Master list of all "Jawbone Branch" layout planning & construction blog posts.
The Southern Pacific's Owenyo Branch, as it was officially known, earned its nickname "Jawbone" from the saber-tooth jawbone that was found near Cantil in Red Rock Canyon when the original California Aqueduct was being built between 1908-1916.
The physical shape of the branch is also shaped rather like a jawbone. I've selected to only model three towns of interest, as the whole branch was 143 miles long out of Mojave. The branch skirts the northern edge of the Mojave Desert, then crosses the El Paso mountains in a 3400 foot long tunnel, then follows the Owens Valley, which is a couple valleys west of the more famous Death Valley north to the junction and transfer point with the old Carson and Colorado Narrow Gauge at Owenyo, which became the SPNG by my era.
If I was to model the branch in full HO scale, it would be 1.625 miles long! As I only have a 11x20ft shop that I can go around the walls in, so I have to be much more selective of what my little slice of no where I will model.
The Southern Pacific's Owenyo Branch, as it was officially known, earned its nickname "Jawbone" from the saber-tooth jawbone that was found near Cantil in Red Rock Canyon when the original California Aqueduct was being built between 1908-1916.
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| My Layout's focal points are the three highlighted red bullets on John Signor Jawbone Branch Map - owensvalleyhistory,com |
The physical shape of the branch is also shaped rather like a jawbone. I've selected to only model three towns of interest, as the whole branch was 143 miles long out of Mojave. The branch skirts the northern edge of the Mojave Desert, then crosses the El Paso mountains in a 3400 foot long tunnel, then follows the Owens Valley, which is a couple valleys west of the more famous Death Valley north to the junction and transfer point with the old Carson and Colorado Narrow Gauge at Owenyo, which became the SPNG by my era.
If I was to model the branch in full HO scale, it would be 1.625 miles long! As I only have a 11x20ft shop that I can go around the walls in, so I have to be much more selective of what my little slice of no where I will model.
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| A couple SP boxcars from B-50-28 and -31 classes on my Jawbone Branch yard at Owenyo with Photo-shopped photo of Inyo Mountains where the backdrop will eventually be. |
The track plan below is my current plan to model three towns on the Jawbone Branch between Mojave (lower level staging) and the end of the branch at Owenyo in the Owens Valley.
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| Jawbone Branch - March 2022 Track Plan version - Jason Hill's design |
Room is 20'8" x 11'6" with 51.25" clear between corners and 36" doorways on each ends. At Owenyo details such as exact track arrangements, details, and structures have been omitted for clarity on this drawing. I've covered all of those details in more depth in the blog posts below.
SP Jawbone Branch Blog Posts
Enjoy this master list of all the SP Jawbone Branch posts regarding the research and construction of my layout:
2022, Dec 15 - New Blog for the Jawbone Branch - Reposting first 37 Jawbone posts and other related articles to start this blog.
2020, Nov 3 - Part 1 - Concept & Planning
2020, Nov 7 - Part 2 - Research & Changing Track Plans
2020, Nov 10 - Part 3 - Consists & More Bartlett Research
2020, Nov 20 - Part 4 - Freight Car Roster
2021, Jan 13 - Part 5 - Pulling the Trigger - Starting the Layout
2021, Jan 17 - Part 6 - Q&A, Continuing Design Tweaks
2021, Jan 23 - Part 7 - Film & Construction Begins
2021, Jan 30 - Part 8 - Little Lake Grows
2021, Feb 1 - Part 9 - Layout Materials Change
2021, Feb 8 - Part 10 - Track Plan Details of Owenyo
2021, Feb 14 - Part 11 - More Research into Fuel Dealers
2021, Feb 21 - Part 12 - Cutting Time!
2021, Feb 25 - Part 13 - A Bridge Too Far? - To Bridge or Not to Bridge? That is the Question...
2021, Feb 27 - Part 14 - Construction & Mock-ups for Height
2021, Mar 10 - Part 15 - Passenger Ops & ETT Research Notes
2021, Mar 18 - Part 16 - Brackets, Pits & Diagonal Braces
2021, Mar 18 - Part 17 - Upgrading Bracing, Mojave Structure, & Foam
2021, Mar 24 - Part 18 - Owenyo Wye Construction & ME Track Arrives!
2021, Mar 29 - Part 19 - Owenyo #1 Secondary Bracing & Wye
2021, Mar 30 - Part 20 - Narrow Gauge Transfer Pit Track at Owenyo - "Ski Ramp" for NG equipment to load/unload from standard gauge flatcars.
2021, Apr 3 - Part 21 - Bolting and Aligning Modules
2021, Apr 7 - Part 22 - Laying Staging Flex Track
2021, Apr 10 - Part 23 - Switch Parts & LMRC Switch Standards
2021, Apr 23 - Part 24 - Let There Be Light!
2021, Apr 28 - Part 25 - Wye? Because!
2021, May 6 - Part 26 - Engine Spot & Water Track Detailing
2021, May 16 - Part 27 - Finishing Up East Owenyo Switches
2021, May 31 - Part 28 - Laying Out the NG-SG Transfer Pit
One Year Later...
