Holiday Season 2018

November 30, 2018 by Tony Phillips

Our COO (Chief Operating Officer) Frank Davis has been readying the layout (The Mendocino Coast Model Railroad & Navigation Co.) for this year’s holiday season. I was at the layout today to get a preview of what’s going to happen. Click on any photo to enlarge it.

We have never had a lighted tree before. This year we have a seven footer – that’s nearly 170 scale feet – that catches your eye as you enter the Barn.

The Layouts first ever lighted tree

Fort Bragg’s lighted tree isn’t a Rockefeller Centre affair. That’s true of the tree that’s at our depot:

The Holiday season tree at the depot

Thomas the Tank Engine, of course, is there.

Thomas the Tank Engine has persuaded one of the Troublesome Trucks to carry the presents belonging to the passengers in Annie and Clarabel

Emily is here too with her holiday consist of coaches:

Emily with her holiday consist

And we have a Holiday Express replete with festive season lights inside:

: The Holiday Express taking visitors on a tour of the layout

: The Holiday Express has stopped at the loggers camp to pick up passengers

: The Holiday Express on its way to Fort Bragg

Santa and Smoky the Bear are listening to carols at the loggers camp

Loco #12 is waiting for her turn at running on the main line:

#12 in Holiday Season colours

And our Minions?

How did those Minions and Gru get hold of a loco and cars on the Fog Line I ask?

Igor is watching what?

Igor is trying to find out whats appenin

What’s appenin is that more visitors are arriving in Fort Bragg.

Unloading more Holiday Vacationers from the Steam Schooner that has just tied up at the Union Lumber Company pier

If you want to see all this – and more – tootle down to see us. We’re behind the Skunk Train in Fort Bragg.

Tunnel #2

November 29, 2018 by Tony Phillips

Only the California Western Railroad (CWR) and the Caspar Railroad had tunnels. The CWR had two and the Caspar Railroad one. Our layout, the Mendocino Coast Model Railroad & Navigation Co., just like the real world, has three. These two pics were taken at Tunnel #1 and #2.

Diesel 913 exiting Tunnel #1

Consists passing in Tunnel #2

Hong Kong visitors Thomas Wai and his family visit the layout

November 27, 2018 by Tony Phillips

I had a nice e-mail from Thomas Wai today: “My family and my friend’s family came to visit the Train Museum at Fort Bragg earlier this summer. Sorry that it has taken me this long to get around uploading the photos onto a link for you to download. Hope you don’t mind.” Thomas sent a bucket load of great photos of his family and the layout. For ease of viewing I’ve put them into three galleries.

Click on any photo to enlarge/see gallery.

The Family

: Arriving at the layout

: Checking out the outside posters

: Dad next to the Ranch diorama

: Talking to me outside – that is club member Bill Shepherd inside

: With me in the photo it was touch and go as to whether the camera would survive

: Z scale layout in a pizza box

: Checking out our Z scale layout

: Audrey posing inside

: Lincoln inside the Barn

: Dad looking serious

: Mom and Audrey ringing the bell

: Playing outside – no adults allowed

Thomas took these photos inside our Train Barn:

: Bringing in wood for the steam donkeys

: Bringing lumber onto the pier for shipping

: Great wide angle shot from just inside the door

: Loggers cabin on a flat car

: Logging train en route to the mill

: The depot area

: The engineer of #5

: The Minions

: The north east corner

: The pier – the mill and the portal out to the east wall

Thomas also took some pics outside:

: Cattle car on the Ranch diorama

: A load of logs headed for the mill

: Bobber Caboose on the Pudding Creek Trestle

: Our Doodlebug

: Cripple Creek Corner

: This is where we make trees

: The Workshop

Here’s Audrey writing in our visitor’s book:

A special greeting from a special visitor

And what did she write?

Lincoln and Audrey’s signatures in the visitors book

2017 Holiday Season at the Layout

November 26, 2018 by Tony Phillips

The 2018 holiday season at our layout, the G Scale Mendocino Coast Model Railroad & Navigation Co. in Fort Bragg, CA. begins on December 1st and lasts until the end of the year. To give you a taste of what to expect here are a few pics from last year’s excitement.

Thomas the Tank Engine at the Engine house

Percy having trouble with a Troublesome truck

Flat car decorated for the holiday season

The east outside wall holiday season diorama

CWR (California Western Railroad) Loco #14

November 24, 2018 by Tony Phillips

Above the Point Cabrillo diorama on our G Scale layout in Fort Bragg is this print which was framed by club member Joe DuVivier.

Print of CWR Loco #14

If you look closely you’ll see that CWR #14 is a 2-6-2 tank engine. Well, 2-6-2Ts’ in G scale land are as rare as hen’s teeth. However, you can buy a 2-4-2T. And, a 2-4-2T could easily be mistaken for a 2-6-2T says President Chuck Whitlock. Here is one of our 2-4-2Ts out of the box with name added:

G Scale 2-4-2T with CWR name added

Now, you can’t have a loco without an engineer, right?

CWR 2-4-2T loco with engineer at the controls

And from the front?

CWR #14 2-4-2T waiting to go out on the track

And, here she is at work in Caspar Lumber Co. Camp #20 loading area.

CWR #14 at work in the Caspar Lumber Co loading area

Freat job Mr. President.

Using a defunct trolley car as a flat car load

November 19, 2018 by Tony Phillips

This is one of President Chuck Whitlock’s creations. Nothing gets wasted on the Mendocino Coast Modsel Railroad & Navigation Co. I’m not sure how we, a logging railroad, came to acquire a trolley car. No matter how we got it the question was, “how to use it?”. This was Chuck’s solution.

Defunct trolley used as a load

The Railroad in Detail

Mendocino Model Railroad Layout

Monthly Archives: November 2018