California Southern Model Railroad Club

12140 E Firestone Blvd, Norwalk, CA 90650 (562)863-3156

Here is a view of one of the hills the railroad cut through to ease the grade up to Esperanza.

The Spadra depot is very small. The platform is only 40 ft. long.

Another view of the platform.

Spadra has gone through a few major changes since it's first appearance on the layout. Initially this was supposed to be a fairly urban area with large buildings and grade crossings. After much debate, the members voted to convert the area to a more rural, hill covered area. This made the reverse track less noticeable as it returns from the upper loop.   

Passenger trains stop on the siding near the furniture factory to pick up and drop off passengers. Longer freight trains often require helpers through this block to help them up the 2% to 2.5% eastbound grade that continues through Esperanza.

There is a large furniture factory at the east end of Spadra that requires several cars to be switched from the mainline.  The furniture factory is an item saved from our original layout.   There are 5 tracks required to service this large industry.   Although actually located in Spadra, the switch job must use the single track Esperanza block to switch this industry, sometimes clogging the mainline in the process. A short siding has been installed in Spadra to hold the cars while this large industry is switched.