14: Pacific Electric 1326, equipped with trolley poles to
activate street signals, digs deep into Haas Warehouse
to find its boxcar.
they passed tough littering ordinances in California, it’s amaz-
ing how much trash floated around the city in the 1950s. I cut
up pieces of paper and sprinkled them about, gluing them
down with a 50/50 diluted white cement. I even pulverize
pieces of glass and scatter it around to represent all the bro-
ken bottles. If you don’t believe me about all the trash, look at
period photos.
14
Structures in tight places - 8
15: Here’s where the two kitbashed buildings fit.
The backdrop actually ends just behind the Haas
Warehouse so I can reach things on this side of the
layout. For photos I can hold up a temporary backdrop
that sort of does the job. That’s an old Ulrich tractor
crossing the tracks and it still looks pretty good for its
age. Los Angeles City Hall is in the background.
15
Operating
Switching these two docks is more fun than I expected. Even my
grandkids like to sit on their stools and watch the boxcars pushed
into these tight spots, where they seem to disappear, and then are
pulled out later. To do this, I have a magnetic coupling ramp at the
start of these sidings so I can delay-uncouple the cars before push-
ing them it. It’s just like I remember watching years ago in down-
town Los Angeles. “Pull the pin” and push it in.
MRH-Feb 2014
