The Pacific Slope Extension

Trolling the Web

2011-11-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

You may have seen a few new websites appearing over on the left; but I have come across enough of them that they deserve a post to highlight them as well:

Ogden Brothers Trains - blog and related family of websites.

Updated multiple times a week. These two brothers, James and Steven, have been blogging for a while, but I discovered them only recently. They offer a variety of posts: profiles of famous passenger trains, reviews of model railroad products, explanations of railroad slang, and vignettes of modern railroading thanks to James' job as a conductor for the BNSF in Montana. Definitely worth a visit - anyone interested in trains is going to find something worth reading there!

Idaho's Panhandle Railroad, by Matt Sugerman.

Occasionally updated blog, chronicling Matt's modeling of the Camas Prairie RR in the 1960's; recommended for anyone with an interest in the Camas Prairie, or anyone interested in how railroads operated in the Northwest in the 1960's. Railroading then was a different beast - 100 car trains, but loaded with logs... here, modern and ancient railroading met!

Pacific Northwest Prototype Modeling (UP in the PNW)

Occasionally updated.This blog focuses on the Union Pacific's branchlines in eastern Washington and northern Idaho in the late 1960s and 1970s. So far the focus has been on boxcars and grain operations.

Metaline Falls Terminal Railroad

Updating 1-2 times a month. A new model railroad blog, set in the Pend Oreille Valley. Looking froward to this one.

Peeling Back the Bark

Official blog of the Forest History Society, updated 2-4 times a month. If you have an interest in forestry, forest management, or logging, this is worth a visit; one of the things I have enjoyed reading about is the various mascots of forest fire prevention programs - Idaho's "DON'T BE A GUBERIF' road stencils needs to show up on a layout somewhere.

Inland Northwest Rail Museum

New website for the museum, dedicated to the rail history of the Inland Northwest.

It's a good time to be a train nerd; a time of plenty if ever there was.

From Utah To The Black Hills By Way of Montana

2011-10-11T18:01:00.000-06:00

Train-order signal at Hill City, SD.

I have traveled far and wide in recent weeks; business took me to Fort Peck, Montana, and pleasure took me to the Black Hills. There is a lot to inspire a modeler in that amount of driving, and here's a quick summation of some posts that are forming in my head:

Division points as layouts. Many much better and smarter did this before me - John Armstrong in the November 1952 Model Railroader, for one - but seeing it for myself in the old and yet still current division points of Glendive, MT and Livingston, MT really got me thinking, as it would be a great way to bring big-time passenger and freight operations onto a smaller layout, without a big classification yard.

The now-quiet Livingston Rebuild Center; formerly the Northern Pacific shops at Livingston, Montana.

The BNSF (former BN, former NP) division offices in the station building at Glendive.

I suppose that should explain that last part, how no yard is a good thing. I don't like yard switching. (It's personal. There, I said it.)

Stuck just outside the Glendive yard, waiting to get in.

The Black Hills offers some awesome modeling ideas. (That said, I don't think I'm the guy to tackle them. My tastes run Pacific Northwestern. I blame Spokane.)

The former FE&MV depot at Deadwood, SD. No tracks anymore, sadly.

Fortunately, the Black Hills Central made up for that. In spades. (The South Dakota State Railroad Museum nearby is a must-see, too.

You can find trains in the most interesting places - so always carry a camera.

Ex-GN combine sitting in a field outside Fort Peck, MT.

I'll open up the comments; feel free to drop in your thoughts!

The Heartland Corridor

2011-08-05T19:01:00.002-06:00

The current issue of Trains has an interesting article on Norfolk Southern's Heartland Corridor project, which has improved clearances to accommodate double-stack trains along the former Norfolk & Western main line in Virginia and West Virginia.

It is a big, ambitious project, requiring extensive tunnel and bridge work.

But I'll let Norfolk Southern explain:

Norfolk Southern is investing in a way that does its heritage proud - this is big-time railroading. And this isn't all - there's the Crescent Corridor, too - but that's a post for another day.

The short take-away: exciting things are happening in Eastern railroading.

Oh, Hi!

2011-08-05T13:50:00.000-06:00

Hey look, I found the keys to this thing. Fires right up.

New post this evening.

Amtrak turned 40!

2011-05-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I'm late to the party. You can catch up over at Amtrak's site here.

Steam and Snow on the White Pass

2011-05-04T12:01:00.003-06:00

On April 27, 2011, the White Pass & Yukon took their steam-powered rotary snowplow out for a workout - with two steam engines as power.

