Lompoc Layout 2012

October 7, 2012
Lompoc HO Model Railroad Club Layout


The Lompoc HO Model Railroad Club is in the process of completing a new 1,500-foot track layout which features scenery of what Lompoc looked like more than 50 years ago. The Lompoc Valley Railroad is a fictitious railroad that interfaces with many of the major roads such as the Pennsy, Santa Fe, SP, UP, etc. All track is hand laid. The layout has numerous levels of tracks and a total of seven tunnels. The trains are initially made up on a staging level, proceed out and enter a large double track helix that spans the entire four-level layout and enables trains to climb to the desired level. They can be switched to emerge on a work bench for repair or proceed out onto the layout.

One of the first sections the train encounters is a 6 foot x 12 foot peninsula that represents the Lompoc Valley. It was designed to replicate Lompoc as it would have looked in about 1960. This date was chosen so that members could operate the older steam engines as well as the newer diesel locomotives that entered service in the era, without looking incongruent.? The flower fields can be seen along the tracks as the train proceeds out to the old Surf Depot. As the train is switched onto the main line at Surf it can proceed north or south. After crossing the Surf Bridge, the train makes its way up the coast to the industrial sites in Oakland.

As a train proceeds north it will enter a 16 foot x 7 foot switching yard. The yard is planned with a round house and locomotive repair facility and a large number of switching sidings. A 4- by 6-foot harbor is planned that will include a wharf, harbor side businesses and a tug boat pushing a barge. Details such as pelicans, sea gulls, and sea lions can be seen around the harbor. Operational control features both DC and DCC.



















































Photos by Jamie Foster Photography.