Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society

12/23/2025

Join us for our last show of 2025, this coming Friday night starting at 8pm.

11/24/2025

In 1990, a video was produced about the many benefits of railroading. It was shot at several locations, including at our layout. Please, enjoy this video and share it with your friends and family.

Train Adventures for Kids: The Magical World of Trains(copyright 1994, Iron Valley Productions)Join Jake and Jody as they have an adventure with their new f...

05/12/2024

"M" is for Walnut Creek Model RR Society. Kori Barton, a local author/illustrator, recently published a children's book which highlights the WCMRS (W is for Walnut Creek). Hometown Highlights Alphabet Series is available on Amazon.

08/31/2022

03/11/2019

A promotional piece, narrated by one of our longtime members, explaining why we love what we do.

01/15/2019

From the Archives: see this story from "Wired" from 2009
https://www.wired.com/2009/06/model-trains/?mbid=email_onsiteshare

09/04/2016

Great layout.

03/09/2016

The George Washington

The “George Washington”, known to the locals as “The George”, was operated by the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railway running between Cincinnati, Ohio and Washington, D.C. Service began on April 30, 1932 and ended with the formation of Amtrak in 1971.

It was one of the only two all-air-conditioned, long-distance trains operated in America (at the time). The Public Relations Department of the C&O did a great job promoting the train. But, if one compares the equipment and services of “The George” to other great trains of America’s railroad passenger giants, it didn’t really stack up.

The Pullman Company which produced a significant portion of the passenger cars for the railroads, placed the name “George Washington” on the side of the train where the normal “Pullman” name was placed. Each of the sleeping, dining and lounge cars on the train were named for people, places or events connected with Washington’s life.

03/04/2016

The California Zephyr

The “California Zephyr”, also known as the “Silver Lady”, ran between Chicago, Illinois and Emeryville, California (with ferry / bus connection to San Francisco). The Zephyr was operated by three separate railroads. The Chicago to Denver, Colorado leg was operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q). The Denver to Salt Lake City, Utah leg was operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW). The Salt Lake City to Emeryville leg was operated by the Western Pacific (WP). The passenger car consist remained together for the entire trip. The motive power and engineers changed at Denver and Salt Lake City. The route from Chicago to San Francisco was 2, 532 miles and took 50 hours and 50 minutes to complete.

The original California Zephyr began service on March 20, 1949. The Zephyr ceased operation in 1970. The D&RGW continued to operate its portion of the route (Denver to Salt Lake City) as the Rio Grande Zephyr until 1983.

Amtrak started running the California Zephyr in April 1983 over a route that was a hybrid of the original Zephyr route and the competing route of the “City of San Francisco”. The City of San Francisco was operated by the Chicago and Northwestern, Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads.

02/25/2016

Before Amtrak, the passenger service was provided by the individual railroads. Often, the railroads named their passenger trains to provide customer recognition.

The Erie Railroad ran from Jersey City NJ (across the Hudson River from Manhattan) to Chicago IL. On June 2, 1929, it instituted daily service between those cities with a new premier passenger train, the Erie Limited, designated Trains 1 and 2. Compared to its chief competitors, the New York Central and the Pennsylvania RR, the Erie’s mainline between the New York City area and Chicago was longer and had steeper grades, and the Erie Limited made more stops than the competing trains. The Erie Limited couldn’t match the schedules of its rivals for thru passenger service between NY and Chicago (24 hours vs. 18), but it found favor with travelers starting or ending their journey in places not served by the Erie’s competitors.

The original Erie Limited passenger cars were painted a dark green and were pulled by one of the Erie’s K5a heavy Pacific (4-6-2) steam locomotives, with an additional “helper” locomotive on steep grades. In 1947, three-unit, 4,500 h.p. sets of General Motors F3 dual-service (freight or passenger) diesel engines replaced the K5a’s which were then transferred to commuter service. Reflecting the Erie’s conservative style, the F3’s were mostly black with yellow trim; the cars remained monotone dark green. In 1951 GM delivered fourteen E8 passenger diesels in an elegant two-tone green paint scheme which was soon applied to the passenger cars as well. The E8’s, each capable of 2,250 h.p., were almost always run in back-to-back pairs so they did not need to be turned at the end of a run.

In 1960 the Erie merged with the Delaware Lackawanna & Western which ran from Hoboken NJ (next to Jersey City) to Buffalo NY. Trains 1 and 2 were renamed the Erie-Lackawanna Limited, and the E8’s were repainted in the Lackawanna’s maroon and gray colors. The former Erie cars remained in the two-tone green scheme, but maroon and gray Lackawanna cars soon found their way into these trains. In 1963 Trains 1 and 2 were renamed the Phoebe Snow which had been the Lackawanna’s premier passenger train. The last runs of Trains 1 and 2 were made on November 27, 1966, and the E-L’s last passenger runs between New York and Chicago took place on January 14, 1970. Amtrak has never restored any of the E-L long-distance service, but New Jersey Transit and Metro North continue frequent commuter service on former E-L lines in northern New Jersey and southeastern New York.

09/01/2015

Delivering Fruits and Vegetables to Market

The country's largest producers of fruits, vegetables, and citrus have always been California and Florida. Before the days of refrigerated trucks, or even a highway system, the railroads were the only way growers could move these perishable goods to buyers in distant urban centers. The railroads used "reefers," insulated box cars with compartments at each end holding large quantities of salted ice that was loaded into roof hatches. (The salt made the ice melt faster, which cooled the inside of the car faster.)

Reefers were cleaned and pre-iced before they were sent to growers / shippers for loading. Icing was usually performed at long "icing platforms" where a large number of cars could be iced at one time. Most icing platforms had their own ice making plant.

Along the way to their distant destinations, reefers had to be re-iced at least once a day. Many major train yards had large icing platforms so they could ice an entire train of reefers as it made its cross-country voyage.

During the peak harvest season, the railroads often ran trains consisting entirely of reefers. These trains traveled as expedited (priority) trains on the timetable (schedule). This allowed the cargo to make its way cross country with the perishable items still fresh.

08/04/2015

Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society provides inexpensive, family fun for “kids” of all ages. The Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society (WCMRS) was founded as a place for individuals with a love of model railroading and a passion for practicing their hobby to share their interest with others.

A model railroad layout is the sum total of all of the trackwork, electrical and scenery that makes up the “stage” upon which the trains run. Model railroading as a hobby is multi-faceted. Some members are excellent modelers that build working scale representations of locomotives and rolling stock (cars). Other members are skilled at track work, hand laying track and switches. The layout requires electrical wiring and electronics to connect the operators to their trains. The scenery (towns, structures and landforms) on the layout is constantly evolving. Other members just like to run trains on the large layout. The model railroad society provides the opportunity for new modelers to learn new skills from the “old train heads”. Memberships are open to all adults (18 years and older).

The layout called the Diablo Valley Lines is actually four layouts in one: the standard gauge, the narrow gauge, the interurban and the trolley (streetcars). It takes 20-25 operators to bring the railroad to life. The Diablo Valley Lines is open to the public approximately 25 days a year: the last Friday of each month, a daytime weekend event (in January, March, May and September) and a 6-day Holiday Event that comes in November (around Thanksgiving). The fares are inexpensive ($3 for adults, $2 seniors and kids [6-12 years old]) so that a family of four can attend for $10. Come join us for one of our public events and see railroading in action.