Magnificent.

ExploreNorth took the above video, and has more at their blog here.

In The Heat Of The Night

2011-04-01T12:38:00.001-06:00

Travelling home from Arkansas today... and somehow, this just felt right.

Never hurts that it features a Gulf Mobile & Ohio passenger train, either.

More on the Tulsa-Sapulpa Union Railway

2011-01-28T19:11:00.001-07:00

For those who recall the "Shortline Inspiration" entry, a quick note: the September/October 2010 issue of Diesel Era had an article on the shortline's roster. (Sorry, no link; they don't seem to have an active website at the moment.)

It's a short article, focused on the motive power. (It is Diesel Era.)

See, stuff like that is the reason to wander into hobby shops outside of your hometown; never would have found that magazine at my local shop. (Not like I ever need a reason to go to any hobby shop.)

Well, I Think It's Funny

2011-01-11T19:01:00.001-07:00

Here, a comparison between railroad uniforms of yesterday, and today.

(Thanks to Moe Lane.)

Unstoppable

2010-11-11T12:01:00.003-07:00

Opens tomorrow (11/12/2010):

Shortline Inspiration

2010-09-17T19:01:00.002-06:00

Eastside Freight Rail, Near Seattle, WA.

There is something to be said for shortlines.

Despite tight budgets and second-hand power, they are increasingly becoming the front-line face of American railroading. The big boys have unit trains and double-stacks, but shortlines offer something different - with creative thinking, customer service, and can-do attitude.

More importantly for a modeler - they offer several current examples of loose-car railroading on a scale a modeler can build a layout around.

The two videos offer two such examples, and many more can be found on Youtube.

So now you know what's been rattling around in my head. Now, to give these ideas some fleshing out... well, stay tuned.

Tulsa-Sapulpa Union Railway - Tulsa, OK. Love that paint scheme.

Unstoppable

2010-08-06T19:01:00.002-06:00

Please, let it be ~~great~~ ~~good~~ decent.

Usually, train movies tend to be bad; not always, but the record is not good. Tony Scott is going to attempt the impossible, to make a train movie I can publicly admit to wanting to see.

No website to link to as yet.

Some amateur videos showing filming are available on Youtube, like these:

Western Coal Connection

2010-08-01T19:01:00.002-06:00

The Burlington Northern moves coal in the late 1970s.

A big thanks goes to "mwmnp25" on Youtube, for making these available.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Powder River Trains

2010-07-17T19:01:00.002-06:00

Street Car Appeal

2010-07-14T12:31:00.001-06:00

Oooohhh, Tyler likes.

The new F-line PCC streetcar from Bowser, seen here in San Francisco Municipal Railway paint.

Looks good, looks good. Models like this come out and that interurban railroad I've been thinking about sounds better all the time. (The Bachman "Peter Witt" streetcar is another. If someone will make a good ready-to-run steeple-cab freight motor, I might make the jump.)

When it comes to modeling, interurban and streetcar lines have the following assets and liabilities:

Assets:

Compact track arrangements (such as Sacramento Northern's 40th & Shafter terminal)
Short trains
High frequency of trains (it's a streetcar line, after all!)

Liabilities:

Lack of ready-to-run models (for some, this is a plus)
Catenary or overhead wires (a real modeling challenge)
Era (1900-1950, with some exceptions; heyday of the interurbans was the 1910s and 1920s. Unless you model it as a de-electrified switching road, like the modern day Southern Railway of British Columbia.)

The Lively World of Great Northern

2010-07-04T19:01:00.000-06:00

A promotional movie by the Great Northern Railway, just before its merger into the Burlington Northern in 1970. This is state of the art railroading, circa 1969.

A big thanks goes to "mwmnp25" on Youtube, for making these available.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Steel and Steam Heat

2010-05-20T18:49:00.001-06:00

I need relaxing. Hence, here's some train content.

Here is film of VIA Rail's Atlantic departing Halifax for Montreal in 1993.

This was the last Atlantic to be steam-heated, as trains had been for the previous hundred-plus years. Steam heat had been gone from Amtrak for nearly a decade. This was a train as my grandparents would have remembered.

The blue-and-yellow railroad cars you see would be retired after this trip; not worth rebuilding, a few would go to tourist trains, most to the scrapper. The silver stainless-steel cars had a better chance; several of their siblings run still on VIA's trains. The Atlantic had as bleak a future as its consist; it would be discontinued in 1994, supplanted by the Ocean.

