TRAINMASTER BY WERNER MEER  US-RAILROAD-SHOP KILCHBERG
HOCHWEIDSTRASSE 3  CH-8802 KILCHBERG (ZÜRICH) SWITZERLAND (founded 1977)
PHONE *41-44-715-3666, FAX *41-44-715-3660, E-MAIL trainmaster@bluewin.ch
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added: May 13, 2018  /  updated: June 10, 2021 (photos 478 to 489 scroll down)

Caliente Subdivision in Nevada
in HO Scale (1:87) by Werni Lang (USA)
Werni Lang moved from Switzerland to the USA back in 2001 and settled 32 miles North of Pioche at the foot of Mt. Wilson in Nevada. No question, he is a famous model and layout builder and does professional hi-end painting of brass models.

A Short History of the Line
It was built by the Los Angeles and Salt Lake RR and finished by the UP in 1905. Until Edward Harriman from the Union Pacific took control most of the line was cheaply built and trouble was brewing from the beginning. Afton Canyon in California and the whole canyon district here in Nevada from mile marker 383 in Moapa until Crestline at milepost 493 were prone to flooding and destruction. When the construction crews came up to Rainbow Canyon to lay down tracks next to the mostly dry Meadow Valley Wash an old Paiute Indian that lived down there approached them. He stated, "You white men are stupid, water up there."  And pointed to a water mark on the canyon wall. They laughed at him and kept on building. In January 1910 the water was not only up to the mark on the canyon wall but beyond it and gone was the whole railroad including a freight train that was caught in the disaster. A new line had to be built much higher up with several tunnels and bridges.
From Moapa, elevation 1670 feet (509 meters) it is a steady climb to the summit at Crestline which is at an elevation of 5990 feet or 1825  meters. The maximum grade is a stiff 2.1 percent in Clover Creek Canyon east of Caliente which is at an elevation of 4390 feet or 1340 meters.

Caliente Milepost 460
 
Known at first as Culverwell's Ranch the name was then changed to Clover Junction because it was the junction of Clover Creek and the Meadow Valley Wash. The name officially became Calientes in July 1901, then it became Caliente in 1903. "Caliente" is Spanish for warm, hot or heated. There are hot springs in Caliente.
Caliente soon became a division point with yard, turntable and a good sized roundhouse. A branch to Pioche and the mines at Caselton and Prince was built and the roundhouse was home to a whole bunch of helper engines to help trains up the long grade.The beautiful mission style depot was built in 1922-23 after the old frame depot burned to the ground.
Today Caliente is far less important to the UP.
With modern diesel locomotives there is no need for helpers anymore. The turntable and roundhouse are long gone and the yard is reduced to the mainline, the siding and one storage track.
The town itself has seen better days and some buildings are empty and in disrepair including the Cornelius Hotel, Carl's Burgers, etc. With a population of 1,100 people it is the largest town in Lincoln county and the UP is still the biggest show in town.
The first time I passed through the canyon and Caliente was in 1984. Instantly it became my favorite spot on the whole UP system. Rainbow Canyon took my breath away, and that the first train had two Centennials in the lash up didn't hurt either.

The Layout
In 1999 my wife Kathie, a native of Wisconsin, and I bought a property 32 miles north of Pioche on the north slope of Mt. Wilson at an elevation of over 7,000 feet. (2100 meters) It's an easy drive, (except during the winter) of 60 miles to Caliente. In the spring of 2001 we finally packed our things, including all models, left Switzerland and settled up here in the Nevada wilderness.
With my old Green River layout gone, I was ready to start my Caliente subdivision. I built a room in the back of our two car garage. The room is elevated and one side is only attached to the ceiling so there is still space for two cars. The layout room had to be tight to keep dust and paint fumes out because I use the garage for restoring and painting cars too.
The framework is done with 2 x 4's and whatever material I had on hand. The room is only 520 cm x 340cm. But by looping the track around I was able to get an interesting mainline. The track is code 83, minimum radius is 36" (92 cm) and the grade is 2 percent. The switches on the mainline are # 8 and # 6 in the yard. Switch motors are home built with small motors. Most buildings are scratch built and the real ones are still standing in Caliente with some exceptions. My time frame is the 70's and 80's. I took the liberty to put a small service facility and Diesel shop I saved from my old layout next to the roundhouse.
I like to  have some of my diesels sitting around and it brings more life and purpose to my little Caliente. The buildings all have  completely finished interiors and all the businesses have lighting.
There is an 8 track staging yard on the lowest level that is able to hold trains up to 50 cars long. My main interest is building models and scenery but I do enjoy running a train in my little world.

 for bigger size photos you may click on the 3-digit number under each photo (sorted by date)

