Bayrails 2025 Layouts

Jim's Santa Cruz Northern is a point to point, double deck, walk around style layout that shares a two car garage with a compact car. The SCN is single track with about 240 feet of mainline, of which 45 feet is in a three level helix. The maximum grade is 2.25%; minimum mainline radius is 26.5". The SCN is a jointly owned Western Pacific/Santa Fe subsidiary, running from a connection with the WP in San Jose California south to Santa Cruz on the Pacific Coast. As such it shares many of the characteristics of similar lines in the area such as the Central California Traction Company or the Northwestern Pacific. Five major sidings have been extended to average 15 feet in length. All of the visible mainline and most of the switches are hand laid. Set in the early 1970's, motive power is either second hand or leased, quite often from the parent roads. Traffic has traditionally centered around industrial products in San Jose, agricultural products from the Santa Clara Valley and wood products and cement from the Santa Cruz Mountains. The layout has appeared in numerous model railroad magazines most recently in the March 2010 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman.