Bill Young's Southern Pacific
By Dick Karnes
Photos and drawing by the author except as noted
Bill Young earned his civil engineering degree from Stanford University in 1963. He is now a retired general engineering contractor living in St. Helena, CA, summering in Mt. Shasta, where he has his layout. In the winter he builds equipment for his layout; in summer he installs it. It's not really a surprise, given his background, that Bill's first love is bridges. The layout is designed as a showcase for Bill's bridges.
Bill's Espee is an around-the-wall layout in a dedicated 10 x 24 room, essentially the size of a one-car garage. The layout consists of one single-track loop and one double-track loop that both converge on the town of Dunsmuir CA. There are ten totally scratchbuilt bridges ranging from wood trestles to steel trusses to a three-track motorized bascule bridge that incorporates electronic sound effects recorded from a real motorized bridge. By "totally scratchbuilt," I mean that Bill fabricated every individual structural member, e.g., laced girders and columns, piece by piece from sheet and strip stock.
This layout is actually Bill's second. He met fellow Californian Lee Johnson between layouts. Lee suggested that one of the loops in the new layout should be separate from the other two for better scenic effect. Lee also helped design the Dunsmuir yard that ties everything together and makes the layout functional.
Bill does his layout construction projects in the winter half of the year, in St. Helena. When he and his wife move up to Shasta for the summer season, he takes his newly completed projects with him to install on the layout. The entire town of Dunsmuir on Bill's layout, consisting of two 1'x 6' sections and one 1'x 3' section, were built in the winter and installed end to end on the layout. Dunsmuir Yard and all the bridges were likewise built in the winter season in St. Helena, then schlepped north and installed on the layout.
Bill's friend Diana Woods, a professional artist, painted the backdrops. Eric Tiegel did all the electrical work - last!! Layout power is NCE DCC. And "every stinking foot [of track] is hand-laid" by Bill.
Bill's work has been published many times, including the NASG Dispatch, S Gaugian, Model Railroader, and two BASS (Bay Area S Scalers) calendars. His three-track bascule bridge won First Place at Sacramento's 2011 NASG National Convention.
Here's Bill Young himself enjoying running his Espee along with Joe Visintine (left rear) and Lee Johnson (second from left).
SP MT-5 No. 4369 heads south over a trestle while a northbound cab-forward rumbles onto the through truss bridge. See all those laced truss members? Every one of those laces is an individual piece, part of the bridge meticulously assembled by Bill.
Northbound SP AC-12 Cab Forward No. 4280 hauls a freight past Dunsmuir Station. The loco is a SouthWind import. All track is hand-laid.
This cute little church sits in God's country at the end of the road through Dunsmuir. The trees and Diana's background tie the scene together beautifully.
Southbound F's lead a freight past the Dunsmuir diesel shop. Residential Dunsmuir is at the left; downtown is in the right rear. The shop was built from a Lehigh Valley Models kit. Joe Visintine photo.
Dunsmuir is nestled in the foothills of Mount Shasta in northern California. This scene mirrors the peaceful streets of the prototype Dunsmuir. The railroad is just out of sight below the foreground retaining wall.
These SP F's prepare to lead a train north out of Dunsmuir Yard. The Dunsmuir business district is in the background. Local artist friend Diana Woods painted Bill's backdrop.
Here's something you don't see every day on anyone's layout. Bill scratchbuilt this prize-winning operating bascule bridge piece by piece, starting with sheet brass that he cut and soldered together to make all the structural members. Bridge opening and closing sounds, recorded next to a real-life bascule bridge, are automatically played as the bridge operates. Additionally, Bill built all of his signal bridges by hand, piece by piece, including the two in this shot.
Three Geeps lead a time freight north across a beautiful scratchbuilt trestle toward Dunsmuir. Joe Visintine photo.
Bill cut the lumber for this trestle from an old redwood fence. Notice the clouds and lightning in the sky above? The lightning actually flashes as thunder peals out.