The Scenery of the Pacific Southern Railway Company
By J.S. Halajko, TCA # 84-20653 and C.O. Pate III Summer 2017
There is only one chartered HO Railroad in the State of New Jersey that is listed in the annuals of the Interstate Commerce Commission in Washington DC: The Pacific Southern Railway Company (know to the locals as Pacific Southern). See ICC documents above for more details.
The Pacific Southern is a HO scale model railroad located in a private home. It is in a basement that is 90′ by 45′ with over 3,500 feet of hand laid track. For a train to run from one end to the other it has to travel around the room 2½ times and it takes about 20 minutes of running time. During a simple operating session there are 28 trains that depart from 6 locations over a one hour period with one coal over 85 cars long.
This article features the layout’s scenery shot before the movement of consists. These trains are dispatched to maintain the busy lifestyle of the population serviced by the many diverse factories and businesses that are present throughout the layout. The movement of consists are by DCC operation with tower and yard operators to assure a clear path for the trains dispatched during an operating session.
The membership encourages novice DCC operators to learn how to control trains and welcomes them to operate club trains through DCC hand held throttles under supervision of a club member.
For 39 years, The Pacific Southern Railroad held annual shows for public viewing and the proceeds from the shows, of over $160 thousand, were donated to local charities. For the past decade the club has been in a conversion and restoration phase. During the new transition this year, the Pacific Southern has been open to the visitors by invitation only.
Readers who wish to organize a group tour of the layout should contact the club at the link below. They are always interested in sharing their love of the hobby with those who wish to become a member.
http://www.pacificsouthern.org/
If you never controlled a DCC train this club is a must see and do. The best part is that the members don’t bite and love to share their love of the hobby with others.
Now let’s take a look at the scenery. Please select each picture to see a larger version of the photograph.
The custom of the Pacific Southern is to dispatch the Circus Train as the last train to run at the end of an operating session.
In the future the items pictured below may return to the layout after many years on tour…
For more information on the club and its history go to the Pacific Southern Railroad web site … www.pacificshouthern.org. There are many pictures and YouTubes views filmed by Bill Fagan (4/29/2017).
On behalf of the TCA, I wish to thank Carl Pate for his assistance in generating this article. You can learn more about Carl’s other hobby at www.earlyfordcars.info.
