McLeod service station in the town of Santa Ana, typical of the service station of the 1950’s.  Full service and gasoline for less than 25 cents a gallon.

Home Page—West Midwest Union Pacific and Santa Fe Model Railroad

The West-Midwest Union Pacific and Santa Fe model railroad is a free-lanced (not an exact duplicate of a particular time or location, but inspired by various locations where these major railroads ran in the 1950’s (and even today).  The 1950’s was known as the transition era from steam locomotives to diesel locomotives, and like many modelers I like this era since I can justify running both types of locomotives, and also because I like the cars and other scenery typical of the 1950’s.  The locale is set to be a typical Midwest city (inspired by Chicago) and small California and western towns typically traveled by the Union Pacific and Santa Fe railroads.  

The layout has various industries that are inter-related such as the cattle industry and slaughterhouse, citrus packing house and ice-house and food distributors, etc.  The layout also tries to display life as it was in the 1950’s and includes a diner and a service station typical of the 1950’s.

There are 3 major towns depicted on the layout:  Santa Ana, Middletown, and San Angeles.  Santa Ana is a western town with citrus fruit and cattle as the main industries, Middletown is a major Midwestern city, and San Angeles is a major port area in California (loosely based on L.A. and San Francisco).