The Rock Ridge and Train City, an Southern Pacific branch in 1885, is the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Hogwarts Freight and Ferry. A fan of the Old West, I decided to build this temporary layout while planning the Redwood Empire. However, it soon took on a life of its own. After two years of work, I realized that I had outgrown the mistakes I had made in its designs. I started designing my my basement layout and realized that I was not done with the Old West. The Redwood Empire Fell was set aside and the Rock Ridge and Train City II began to form. Once again plans have changed.

It stared with a train set Christmas 2004. The whole family wanted to get involved. At first. My daughter built models and painted. My son loved to watch that red 4-6-0 Hall run laps. Then it broke. Substitutions were not up to snuff and by the time he got his sound Consolidation, he was lost. My daughter got other interests and the layout was doomed. But not before getting some interesting engines and rolling stock.

Although my son lost interest in his Spectrum 2-8-0 with SoundTrax, I could not help but notice that whenever he went with me to museums and train show, he gravitated to the wooden trains. So last Christmas vacation, he and I built a 30" by 84" layout. He probably plays with cars the most so there are plenty of roads, but there is also a construction site and boating on the Allegheny River.

The 2-6-2 Prairie Saddle Tanker at the left delivering supplies to Camp 3 of the Union Lumber Company Is one of many pictures I found that serve as inspiration for my ultimate basement layout. The Redwood Empire represents the logging and railroad operations of the Union Lumber Company and its railroad, the California Western. Set in 1917, the California Western joins the Northwestern Pacific at Willits. The layout will be built in 3 phases. Phase 1, a stand-alone switching layout, represents the California Western terminal yard and the Union Lumber sawmill. Phase 2 will be a logging camp and log loading area. Phase 3 will be the Willits interchange yard and the Northwestern Railroad to the Ukiah yard.

The photo at the left, taken by Ken Larson, is a night shot of Bo West, the smaller of the two freight yards on the layout. The double-decker layout, effectively swallowing the 30' x 40' space it occupies, takes 20 minutes at scale speeds to make a single circuit. Operating sessions utilize walkie-talkie radios to communicate with the dispatcher. Every third Wednesday is an open house. Kids from 8 to 80 are welcome.