Author: Jeff Rose

Mark your Calendars for April 17, 2021: SVL’s Second Virtual Open House!

/ Jeff Rose / Leave a comment

Hi everyone!

Update 4/12: All of our available openings to virtually run a train are now full. If you’re interested in running a train virtually, look for future events announced here and on our Facebook page. You are also welcome to follow along with our Virtual Open House once the link is uploaded to our Youtube page at https://www.youtube.com/user/siliconvalleylines

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Now that the Bay Area is opening back up again, as well as the success from our Virtual Fall Open House, we’re planning to conduct another virtual open house for the Spring time! On April 17, 2021, you’ll again be able to take a train for a spin around our lower level loop at SVL, all from the comfort of your home!s

Note: As mentioned above – this is a remote Open House. Our layout is still closed to the general public due to Covid-19 restrictions. Only a limited number of members will be allowed into the building to help monitor trains, so please do not come down to the club.

Fall 2020 Virtual Open House

/ Jeff Rose / 3 Comments

Hi everyone!

With the ongoing work and success around our camera cars, as well as interest from our presentations, we’ve decided to take our Fall Open House virtual! On November 14, 2020, you’ll be able to take a train for a spin around our lower level loop at SVL, all from the comfort of your home!

Trains will be available from 10am – 3pm Pacific Standard Time. If you are interested in running a train, please sign up via the survey here. Note we are asking for an email and a preferred time slot so we can invite you to a Google Meet to coordinate with you when we start running trains. Tips and tricks for remote engineers can be found here.

If you prefer to just watch, click through to the live-stream of the Open House on Youtube.

Note: As mentioned above – this is a remote Open House. Our layout is still closed to the general public due to Covid-19 restrictions. Only a limited number of members will be allowed into the building to help monitor trains, so please do not come down to the club.

Fall Open House

/ Jeff Rose / Leave a comment

We had out Fall Open House last weekend. Plenty of people came down to enjoy running trains, and those trains got a lot of mileage on the lower level loop!

Couldn’t make it out? Not a problem! Feel free to come by an Ops session to check us out, or you can look ahead our Open House in June 2020!

Filling in a Blank Space on the Backdrop (Part 1)

/ Jeff Rose / Leave a comment

Since I took over North Hallelujah and changed its theme to the 1950s Southern California town (and renamed it Hemet in the process), I’ve always had a big sky blue backdrop behind the town.

I started with a bit of research, going to Jim Lancaster’s site, coastdaylight.com to go through the various pictures he and others have compiled of some of the remaining packing houses in the southland. From this, I found a few packing houses with which to work off of – aspects of packing houses in Piru, Redlands, Olive Park, and Corona could be cobbled together to make a large, 4 door packing house, with some added visual detail.

Most of these were Sunkist packing houses, so we’ll need to add in that signage detail too.

Using the ideas from above, I wanted space for 4 doors. As this will be a transitional structure, I knew that one blank space and one door would give me about 40 scale feet. To make way for the height of the addition (which would have been storage or refrigeration on the prototype), I used both a double wall and an additional single wall to give a bit of height perspective.

For added strength, I then cut foam board to glue to the back. The structure still won’t stand upright due to a slight warp (and the backdrop isn’t straight), so I need to reinforce the base a little more. Before that though, I brought it down to the club for a test fitting.

I’ve got some gaps to fill and paint, but so far so good. Proper doors, signage and details (downspouts, a little weathering, some paint patches, and maybe some ivy growing in a spot or two) will help really give this some character. More to come!