I have been talking to a friend of mine about my latest thinking on this project, and my plan to make some modifications to make the layout more in line with the actual trackage at Santa Cruz. As I was explaining what I was planning, I realized that the changes were too costly in terms of space, but also it would have removed a number of operation features that are part of the current/original layout.

Alas, I am not going to make major modifications in the Santa Cruz area, but will hint only at the few major location that may be part of the backdrop, and not on the layout itself. I am still planning on repositioning a few spurs, as to make more relational sense to the real locations, but overall there will not be a major restructure of the plan.

Changing the direction of the yard, as to make it more in line with the actual operation that SP used to deliver traffic to Felton and other industries on that part of the branch, will be one such modification.

As it is, the yard will receive traffic to Felton, and two separate industries, for a total max of 4-5 cars. With that amount of possible traffic, the yard need the length of under 200’; placing it on a small peninsula served by a scissor wye would not allow me to have that length, and still be able to maneuver around it comfortably.

I will not start scenery right away anyway, so hopefully I will be able to play … ahem … operate the layout and find out if more modification will be required. Hopefully once I have the operation planned, and will be happy with the performance, I will attempt to create the Santa Cruz scenery, and be as close as possible to what I had seen first hand last year during my discovery trip of the branch. All I need is time now.

During this long pause on my layout project, I started entertaining some changes to the layout schematic.

As I have been looking to mold this layout to the Santa Cruz branch line, I went through many compromises, so I could maintain the original design, and maintaining the same type of industries and operation schedules as proposed by Scott Perry (the original designer of the layout).

The more I looked at the design, the more I was unhappy of the compromises. Then I sketched the layout schematic, and that made me think that scenically it was not going to work, specifically the Santa Cruz area.

The yard for example, should be pointed the opposite way, as cars switched for/from Felton were dropped/picked up by the local on the way back from Davenport, so that the bulk of the train could remain on the main north (and not on the Boardwalk blocking the tourist traffic).

Also, two of the industries are where the Boardwalk is supposed to be. Not that I would model that area in detail, but there are no industries between the yard and the bridge. And then there is a wye that leads to the yard, not a simple switch.

I have been contemplating putting a scissor wye coming out into the room to go to the yard, but I may not have enough space for the yard. The inside of the layout is 7x6, so the peninsula can only be 3’ long; unless I restrict the wye to a switcher and 40’ cars, the yard will not be long enough (I was hoping to have long enough for 2 50’ or 2 56’ cars).

Loosing the mentioned 2 industries also takes away for more switching to be done. Of course Watsonville has tons of industries, and in the plan, only two are included. To add more industries here, I would need to expand the layout land (i.e. make the shelf wider). Something I was not going to compromise.

As it turned out, this long pause has helped me re-think a few givens, don’t and druthers. Had I gone ahead and started building, I may have had to stop and rip track out.

One of the givens of this project was to make the very small portion of reality, as close I could, to give the right flavor that yes, we are in Santa Cruz. The compromises I had made were too much to allow me to continue. But now that I am thinking about it, I can see already new possibilities shaping up. Hopefully I will have enough that I could start, as I intend to do one module at a time, leaving the rest with just a temporary single track, just so I can run trains as I work through the project.

Below are a few sketches I made to evolve the Santa Cruz area.