129-Year-Old Railway Replicated

January 16, 2006

The nine original members of the La Mesa Model Railroad Club (which has 85 members now) – started getting together to share their hobby in 1961.

Then in 1982, they started building their ultimate project: a replica of the Tehachapi Pass railroad, a 70-mile steel ribbon that climbs over rugged mountains to link Central and Southern California.

The La Mesa Model Railroad Club recently celebrated the completion of a scale model of the most famous part of the 129-year-old railway, a section that includes the Tehachapi Loop. The rail loop was considered an engineering marvel when it was built in the 1870s and is listed as a California Historical Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Members use photographs and maps of the actual locations to develop the scenery and tracks on the model train layout. The scale model railroad is 1/87th of the actual size with some extra shrinkage in a few areas to make it all fit into its space.