I’m starting work on my new layout this week a UP line based in LA, so look for alot of questions coming![oX)]
First; So I can get out of design stage. Does Los Angeles have a fair amount of brick buildings? on programs like Windows Local Live mostly what I see is concrete buildings. The concept here is that I want to put a medium sized run-down brick building (DPM) across the street from a Nu-Line warehouse(Rear modules) and I’m curious if this would be completely out of place. Being in Illinois, I def. need help on this one!
There are lots of brick buildings in the industrial districts of Downtown Los Angeles, where there are lots of sidings, both active and abandoned. in the older parts of Downtown LA, there are numerous brick and wrought-iron buildings that look straight out of NYC. In fact lots of movies/TV shows get filmed in the older parts of Downtown, portraying New York. “CSI” is actually filmed here.
If you wanna be super-prototypical, put little square/diamond-shaped metal plates along the walls of those brick buildings – those are earthquake retrofit bars, which keep those older buildings from crumbling during a large quake. Nearly every brick building in Los Angeles has them.
That being said, most brick buildings came down due to earthquakes, most notably the 1933 Long Beach quake. But a good number of them survived.
The Nu-Line warehouses are more common in the suburban areas, which is where the prototypes for those models are located. So in a way they would be out of place next to each other.
The best models of Los Angeles were made by Robert Smaus, who wrote articles for MR in the ealry ‘90s. Do a search for Smaus’ articles. He’s an acquaintance of mine, as he used to work for the LA Times and I met him when I was an intern for the newspaper in the mid-90s and talked about trains with him in the l
If your looking for a modern layout be prepaired for a lot of intermodal. also the Alameda corodor would be nice for the entrace to and from staging, I live close to Long Beach and not many sidings out this way
What era are you modeling? Is there a particular area or industry that you are interested in?
I live north of L.A. and use Metrolink to commute whenever my work schedule allows. I know the route between Santa Clarita and Glendale pretty well and it is U.P. territory. Although many joke that a 30 year old building in L.A. is ancient, there are plenty of grand old ladies and many middle aged girls too. As mentioned above, the Long Beach earthquake took it’s toll on a number of turn of the previous century buildings. The 1971 Sylmar and 1994 Northridge quakes did their part in the urban renewal process too but you can still find a lot things built in the mid 1900s on up especially surrounding the tracks. Keep in mind that if you want to build something modern, there have been lots of new enhancements added to the older buildings.
I agree with the earlier poster about Robert Smaus. His last article for Model Railroader was in the July 2006 edition and the subject was his 1950s era L.A. area layout. He’s no slouch in the gardening department either. I’ve enjoyed reading his articles in the Los Angeles Times over the years, heard him once give a lecture about organic gardening and pest control and also own one of his books on the subject. He still seems to show up with occasional articles on gardening or the trials and tribulations about the property he bought in mountains north of L.A. that came with a retired Pullman car as a residence.
Actually there’s quite a few sidings in the industrial areas of Carson, Compton and Rancho Dominguez…Athearn’s headquarters are located there after all! They don’t link up to the Alameda Corridor though.
The layout will be purely modern. It’s going to be fictional branch, but I would like it to be as prototypical as possible. UP’s J-Yard intrigues me and the Vernon area appeals to me alot, but I would like maybe an area alittle on the outside. Industries in that have caught my eye have been; City Fibers, Cereal Food Processors, and various transloads. In burbs I’ve noticed; Riverside grain transfer and all the various warehouses. The square plate idea is exactly what i was looking for.
Here’s my basics;
I have a Athearn SP MP15 on order- which i will promptly patch for UPY
The layout is 10x7 shelf, 4 sidings. this what I have in mind industry wise
Dog Food Plant- Walthers flour mill with Great West warehouse addition
Pole yard- concrete pad with pikestuff office
Modern bakery- possibly 2 Proto Moore warehouses
Paper/Fiber company- Brick or Nu line warehouse
You can see where I’m kinda heading. The LA area could be subject to change, but I like the feel of it
this topic couldn’t have came at a better time! I just started my 2nd LA themed layout 4 days ago. The first was taking up too much space… so I downsized. The current layout is 4X8 feet, and loosely based off of MR’s Black river junction…but without the unitrack…Here’s what I’m doing to set the locale:
at one end of the layout there’s going to be a concrete flood control river…
I use only houses that look like the ones I’ve seen in LA based movies and games (Terminator, Friday, ect)…talk about good research, lol[D)] From what I know after watching so many movies is that these houses are usually one story, stucco’d, and look 1950’s or 60’s vintage…but can be hard to find in HO. Although the european building kit companies make houses that vaguely resemble SoCal houses. I bought a heljan house kit yesterday…It’s okay, buy needs some work to become “americanized”
Locomotives- a mixture of Santa Fe, SP, and UP.
Vehicles- LA buses, Emergency vehicles, and whatever else fits the era…(mid 90’s, pre BNSF…)
Hope this helps (with the building part of you’re question)…
There is no one “So Cal” style house. There are some that you described, but we also have a number of wood-frame houses built around the 1910s-1950s (I live in one of them), some victorian style, some craftsman style, some “California Bungalow” style. The further you go from the center of town, the more similar the houses are to each other as they were constructed in suburban subdivisions, though no two suburbs looks like. Suburban homes tend to be two-story in design as well.
I also made a flood control channel on my layout, though my layout town is set in central California. The walls are a strip of Evergreen styrene and the sections are scored with a hobby saw knife with 10 strokes. The river bottom is styrene as well and I used plastic cement to glue the walls to the bottom and latex adhesive caulk to glue the back of the walls to the foam. Then I spray painted it all in concrete color. Looks like this:
