Tommy Holt's
Western Pacific First Sub

The layout is a model of Western Pacific’s First Subdivision operating out of the Division Point Yard at Stockton, California in September 1966. About 53 miles of the railroad are represented on the layout. The layout was designed using prototype track diagrams and employee timetables with minimal artistic license as needed to accommodate the realities of model railroading.

The building the layout is housed in was built by the owner. Construction began in 1997 and was completed in 1999. Construction on the layout began in April 1999. The mainline is 360 linear feet long, and the aisles are generally 4 feet wide (or wider) for comfort. Track is Micro-Engineering code 83 on the mainline and code 70 everywhere else; minimum curve radius is 36 inches. The approximately 150 switches are by Railway Engineering and are all motorized by Tortoise machines.

The railroad is connected via computer to the Dispatcher’s Office, where trains are controlled via signals and remote-controlled switches exactly as the prototype was in 1966. The CTC (Centralized Traffic Control) panel in the Dispatcher’s Office is close to a full scale replica of a Union Switch and Signal 5-foot CTC unit. The cabinet was built by David Barrow for his Cat Mountain & Santa Fe and it was gutted and reconfigured to match the WP 1st Sub machine. The CTC panel is wired through a computer interface and controls all of the signals and control point switches on the railroad. The software was written specifically for this railroad by Michael Duncan; it took over three years to install and perfect.

Scenery and structure development is just underway, starting in Radum at Kaiser Sand and Gravel and extending eastward through Livermore. The detailed and to-scale replica of the Western Pacific Depot in Stockton was built by Mike Barrett and has been featured in national publications. Mike traveled to Stockton to painstakingly measure the building.

The locomotives are controlled by wireless EasyDCC throttles made by CVP products. It was one of the first layouts to use a new technology that allows for more than 8 throttles to be used at once. All locomotives are powered with sound decoders.

Operations began in 2000. WP rule books and timetables were used to create the operating procedures. A fast clock is used, operating at a ratio of 2:1 (slow enough to do the jobs in a prototypical manner.) The railroad is operated with 8-16 people.