Memories from the 2018 Western Pacific Railroad Historical Convention
Salt Lake City April 19th-22nd
WP EMD GP-7 713 working the Warner Branch local "Where the WP Meets the Rio Grande"
April 19 - 22, 2018 - Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Hosted at the DoubleTree by Hilton - located near the Salt Lake City Airport
Before the convention...
Thursday, April 19th, 2018
We bused to North Temple Station for a trip via FrontRunner to Ogden Station and Utah State Railroad Museum. There we had a guided walking tour of Utah State Railroad Museum. We departed USRRM by bus and traveled to UTA FrontRunner Warm Springs Maintenance Facility in SLC and had a guided walking tour of the Warm Springs Facility. Then we returned via charter bus back to the DoubleTree and the beginning of the Convention.
Rob's Western Pacific's 8th Subdivision is a photo-freelanced extension of the WP set in Utah in the 1978-1982 era. The layout is approximately 30 x 30 ft. The layout has been under construction for just over three years and is nearly 80% complete. It has come a long way from the tours of two years ago. Major progress has been made in the track and scenery area. Scenery and building details are outstanding. He has several levels and a lower deck staging yard. The mainline is nearly 100% finished along with the backdrops and fascia. Construction details include the use of structural backdrops to reinforce the 60-foot long serpentine peninsula, and octagonal helix. Rob has used codes 83, 70 and 55 flex track installed with caulk. Control is NCE DCC.
James models the D&RGW coal hauling in the Soldier summit area in the 1950-60's era. The room is a basement room 14 x 20 feet with a dog leg of 13 x 19 feet. He has around 300 feet of double mainline track. This part of the layout is about 80% done and James's has done some outstanding hand carved mountain work which you must see. The backdrop scenery paintings by Rob Spangler are spectacular. In May of 2013 James started construction of the second phase of his layout which will be the SLC area of his layout. This phase is the new SLC area with a lot of industrial sidings. This area is about the same size as his first phase. James has also added a lot of scenery and building to the town of Green River which did not exist in previous tours of the layout. Control is Digitrax DCC.
Some conventioneers visited the largest club layout in Utah, with over 20 scale miles of mountain Railroading to enjoy.
GSTC of Utah is located in the basement of the old Wasatch Hot Springs building at 840N Beck Street in North Salt Lake.
As part of the convention, the Golden Spike Train Club of Utah opened its club layout for convention attendees on Saturday, April 21, form 11 AM to 4 PM.
Many members brought their Western Pacific equipment and ran it in honor of the convention.
Allen's layout has a closed loop mainline, mostly double track with a hidden staging yard in the middle. A branch line runs up to some mines and includes a hidden staging track on the branch. Track work is 95% complete and running and is a folded bowl of spaghetti track plan. Allen has about a 140 foot loop of main line and a long branch line. Track is Micro Engineering, bonded with contact cement. Several new buildings have been added in the city and town scenes especially around the refinery and the engine house. New scenery up in the big canyon area along with newly painted backdrops. A new bridge and semaphore signals have been added on the branch line. Many new vehicles and figures have been added on the layout, even a new train or two. The room is 17 x 40 ft. with the layout being 13 x 35 feet and occupies almost the complete room except for the aisles. The layout is Digitrax DCC controlled.
Here are some pictures of Steven Cope's HO models displayed at the WP Historical convention. It's the SN detour with the man in the caboose being his father on the fateful day the SND derailed.
The man, Larry Cope, is reaching up for the emergency valve in the bay-window. The engines are Kato IIRC, the shorty gondola is scratch built and the caboose is a brass model with the figure and interior modeled.