Pictures from 2014 to 2018 show the landscaping, structures and models of his layout
4/18/14 scratchbuilt Restaurant - 011 4/20/14 - 014
4/18/14 One Stop and Johnnie's Repair shop - 012 4/18/14 MoPac C-36 in UP colors - 013
4/20/14 Town of Caliente - 015 4/21/14 UP SD7 - 022
4/20/14 different levels - 016 4/20/14 UP 8444 (FEF-3) with excursion train - 017
4/20/14 Santa Fe Alligators ALCO RSD15 - 018 4/20/14 Diesel Shops - 019
4/20/14 The VW Karmannn Ghia is one of Werni's real cars - 020 6/02/14 - 081
6/02/14 Last tunnel before Caliente - 082 6/02/14 In Rainbow Canyon - 083



As we do not have another vertical photo, we are giving some additional infos about this "one of a kind" layout.

Werni's layout is very realistic. All mountains are made out of plaster and hand carved. After applying different colors he used some Woodland Scenics ground cover. All trees are handmade using dead sage brush. Also interesting is the track plan with different levels. Operation is simple DC (analog). Most buildings (structures) of Caliente are scratch built because he wanted to bring this place to life on his layout.
A major project is the Depot of Caliente. He went several times to Caliente to take photos of the real thing.
Thank God it is only 60 miles from his house.

6/06/14 DD35A #70 and #84 on the point - 084 6/10/14 Alco RSC-2 leaving tunnel 5 - 085
11/07/14 Caliente yard with GP20 - 131 11/07/14 road markings are still missing - SD24M #99 - 132
11/07/14 UP SD7 - 133 11/21/14 Action w/Santa Fe diesels (incl. Kodak Merger) - 134
11/21/14 UP FEF-3 w/Excursion train - 135 11/21/14 - 136
8/05/15 Caliente w/shops - 216 8/05/15 UP shops - 217
8/05/15 - 215 8/05/15 Upper and lower tracks are busy - 218
8/05/15 UP DDA40X is leaving the tunnel - 219 8/05/15 Conrail and C&NW w/UP SD40-2 - 220
12/01/15 Alco Models UP Big Blow GTEL - 267 12/01/15 Big Blow, SD24B, DD35B - 268
12/01/15 Alco C630 westbound - 266 12/01/15 - 269
12/01/15 the town of Caliente - 270 1/23/16 E9A and E8A diesels and FEF-3 steam line up - 271
1/31/17 There is a GE U50C at the shops - 365 1/31/17 busy railroad crossing w/switcher - 366
1/31/17 In Canyon - 367 1/31/17 the guys on the platform enjoy passing FEF-3 - 368
1/31/17 GE U50 and ALCO C855A - 370 2/01/17 Passenger meets Freight train - 371
2/02/17 Rainbow Canyon Ranch - 372 2/03/17 old truck looks so real - 373
2/04/17 RR crossing w/speeder - 374 2/05/17 UP, C&NW, CR power - 375
1/31/17 GE U50 is the leading unit - 369 2/05/17 Paiute couple with horse in foreground - 376
2/05/17 Fueling station with sanding tower - 377 2/10/17 UP DDA40X is leading this train - 378
12/29/17 U28C waits in siding - 465 12/29/17 more details, road markings and trees - 467
12/29/17 - 469 12/29/17 - 470
12/29/17 Westbound heads into Canyon - 468 12/29/17 UP Passenger w/E-units - 471
12/29/17 special load on flat cars - 473 12/30/17 Canyon local - 476
12/30/17 nice scene w/dirt road, tunnel and UP train - 477 12/30/17 road markings and trees are done - 475
12/30/17 Caliente w/lots of trees - 474 2021 Coming out of the tunnel rolling over a bridge - 478
The Caliente Depot is a long term project to be built from the ground up in HO scale. At the end of 2020, this master piece of scratchbuilding was finished and we can present the outstanding result - congratulations to Werni for that super job !!
4/06/17 Caliente Depot (yellow Mustang is one of Werni's cars) - 389 3/31/18 Current stage of Depot model - all scratchbuilt - 481
2021 - finally the Caliente Depot is finished - 482 2021 - finally the Caliente Depot is finished - 483
2021 - The Caliente Depot is ready for the next train - 484 2021 - rear side of the Caliente Depot - 485
2021 - A UP U-Boat is passing theCaliente Depot - 486 2021 - UP DDA40X and SP ALCO DH643 with a freight train - 487
2021 - 3 UP diesels are pulling this mixed freight train - 488 2021 - UP freight train is leaving the tunnel- 489

 Photos copyright by Werni Lang (USA)

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