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Scale - O Scale Trains Magazine Online

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The Tall Pine Timber Company layout was started in 1976. Atthat time, it had one loop of O <strong>Scale</strong> standard gauge track. A yearlater the narrow gauge portion of the layout was started which is apoint-to-point operation. After a period of time, it was decided thatwe needed a double-track main line. This was added which gavefar more realism to our operation. Originally, the railroad had atraction line, actually overhead wire over part of the standardgauge line. However, we only had one individual in the groupwho was interested in traction operation. When he moved away,the overhead line went into disrepair and sat unused for severalyears. It was finally taken out. I was sorry to see it go as itdid make for interesting operation. The main concentrationhas been on the standard gauge.The Tall Pine Timber Company has had many individualswho have belonged to the informal group over theyears. The “membership” has changed several times aspeople have left the San Francisco Bay area and othershave passed away. The main people, who have been withthe railroad from the beginning, are still very active in theoperation and the open houses that we hold for theNational Model Railroad Association (NMRA), NMRA-Pacific Coast Region, NMRA-Coast Division and O <strong>Scale</strong>West. It has been a pleasure to operate for these groups asthey are always very enthusiastic and enjoy the openhouses.The members who are still with the group and havecontributed a great deal to its operation and history areDexter Day, Dick Bettinger, Bob Roach, Bob Plageman,and Bill Bunch. Bob Roach now has his own beautifulUnion Pacific and Great Northern model railroad that has4• O <strong>Scale</strong> <strong>Trains</strong> - July/Aug ’04Bob Dupont’s S.P. switchers awaiting their shift assignments.Photos by Dick Bettingerbeen featured in various railroad publications. Bob has remainedthe chief electrical engineer for the Tall Pine Timber Company.Without his expertise, the railroad would have become a static display.Dexter Day, who is a conductor on Cal Train and now livesin Gilroy, California, actually laid out the design for the railroadwhich, to this day, remains very much the same. Dexter is a mosttalented overall model railroader who has expertise in scenery,backdrops, and track work. Bob Plageman is now in the process ofbuilding his own O <strong>Scale</strong> layout in his garage. Bill Bunch does nothave a home layout, so he naturally operates his trains on the otherBill Bunch’s Santa Fe 4-8-4 emerging from the snow shed atStampede Pass on the main line.

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