Southern Pacific Santa Rosalia Branch HO Scale Model Railroad Layout Tour with Tony Thompson

#trains #HOScale #SouthernPacific #EsPee
Tony Thompson is a well known author and Southern Pacific historian who also happens to love operating trains.
In this layout tour, we take a look at Tony's Santa Rosalia Branch HO Scale layout. It's a SP proto-lanced design that was made for operations.
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[@kents.2866]

Nice to see an operations focused layout that isn't 30 X 50 ft. Gives me hope for the 10x 15 space in my tiny basement.

[@nscalestation]

Great video. I've been following Tony's layout blog for years and this video really put it into a better context for me.

[@red_nmra]

Another awesome video from TSG! You guys rock! And Tony is a legend, of course.

[@tsgmultimedia]

Thanks Al!

[@billgreer870]

Thank you for your time , learned alot . I like switching , but 3 hours. Just seems like alot of work , being 68 after i work have to rake a nap. Thank you so much.

[@rjl110919581]

thank you for the great detail operation video on small layout

[@TheWeekendMedic]

07:35 - "Nocturnal Aviation, they are kind of a fly-by-night outfit." Groan!

[@Peter_Morris]

I lost it at the Buxom Melons billboard! Made me lol out loud!

[@tsgmultimedia]

Yeah for sure - these guys always have little easter eggs like that on their layouts. If you watch other layout tours, you'll see more in that same vein!

[@kentcourtney5535]

Tony, your books changed my model railroading life. Your freight car books of the Southern Pacific provide the most in-depth look at the progression of railroad freight equipment. I have read them and referred to them countless times. They have caused many modeling projects and two of my proudest cars are Westerfield cars representing the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio plus the Houston East and West Texas railroads. They are extremely accurate because of you. I love your model railroad, also. As you can guess I model an earlier version of the Texas and New Orleans-

[@jwrailve3615]

Right on! I’m modeling the Gulf coast Lines (st. Louis Brownsville and Mexico railway) the port o Connor and austwell branch lines, as well as the brownie sub through Bloomington yard and a interchange with southern pacific to serve the port lavaca branch, three levels three different branch lines.

[@trainsbybob]

I’ve been visiting Tony’s blog for years and I had no idea how small his layout is!!! Great inspiration for those of us without a lot of room.

[@tsgmultimedia]

I think tony has jam-packed more operating opportunity per square inch than any layout I have ever seen.

[@em-pinmanspandemoniumpinba4193]

Great layout! S.P. in the 1950's was a good period for the company, and the best to model IMO. Love the transition steam to diesel era.

[@tsgmultimedia]

Right on!

[@how_to_hallagon1]

Thank you for not playing banjo music thru the whole video and allowing us to listen to the locomotives chugging. Your breakdown of the runs is easy to follow and not confusing which helps.

[@kenamosjr.bo_51]

That slide out yard is a very neat idea for staging. Impressive and well hidden.

[@waynebarnhart7294]

Tony .. another GREAT presentation of your layout .. really enjoyed it .. Thank You !!

[@WhiteStar1222]

Man I just love the SP consolidations and amazing route

[@4449John]

Very good way to get the best of both worlds, this concept bears further study. Cheers Tony!

[@wessparkmon2395]

Love seeing switching layouts like this. I just got shelving up in my apartment to start work on a small switching layout myself.

[@cambridgeh.lutece6658]

Beautiful. As a Southern Pacific fan, I love this!

[@hansvanderheijden153]

Dit was een zeer mooie uitleg over het rangeren op uw layout. Prachtig en ook heel goed gedaan, uw layout. Ik heb er veel plezier aan gehad. Bedankt.

[@ictrains9731]

Your detail and creativity makes want to get moving on my Freemo module of Santa Paula branch

[@johnedge4259]

Wonderful to see such a great layout and also to "meet" Tony!

[@patrickflynn843]

Wow......glad I finally had the time to watch it all. You've done a fantastic job representing the SP in a fictional but so convincing manner, nice to see it all worked out so well after reading your books and magazine articles all these years!

[@TRAINBUILDER]

Great video!

[@DinsdalePiranha67]

"Nocturnal Aviation". I see what you did there!

[@railscanner]

It does not get any better than this! Great informative video.well done!

[@JoeyBPhotography]

I love this layout, it's the one that gave me the inspiration to start planning an HO scale layout again. It looks like such a joy to operate!