2022, Apr 1 - Part 29 - One Year Vacation - April Fools!
2022, Apr 16 - Part 30 - Electrical Supplies
2022, Jun 27 - Part 31 - Wiring Owenyo Modules
2022, Jul 19 - Part 32 - Rebuilding LED Lighting Strips
2022, July 25 - Part 33 - Expanding Operations
2022, Aug 1 - Part 34 - Ground Throws & Starting Operations
2022, Aug 30 - Part 35 - Cutting Out Owenyo #3 Module
2022, Aug 30 - Part 36 - Catching Up on House Keeping - Painting Aspects on ground throws, engine track power cut-off switch, etc.
2022, Sept 3 - Part 37 - Placement of NG Trestle & 1st Curve - Last of the reposted blogs from NightOwlModeler blog to this blog on Dec 15, 2022.
And Another Year Later....
2023, Oct 15 - Part 38 - Freight Forwarders & Connecting Symbols - Short discussion about SP and Santa Fe freight symbols that bring traffic to Mojave for the Jawbone Branch.
2023, Nov 1 - Part 39 - A Ferro-Equestrian Archaeology Field Trip - Getting to do some field trip research at Owenyo.
2024, Jan 20 - Part 40 - SP Jawbone Branch - OwlMtModels 3d Printed Transfer Ramp - Starting to develop some of the structures for Owenyo.
2024, Mar 5 - Part 41 - Time for Some Pondering & Research Updates- Last Jawbone post in NightOwlModeler blog, all future posts moved to this specialized blog.
2024, Mar 7 - Part 42 - Redesigns for Little Lake and Bartlett
2024, Mar 8 - Part 43 - Testing Track Painting - on the Owenyo Wye Tail section
2024, Apr 10 - Part 44 - Soapstone - An Unexpectedly Useful Material
2024, Apr 6 - Part 45 - DDC Control Planning & Engine DCC Ponderings - plus progress on my 6-month old hand injury finally!?
2024, Apr 6 - Part 45 - DDC Control Planning & Engine DCC Ponderings - plus progress on my 6-month old hand injury finally!?
2024, May 11 - Part 46 - Printing Full-size Bartlett Template - Time to play with some cars on a bit of Pulp Pacific right of way at Bartlett?
2024, May 16 - Part 47 - Owenyo #3 Module Construction - Back to actually constructing some bench work after 9 months!
2024, May 22 - Part 48 - Continuing Owenyo #3 Module Construction - More construction on the Owenyo #3 module, more frame strips installed and starting to make the detailed cuts for future main track spline roadbed.
2024, May 28 - Part 49 - SP Jawbone Branch - Spline Start for Owenyo #3 Module Construction - Starting to build the spline-roadbed for the Owenyo #3 Module.
2024, June 6 - Part 50 - SP Jawbone Branch - Fans, Surform Tool, & House Keeping - Time for a new window fan, foam shaping tool, and some house keeping after making the mess with MDF sawdust and foam from the construction posts during May 2024.
2024, June 8 - Part 51 - SP Jawbone Branch - Cutting and Aligning the Trestle Spur - Reconsidering actual positioning of the Trestle Spur.
2024, June 9 - Part 52 - SP Jawbone Branch (Part 52) - Curved Front for Owenyo #3 - Moving forward with construction of front curved fascia strips on Owenyo #3 Module.
Several Month Break
Due to hand surgery and recovery, I didn't do much between June and end of August.
2024, Aug 30 - SP Jawbone Branch (Part 53) - Curved Spline Sub-Roadbed for Owenyo #3 - Construction of the sub-roadbed spline on the next module, Owenyo #3, which is the "western" of the three Owenyo Modules.
2024, Sept 19 - (Catchup from Aug 31-Sept 6) - SP Jawbone Branch (Part 54) - Roadbed & Rough Scenery for Owenyo#3 -
Continuing construction of roadbed, roughing and inserting foam, notch ballast deck bridge. Also starting to plan for Dump Trestle. - This post is long, so the update from Sept 7-Sept 15 in the Part 55.
... Construction Continues on the SP Jawbone Branch
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| Hopefully, I'll be able to have some good shots of the layout with scenery soon! - Martin Hansen collection |
Owens Valley Mining Series
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| Looking east towards Owens Lake and the Bartlett Plant before upgrades of 1958 - Ray DeLea Jr collection |
Posts in this series are for deeper dives into the various subjects, which connect to the traffic on the Jawbone Branch, but are not directly tied to my layout's construction or planning.
2024, Mar 10 - Owens Valley Mining (Part 1) - Soapstone - An Unexpectedly Useful Material - Really first part of this series.
2024, Apr 30 - Owens Valley Mining (Part 2) - Bartlett Plant - Columbia-Southern Chemical Corp - Soda Ash & Boron
2024, May 22 - Owens Valley Mining (Part 3) - Tungsten Mining Near Bishop - Where do we get Tungsten-Carbide machining tools, bright tungsten light bulb wire, and Tungsten armor penetrating ammunition rounds from for the US Army? - Well, not these mines anymore, but for years Tungsten was mined here.
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