After the Milwaukee Road - Harlowton, Montana

2010-03-23T12:15:00.000-06:00

NBC News
March 23, 1980
Reporting from Harlowton, Montana

Thirty Years Gone

2010-03-17T17:01:00.018-06:00

Thirty years ago this week, the Milwaukee Road abandoned its Pacific Coast Extension and limped home from the West, the last train crawling out of Tacoma early in the morning of March 15, 1980. Service actually ended on March 7th, with a few employees retained to salvage what they could and load it on boxcars bound for the shops in Milwaukee.

The transcontinental no one knew was gone.

I never knew it, but I wish I had.

The Northwestern Pacific Today

2009-07-14T18:51:00.000-06:00

Something interesting is happening in Marin and Sonoma counties, north of San Francisco Bay.

After eight years of effective abandonment, the old Northwestern Pacific line is being reinvigorated and returned to service - at least up to Ukiah and Willits.

You can get the latest at Christian Goepel's Northwestern Pacific Today, a photo- and news-blog dedicated to following the NWP. And Christian is taking some great pictures along the way.

Geez, It's Dusty In Here

2009-03-31T12:31:00.001-06:00

Nope, not dead; just not modeling.

The layout bug is itching something fierce, though. It's going to have to be more of a switching layout - I don't have a lot of room for broad curves. This is okay; I recently purchased two Athearn Genesis Milwaukee Road MP-15ACs with sound, and they haven't run yet.

Of course, I don't have a DCC system yet, either.

Anybody know of a good way to get rid of a bunch of excess HO scale stuff?

A little of the late, great BC Rail

2008-10-03T22:04:00.001-06:00

Going to be out of pocket for while, so here's a little BC Rail action:

The Pemberton Pushers

The Milwaukee Road Lives!

2006-08-04T12:11:00.000-06:00

MILW Switch
Originally uploaded by Tyler-PacificSlope.

Well, at least their switchstands still do. Photo taken at the Ione, WA depot.

This is the terminal for the Pend O'Reille Valley's excursion trains.

KFI Gets It Done

2006-08-02T11:51:00.000-06:00

KFI Colville Turn
Originally uploaded by Tyler-PacificSlope.

An OmniTrax Geep switches the yard in Kettle Falls, Washington on a very hot July 21, 2006.

OS Truckee

2006-08-02T11:50:00.000-06:00

OS Truckee
Originally uploaded by Tyler-PacificSlope.

An autorack train charges west into the Sierras out of Truckee.

May 2006

Mind the Cobwebs

2006-08-02T11:03:00.000-06:00

Sorry to have been gone so long!

There's some great stuff to cover! A trip to Reno and a trip to Northeast Washington, plus more trackplan ideas and my own evolving concepts.

Coming soon...

Nightmare At Custer Creek

2006-04-14T08:17:00.000-06:00

The Billings Gazette remembered the worst train wreck in Montana's history this week.

On the night of June 19, 1938, the Milwaukee Road's crack Olympian (its first-class Chicago-Seattle/Tacoma passenger train) was running westward through eastern Montana, along the Yellowstone River. Unbeknownst to anyone on the railroad, a thunderstorm unleashed a flash flood down Custer Creek, a minor tributary the Milwaukee crossed.

The flash flood came fast and sudden, washing out the foundations of the bridge which had been inspected not a half-hour before. The train started crossing the bridge, causing its collapse; the momentum of the locomotive carried it to the other bank, but it also dragged two sleeper cars into the flood-swollen creek.

Before the waters receded, they took 48 lives. For a railroad that had prided itself on a great safety record, especially where passengers were involved, the tragedy was unthinkable.

If you wanted to visit the site today, you could, but there won't be much to see. The bridge was rebuilt, and the name of the place changed. The Milwaukee Road doesn't even exist anymore; it retreated from the west in 1980.

Racetrack

2006-04-07T10:34:00.000-06:00

From Trains.com Newswire: (emphasis added by yours truly)

BNSF shows off the Transcon for press representatives

ALBUQUERQUE — To provide print media representatives a glimpse into its double-tracking efforts on the Chicago-Los Angeles “Transcon” main line between Kansas City and Albuquerque, BNSF Railway last Thursday operated, for invited press guests, a six-car passenger special with “theater” (tiered seats, full rear window) observation car Glacier View” on the rear.

