TehachapiPass at Balboa Park in San Diego, CA w/ Photos
San Diego Model Railroad Museum at Balboa Park in San Diego, CA is a fantastic place to visit, with modest fees for the public to gain entrance. Among others, a large, multi-level, multi-room layout is on display of world famous Tehachapi Pass and the Loop therein.
While the museum has been featured previously with photos at these Kalmbach Forums, the following multi-post Tehachapi layout photographic essay attempts to give those at the forum a feel for the place and its quality. Perhaps those that have never been to the San Diego site will be inspired to visit it. It is a great place. This forumist has no financial stake or membership in the club, and the posted photos are just a labor of love … Enjoy.
The presentation is multi-posted (to avoid photo retrieval lag time) on a north (west) to south (east) basis… The period modeled is probably fifty to sixty years ago …
The track zigzags up to the Loop, on the upper left.
The center right is the Loop itself.
The track comes out of the tunnel (center) and loops (on the lower left) so as to eventually go over itself from right to left on the photo top. Note the detail of a tickler structure just before the tunnel. Those ticklers use to warn workers standing on the top of cars of an impending tunnel.
Then the tracks head up to the town of Tehachapi …
The nice gentleman that offered me a tour then took me down to a special place UNDER the Cliff siding area, the operation center with a CTC machine and computer screen!
Bakersfield …
The trackage up, over, and down the Pass is shown on the CTC machine from left (north, old west) to right (south, old east).
The Mojave area, downgrade at the bottom south (east) foot of the Pass.
If you are ever in the San Diego, CA area, the Tehachapi model display as well as the museum is a great place to drop in and visit …
IMO, this is one of the finest railroad layouts I have ever visited and my kids gave me a lifetime pass. I was there just last week and spent most of my time in their library doing research on early SP freight and passenger cars. Thanks for the great pictures. Peter Smith, Memphis
We have visited the layouts in the Musuem several times in the past few years. There are five major layouts in that building and all are interesting. The Tehachapi Pass is my favorite, but the N scale layout with their San Diego station scene is great.
I copied some information about the La Mesa club below.
CZ
La Mesa Model Railroad Club
OIC Calendar
The club layout represents the joint Southern Pacific/Santa Fe railroad from Bakersfield to Mojave, California of the 1950’s. The current layout consists of the area from the Southern Pacific Bakersfield Yard through the famous Tehachapi Loop.
After 2 1/2 years of major construction to build the mezzanine and public viewing area, we are now in high gear to finish the dream started over 20 years ago – building the best ever historical model railroad! Current projects include building switches, installing benchwork, adding details, buildings and scenery, adding to our rolling stock and wiring new railroad for DCC. The areas currently being added are Bena to Sandcut, and a New Mojave yard, as well as additional storage for our locomotives and rolling stock.
The club layout represents the joint Southern Pacific/Santa Fe railroad from Bakersfield to Mojave, California of the 1950’s. The current layout consists of the area from the Southern Pacific Bakersfield Yard through the famous Tehachapi Loop.