[@dorothyfishbaugh4728]

Enjoyed this video very much! Loved all the train switching activity!

[@edg1754]

What a cool layout! I lived in SLO for a while, and you really captured the area well. I think that's the first time I've seen the California marine layer on a backdrop. Subtle but effective!

[@yrunaked4]

Great tour and nicely done layout. thanks so much for showing us a mini operating session.

[@espeemike3698]

Beautiful California classic SP layout!

[@marknoonan3854]

This layout is such great inspiration. So many different industries with really interesting buildings :)

[@seanpacificrailroad3700]

I love this I can't get enough of watching other people's amazing layouts especially this one is great thank you

[@GrotrianSeiler]

Wow, such an impressive amount of work. Very nice!

[@bobaroo58]

Great layout and thoughtful planning!

[@micksbackyardaquaponics1408]

That was a maze layout you have there it was good to see it and that for the video clip you put up there 👍 👍 🚂

[@BrianXMoore]

Excellent video. Thank you.

[@ttiwehde]

Wonderful SP layout with a imaginative branch line. The line looks like it might follow the narrow gauge Pacific Coast Railways route. I’m going to model the San Luis Obispo area of the S.P. and the PCR . Seeing your layout gives me many ideas . Thanks for a very informative “visit” of your beautiful layout. Ed in Ventura Ca.

[@geohig01]

Excellent!

[@spacecalander]

This was a awesome episode.

[@tdijon]

I’ve operated on Tony’s railroad several times. It’s always fun, and always challenging. He’s a great host. Thanks, Tony and TSG!

[@markswasey4301]

Awesome!

[@berkeleygang1834]

Nice to see you can model a class one railroad operation in something smaller than 20k sq. ft. I bet switching Ballard can be challenging with the slide-out staging shelf pulled out!

[@mattroberts9569]

Really nice layout!! This is close to what id like to model

[@JoeG-firehousewhiskey]

I like his manual switch levers. they look very prototypical.

[@SGTGhost]

Great layout John.

[@IndustrialParrot2816]

ah i am doing something similar with the pennsylvania railroad and if i ever model the great northern i might as well (though i think i am gonna try to model the southern pacific and the great northern at the same time

[@modelrailroadoperations2023]

Well I may have been first but this is definitely the best video on Tony's layout.

[@tsgmultimedia]

Thanks, Adam. Missed you at op to drop last month.

[@modelrailroadoperations2023]

@@tsgmultimedia Yeah, sorry about that.

[@joshuatoro8977]

Such an amazing layout in such an inspiring layout thank you for posting do you have any videos of the pastor trains on this layout?

[@Grainexpress]

Great video! 😍 Did Tony write a book about the Pacific Fruit Express(PFE)? That was a great book! I’ll have to dig it out and see.

[@anthonythompson9309]

Yep, I was one of the authors.

[@anthonymcmillan9768]

Very impressive. Your detail explaination is very helpfull. I want to model a Branch Line. The Rock Island used to pass through. In 1984 it went bankrupt. Now The Iowa Interstate passes through the state, and a Thru system to model. The rail line is having great sucess, but just passes through. I like your consept. As a child the Milwaukee went through my home town, and is also bankrupt.. So as I child I didn't have much to model. Branch Line operation is my goal. I would like to learn how you set up car cards and do a operation session. What advise do you have. Thank you for your video

[@jefferykeeper9034]

How did you build your staging yard?

[@dennisnicholson952]

Mr. Thompson, nice layout; l have a couple of questions. First, I notice that you are using an uncoupling pick in lieu of uncoupling ramps. This method works well but how prototypical is it? Also, you are moving the switch points on your turnouts with ground throws which seems to work well and costs decidedly less than switch machines. I am making these inquiries because I am on a fixed income and need to save money where I can.

[@anthonythompson9309]

Picks obviously aren't prototypical but ramps are no better. And a pick uncouples anywhere, while a ramp is fixed in place. I have found picks to work well and not be intrusive.

[@dennisnicholson952]

@@anthonythompson9309 From what I see, I tend to agree with you.

[@marknoonan3854]

What decade is this railroad set in? 1940's or 1950's?

[@patlatorres7000]

1953.

[@davidcurtis5398]

Question. Since it looks like you use a pic to uncouple the cars and not the magnetic uncouplers, why don't you cut off the uncoupling rods on the couplers. They look so much more realistic with out them?