Matt Rose, BNSF chairman, president, and CEO, led and narrated the tour, which focused on construction projects near Wellington, Kans.; Vaughn, N.Mex.; and Abo Canyon, a difficult stretch of New Mexico track on a 1.25 percent eastbound grade, where double-tracking efforts are complicated by the area’s rugged terrain and a waterway.

The railway has finished double-tracking about 97 percent of the entire Chicago-L.A. route for its ever-growing container trade from the Far East, BNSF officials said. In the next two years, the final single-track “bottleneck” gaps will be eliminated, boosting the line’s capacity from 80 to 120 trains each day. Work at Abo Canyon is expected to begin later this year, once all final permits are in place.

The need for the expansion was apparent at Fort Sumner, N.Mex., where the special passed two westbounds and four eastbounds waiting to negotiate one of the last stretches of single track.

Even as Rose spoke on the trip, BNSF was being designated as one of the top performers last year on the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, according to a story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. But Rose knows that success can be just as treacherous as adversity, although the railroad now is having to deal with its success. Last year, BNSF enjoyed a record profit of $1.5 billion, not to mention a stock price that has climbed from the mid-$40 range last summer to more than $80. In the past two years, BNSF has increased its traffic volumes by 1.5 million carloads.

"Frankly, our service isn't what we want it to be," he said aboard the train. He noted that the railroad's on-time average had fallen in recent months from above 90 percent to around 80 percent. Systemwide average train speeds had dipped below 20 mph, indicating that traffic on BNSF's 32,000-mile system has slowed. In the old days, such cost-generating slowdowns were the product of deferred maintenance by cash-starved railroads. Today, for the first time in the memory of even the oldest railroaders, the nation's carriers have too much business.

"This is a world-class problem to have, but one that we must deal with," Rose said.

"That big intermodal business is the key to BNSF," says Darius Gaskins, the former chairman of the old Interstate Commerce Commission who was president of the Burlington Northern before it merged with Santa Fe in 1995. "BNSF has taken advantage of a terrific franchise. They don't have to depend on coal and grain as they did in the past."

Rose has told BNSF's 40,000 employees — a number that has increased by about 11,000 in the past three years and is expected to go up 3,500 this year — that "velocity" will be the watchword for BNSF this year.

"This is a volume business," Rose said as the train sped over newly laid concrete ties. "The better the system is moving, the more volume we can handle. It's as simple as that. Our biggest problem has been understanding market growth, which has been greater than anticipated. You couldn't get anybody to believe that traffic could rise by 10 [to] 15 percent annually, but that's what happened beginning in 2003."

Rose is the first to admit that customers are less than thrilled with slowdowns in service, combined with higher prices. The most influential shipper group, the National Industrial Transportation League, said in a report that "many of the changes [since deregulation] have resulted in greater market power for the railroad industry and decreased competitive options for shippers."

Rose said that "in a typical year, more than 200 businesses make a conscious decision to locate on our lines and use our shipping. I'm not going to apologize for what the industry has done," he says. "Unlike the highways and the airports, our track and yard systems are privately owned. We pay for all of our improvements."
— Jim Wrinn

Let me break that down for you: doubletrack = speed. This is a big deal. BNSF is putting a lot of money into this - and creating the premier route from the West Coast to Chicago in the process. The old Santa Fe is really moving now.

Billings, MT Was - And Is - A Railroad Town

2006-03-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to travel up to Billings this week. And it fired up the imagination.

Billings is one of Montana's largest cities - but that is a matter of comparison. As cities go, it is on the small side, wedged between the rimrock cliffs carved by the Yellowstone River.

But to the modeller, Billings is a fantastic little city. It features two modern railroads, Montana Rail Link and BNSF. It has a rich and fairly well-preserved Northern Pacific heritage, and traces of MRL and predecessor BN are to be found all over.

The local industry mix is fantastic. Montana's economy is still resource based, and the mix of industry reflects that. There are three major oil refineries within twenty miles of Billings, including one on the south side of Billings proper. Just west of the refinery is a large but manageable coal-fired power plant - one easily modelled by the Walthers Tri-State Authority model recently retired. This plant receives unit trains of (I'm assuming) Powder River coal, in Montana Power-owned coal cars.

And that doesn't include the grain elevators and sugar refinery on the southwest edge of town.

Track-planners, it's worth a look... (Pictures to follow.)

The P&W as a Model Railroad

2006-03-10T12:48:00.000-07:00

Just a thought - check out the Providence & Worchester if you need some model railroad ideas...

Yes, I'm already thinking about it.

Rough Weekend For The Empire Builder

2006-01-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

From the Seattle Times:

Chicago-bound Amtrak train derails near Spokane
By The Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. — A Chicago-bound Amtrak passenger train derailed early Saturday near Spokane, but there were no serious injuries.

Minor injuries to a few of the 86 passengers and six crew members on the eastbound Empire Builder were treated at the high school gymn in the town of Sprague, near the accident site about 45 miles west of Spokane, said Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell.

Passengers were then bused to hotels in Spokane, where they will hope to resume their journey on Saturday night's Empire Builder, which travels between Chicago and Portland, Ore. There is one westbound and one eastbound train on the route daily.

The derailed train's engine and four cars remained upright after leaving the track, and equipment was brought in before dawn from Spokane and Pasco to rerail them, said Seattle spokesman Gus Melonas for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns and maintains the tracks.

Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF expected to have the damaged single main-line track reopened within 24 hours, he said. In the meantime, some freight traffic will be detoured on alternate lines within the state.

Amtrak passengers will be bused between Spokane and Portland, Ore., during the interruption, Melonas said.

The cause of the derailment was under investigation, he said.

Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company

A couple of notes:
First, this was only the Portland-Spokane section of the Empire Builder. It combines with the larger Seattle-Spokane-Chicago section at Spokane, and continues east as one train. That is why the train is so small - one locomotive and four cars. The combined Builder is probably three locomotives and 8-10 cars.

I don't know what track BNSF is planning to detour on. The only ways to detour trains is either go all the way up to Seattle and over a very congested Stevens Pass, or detour on the Union Pacific line between Pasco, WA, and Spokane. My guess is probably detour a couple of high-priority trains on the latter. Incidentally, the old BN used to have a well-engineered second line between Pasco and Spokane - and abandoned it in 1987.

Rough weekend up in Washington State. And lloks like it will be a while before it gets better - according to this Seattle Times article, BNSF maintenance-of-way crews have had their hands full, with multiple slides between Seattle and Everett and between Tacoma and Chehalis, as well as the Empire Builder derailment.

SPR: Lurching South

2006-01-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

Scratch-Pad Ramblings:
Lurching South - The Saga of the Nevada Western

I warned you watching train videos and reading train books can be a bad idea.

Yet another train layout concept has been born; a line running from Nowhere, Nevada, to Where-in-the-heck-are-we, California.

Actually, there would be a point to this line; and, it would be connecting actual towns. I actually wouldn't be doing much grading of new line.

Ninety years ago, the railroad map of Nevada looked considerably different. (From Nevada Northern & the Railroads of White Pine County.) A plethora of exotic-sounding shortlines ran down the California-Nevada border, connecting Reno with Las Vegas: Virginia & Truckee ("Queen of the Shortlines"), Carson & Colorado, Tonopah & Goldield, Bullfrog & Goldfield, Las Vegas & Tonopah, Tonopah & Tidewater...

But connecting Nevada's two biggest cities is not the reason for their existence; at the time they were built, Las Vegas was a tiny tank town on the Union Pacific. No, these roads were built to move minerals to market. The last great American gold rush occurred in the 1900's; and they railroads were laid to the gold camps as fast as they could find the rails.

Most of the roads disappeared during or immediately after World War Two; FDR's ban on precious metal mining had destroyed the weak economies of the surviving mining towns. The V&T managed to hang on until 1950, until it, too, was scrapped.

But this free-lancing stuff is great for grim situations like this.

By a fortunate coincidence of history, the lines survived well into the late twentieth century. The oil wells near Tonopah proved more prolific than expected, and the mineral wealth of the high desert continued to fill the pockets of high desert industrialists. And explorations into the Eastern Sierra brought more - more opportunities (lumber), more traffic (more oil & minerals), and more business. And as Las Vegas grew, so did traffic from the north.

With the growth of Las Vegas into a booming business city as well as a resort destination (thanks to a business-friendly tax regime), the Western Pacific saw an opportunity for a piece of the action.
This is obviously just a developing concept, and needs a lot of work yet. But what do you think so far?

For inspiration and more information:
Nevada State Railroad Museum
Virginia & Truckee Railroad
Nevada Northern & the Railroads of White Pine County
Tonopah & Tidewater - A Study
Great Basin Research
Gordon Osmundson Photographs

Back to Scratch-Pad Ramblings.

