West Bay Model Railroad Association

Contents

WestBay Historical Information

The West Bay MR Association was organized in 1947 by a number of model railroaders in the Bay Area. In 1950, space was found via the Southern Pacific railroad, in the same building it currently occupies today. The decision was made to create a "display" (or running) layout, with three different scales integrated in it. It is basically a ring layout shaped as a large U. The three scales HO, S and O intermingle with tunnels, bridges and cuts. Even though some modifications have been done to the layout since then, the main track still follows the original plan.

The building located next to the Menlo Park station, south by 100 feet from the station itself, right along the main line double track San Jose - San Francisco. The layout is built in a way that allows the public to view all the layout from different angles. Platforms are provided to view the layout from a higher angle, and for little kids.

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Current Projects

O Scale

There are no current O scale projects at the moment. There are a few issues that will be addressed in the near future, that being a few turnouts that are too thight, and the locomotive facilities, including making the turntable work again. A few other small problems will be addressed.

 

S Scale

The original track in the back portion of the layout and in the yard, station and engine facilities, have been changed and upgraded. This included all new wiring and slow motion switches, with two new panels, one for the main line and the other for the yard, station and engine facilities. No work is scheduled for this scale in the near future.

 

HO Scale

The HO scale is always in ongoing update, fixing and modifications. Even though the main line is double track, the two loops are not connected, and are controlled by two separated panels. The outside loop has small storage capabilities on the back edge of its main line. The inside loop has three major yards, including an upper yard, where trains depart and arrive, a lower yard, used mainly for storage of made up trains or string of cars, and the engine facility with a working (sometimes) turntable. Both yards continue to be upgraded electrically and currently only some portions of the two are working. Current projects are the upgrade of the electrical wiring in the upper yard, fixing some spot problems on the main line track, and planning for changing the track from brass to NickelSilver. Another big project is the fixing of the turntable with the replacement of the current one with a newer better turntable.

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2009 Schedule of monthly Open Nights for public viewing

Month

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Wednesday

28

25

25

22

27

24

22

26

23

28

25

Holiday shows

 

Contact and location Information

The club meets every Wednesday night, and every 4th Wednesday the layout is open for viewing to the public.

Hours: 7:00pm to 10:00pm

Street address
1090 Merrill Street
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Check this

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Map of 1090 Merrill St
Menlo Park, CA 94025-4302

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Directions to 1090 Merrill St
Menlo Park, CA 94025-4302


Electronic mail address


Web address
http://home.earthlink.net/~pesce/westbay.htm

Telephone
650-322-0685

 

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Hot List

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Comments and Suggestions

Please send me mail at telling me what you think about this page and how I might improve it.

My web site is http://home.earthlink.net/~pesce/

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Last revised: January 11, 2009