San Juan Central Walk Around

rick1958

Well-known member

I've always been a fan of Macolm Furlow and his San Juan Central. I bought his book in the 80's and was running trains on his SJC in my attic until I had to leave it behind due to a move.
I've since been following Dave Meek and his Thunder Mesa Studio layouts. So I'm setting out to attempt to combine the two and begin to add some of Dave's whimscal ideas into Malcom's SJC
Side note: Unfortunately Malcolm passed away in 2023 at the young age of 77... RIP Malcolm.
So... Here's what I've been playing with, on and off, for the last couple years...
Malcoms orginal SJC



An over veiw of my HOn3 SJC with the added wing containing The Central Mining District



Town of San Juan and railyard with San Juan Hill in the background.


The sleepy town of San Lorenzo with it's small station on the hill.


Working our way around the layout we come to Crazy Horse bridge and loop. Within the loop lays the McClanahan Mine. From here we entire the Central Mining District.


The head of the HOn30 mining district, begining at the ore dock.


End of the line. The unfinished Central Mine. This mine with it's railroad has a long history, beginning with my good friend Linda, @Shortline2 . She gave me a small mine layout to play with years ago. Plush and green with fjords and a harbor. This route has been worked and reworked by me and now found it's way onto the hot and dry SJC. Thank you Linda!

Thanks for staying awake
 

I've always been a fan of Macolm Furlow and his San Juan Central. I bought his book in the 80's and was running trains on his SJC in my attic until I had to leave it behind due to a move.
I've since been following Dave Meek and his Thunder Mesa Studio layouts. So I'm setting out to attempt to combine the two and begin to add some of Dave's whimscal ideas into Malcom's SJC
Side note: Unfortunately Malcolm passed away in 2023 at the young age of 77... RIP Malcolm.
So... Here's what I've been playing with, on and off, for the last couple years...
Malcoms orginal SJC



An over veiw of my HOn3 SJC with the added wing containing The Central Mining District



Town of San Juan and railyard with San Juan Hill in the background.


The sleepy town of San Lorenzo with it's small station on the hill.


Working our way around the layout we come to Crazy Horse bridge and loop. Within the loop lays the McClanahan Mine. From here we entire the Central Mining District.


The head of the HOn30 mining district, begining at the ore dock.


End of the line. The unfinished Central Mine. This mine with it's railroad has a long history, beginning with my good friend Linda, @Shortline2 . She gave me a small mine layout to play with years ago. Plush and green with fjords and a harbor. This route has been worked and reworked by me and now found it's way onto the hot and dry SJC. Thank you Linda!

Thanks for staying awake
Amazing work!! Please keep the pics coming as you continue to develope the layout.
 
I love the picture location numbers on the map... fantastic, great way to "sell" the route. It reminds me of magazine articles on model railroads.

What are the buildings in photo #2? The Southwest is a bit out of my normal, so I'm looking for some buildings like those for a project.
 
I love the picture location numbers on the map... fantastic, great way to "sell" the route. It reminds me of magazine articles on model railroads.

What are the buildings in photo #2? The Southwest is a bit out of my normal, so I'm looking for some buildings like those for a project.
Thanks and the MR articles is what give me the idea. The structures on photo #2 were made for me by a good friend. They are from the Thunder Mesa series, San Lorenzo
 
I'm really looking forward to seeing how this develops.

I've had two attempts. I did use some licence to make the layouts a bit larger than the original plan.

See here:


And here:


Video here:


Both are on the Download Station. Search with "Yuan Gulch".

Phil
Thanks Phil. Yeah I thought they were variations of the SJC. Trainz is so "chuncky" you almost have to make it larger due to the grid. Even using 5 meter grid it's too blocky. I increased my version by 150%. 200%, it was no longer a model rr.
Even at my 150% the tables would be too wide, Some are almost 8ft across! It is what it is. One day I'm hoping to start the physical mrr again.
 
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Close call on the SJC! A freak storm toppled one of the twin steeple rocks almost closing the line.
Hey!...You don't know... you weren't there.... It could've happened...lol
 
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