"How To Build Rolling Stock For
Mountain Operation"
The La Mesa Model railroad club has
been builidng an HO scale replica of the mainline mountain railroad
through the Tehachapi mountains in southern California, from Bakersfield,
in the San Joaquin valley, to Tehachapi in the Mojave desert.
This is a single track mainline with many passing sidings. The
steep grade requires helper units to move trains over 100 cars
long up the hill. The La Mesa Club has been building this exhibit,
in the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, for over 25 years. Construction
of the mainline is close to completion, with over 28 scale miles
of track, rising from 33" off the floor in Bakersfield to
170" at Summit. Operating model trains over this difficult
railroad requires strict attention to standards of construction
of the freight cars. For 40 years, John Cathcart has been the
car department foreman for the La Mesa Club since it's early days
in Nebo Hall, La Mesa. His unique perspective on freight car construction
is shared in this interview.
This first video is a 10 minute YouTube
introduction.