Island has two (2) modules, one (1) of which is 60" long x 32" wide, and the other 42" long x 32" wide. All of the structures on this island are Versa Cold Logistic Structures. This is a very large company, and they occupy quite a few buildings on the M&ET in this particular area i have modeled. The gray areas on the island are truck loading docks. There will be road which is actually an alley way in front of the 3 loading dock areas on the left side of the island.

[Trucklover]

Here is a pic of the top deck without any of the islands



The Top deck of the layout features the BNSF Mainline which is the red tracks at the top. Parallel to the BNSF mainline is Santa Fe Ave. Below the BNSF mainline in the yellow is the BNSF/M&ET Interchange yard. To the far left, we have Yosemite Blvd. Intersecting Yosemite Blvd near the top is Codoni Ave. then South Riverside Drive. Intersecting South Riverside Drive is Lapham Ave. Intersecting both Yosemite Blvd. and Lapham Ave. is Doherty Ave. (lower left) and Spenker Ave (bottom left). Lapham Ave. ends at Daly Ave. Daly Ave. connects back up with Yosemite Blvd. Further down the line (compressed for lack of space) we have South Santa Cruz Ave.

This brings us to the HUGE Gallo Glass Company Plant. Gallo also has a Winery Plant with literally 100's of storage tanks and more huge buildings just above the Glass Plant, but i chose not to include part of it in the plan for again, due to lack of space lol. The trackage around the Gallo Glass Plant will require some custom trackage, meaning the 3 crossings by the large square building in the lower right corner will all have to be scratch built.

I did a copy of the actual structure for the truck loading docks, made to be a backround relief structure. It will have 52 truck docks, and will be 110" long x 7" wide. All docks will be at ground level with slopped loading ramps for the tracks. Will make an excellent place to spot some of my trucks.

Continuing up the right past the Gallo Glass Plant, we connect back to the upper part of the top deck. This area will have the helix. Helix will have a 28" radius on the outside track and 25" radius on inner track. 4" between turns; 5-1/2 turns traveling a total of 22" between decks. There will be 3" of space between each track of the helix. The Blue tracks on the left of the helix are the tracks that are on the lower deck.

[Trucklover]

Here is a pic of the Lower Deck of the layout




This is the lower deck of the layout. Starting from the upper right section of the picture, we have the helix. Again, blue trackage is the tracks on the upper deck. Black tracks start on the left side of the helix, this is the bottom of the helix, 22" below the top deck. The 2 tracks curve around to the left to the upper stretch of the lower deck. There is also a track that runs behind the helix and curves to the right stretch of the lower deck to connect back to the lower stretch of the lower deck to allow for continuous running

We have Codoni Ave. which dead ends at Finch Road. Liquid Container Corp is the medium sized structure right next to Codoni Ave. It has 12 truck docks and is 40" long x 12" wide. To the left of this is the Sierra Pacific Distribution Building. This one is a large structure and is 70" long x 12" wide. it has 24 truck docks. Just to the left of this one is Brake Parts Inc., it is also a fairly large structure, being 65" long x 12" wide with 23 truck docks. All 3 of these structures have docks at ground level with slopped loading ramps for the truck docks. Rail docks serve the rears of the structures.

Continuing to the left side of the lower level we have Service Craft which has a few buildings in this area, 3 of which have been modeled and included in the plan. To the left of the top Service Craft Building is the Wel Comp Building. Just below these 2 is Garner Road. Below Garner Road is the other Service Craft Buildings, and to the left of those is the 2 California Fruit & Tomato Kitchen Buildings. Below these 2 we have a building that im not sure what company occupies it. Im thinking its for lease at this time, but not sure. Various run-around tracks have been added on this portion to better operate and switch buildings.

Continuing to the lower section of the layout is the M&ET engine house with a copy of the yard. Tracks in the yard are really close together, so i did 1-1/2" spacing for these tracks. To the right of this we have South Riverside Drive, then the Dawn Foods Buildings. To the right of these buildings we have Ferguson Heating & Cooling and then to the far right we have QT Reload which is a lumber building materials based company as far as i can tell. After QT Reload, the tracks connect back to the top of the lower deck.

[Trucklover]

Here is the specs as far as track and turnouts for the layout:

~~approximately 654' of flex track on this layout, and this doesnt include the helix. (Ill be using Central Valley Tie Strips which are 12" a piece and form a seamless joint when connected to other Central Valley Tie Strips and Central Valley Turnouts)
~~4 Walthers #7 curved turnouts
~~2 Walthers #6-1/2 curved turnouts
~~1 Walthers Wye #4 Turnouts
~~45 Central Valley #8 Lefthand turnouts
~~56 Central Valley #8 Righthand Turnouts


And thats about it for the plan, i seem to be pretty happy with it is as it is now. I dont think any major changes will be made anymore. I do find some small minor changes every once in a while that i make like adding in a track to make it a little easier for operational purposes.

Comments, questions, suggestions??

[foulrift]

Josh-very ambitious layout. Keep us posted on your progress.
Bob

[Cannonball]

I like the looks of this one.
Seems like an interesting little short line to model.
With only 33 miles of track to maintain, I wonder what their operating expenses run.