Sad Gory Accident In Spanish Fork

2005-12-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

From the Provo Herald:

Eight sheep remain after being chased
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPANISH FORK -- Just eight sheep remain from a flock of 132 that was hit by a train after being chased to the tracks by a dog, the owners say.

Jim Jensen, one of four people who own the group of sheep, said 13 immediately survived the accident but five have since died, and, "There's a couple more of those -- two more at least -- that I'm not sure will make it."

The owners have been raising the registered Suffolk and Hampshire sheep for 20 years, entering them in livestock shows and selling them to 4-H and Future Farmers of America clubs. It would cost up to $1,300 to replace each of the sheep, said Jensen, who works for Utah State University's extension service in Provo. The sheep, many of which were pregnant, were in a fenced area on Jensen's property on the night of the accident, he said. A dog owned by a resident in west Spanish Fork started to chase them.

To get away from the dog, the sheep ran through an electric fence, then onto nearby Union Pacific railroad tracks, where they were hit by a train. The dog that chased the sheep was still in the area and police allowed the sheep owners to shoot it, Jensen said.

"You're responsible to take care of your own dog, to make sure it's tied or kenneled and not bother others," he said.

Questions remain about the liability. Jones blames both the dog owner and Union Pacific.

"It is their (Union Pacific's) responsibility to keep the tracks fenced and cattle guard in front of them," Jensen said.

A spokesman with the Omaha, Neb.-based railroad said the incident is under investigation.

"Typically, we do not have fences on our property," said Mark Davis, spokesman for Union Pacific. "Usually, responsibility for maintenance of these fences is that of the property owner."

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C2.

Assuming I understood the radio report correctly, the railroad was assisting in the cleanup, although whether they would pick up the bill was not clear.

The railroad line in question is the old Denver & Rio Grande Western mainline between Salt Lake and Denver, just west of the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon.

I would be surprised if the railroad was held liable; trains cannot stop quickly. Basic physics. The dog's owner is out a dog, and possibly a lot more.

Just a sad waste.

What's Up With The Name?

2005-12-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

Why "Pacific Coast Extension"? Fair question.

I have two other weblogs, The Pacific Slope and the Wasatch Front (you might have noticed them on the link bar). I wanted a place to talk trains (not that I've done that much lately), and it didn't go well with my politics and ranting on the Pacific Slope or the Wasatch Front. Plus, the audience for train stuff tends to be more limited.

So, I started this blog, and adapted the name from the Milwaukee Road and their "Pacific Coast Extension."

Ogden Union Station

2005-12-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

On the platforms, looking south...

Platform sign...

The Depot's seen better days, but they've seen worse, too. At least it survives, and still has tracks to it.

Unlike my hometown farther south. Salt Lake City's fathers, displaying the lack of foresight common to Salt Lake City politicians, ripped up to the tracks to not one but both of Salt Lake's historic depots, leaving them rootless. Both buildings were once owned by either the state or the city. The old Rio Grande depot still is, and houses the Utah Historical Society. But the Union Pacific depot was sold by Salt Lake City to a developer for a song, which proceeded to gut the building. The old depot fixtures were sent to the dump. All in the persuit of elusive property tax dollars - which no one ever checks to see if those promised dollars materialize.

Either could have served as a commuter rail / light rail / bus hub for the city, an excellent gateway to the "Crossroads of the West." Instead, Amtrak passengers see a grimy collection of industrial buildings, and the old abandoned Rio Grande freighthouse. The depots have been replaced by an Amshack, a dingy-gray double-wide that lacks any of the class, grandeur, or history of either of the old depots.

Such is Salt Lake urban planning. But that's another rant for another time.

But it appears Ogden will display more foresight. I hope so.

Notice To Model Railroaders

2005-11-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder: This weekend the Wasatch Division of the National Model Railroading Association is having its annual show in the Grand Pavilion at the Utah State Fairgrounds.

The schedule:

Friday, November 4th: 5pm - 9pm
Saturday, November 5th: 9am - 6pm
Sunday, November 6th: 10am - 4pm

This is the biggest model train show in Utah, and the best to attend if you want to see what model railroading offers.

SPR: I Need A Name

2005-10-11T17:30:00.000-06:00

Scratch-Pad Ramblings:
I Need A Name

Photo by Chuck Donaldson at Somewhere West
Part of the fun of freelancing is developing your own railroad.

Part of the hassle is making your railroad fit into the real world, in a satisfying way. (At least, satisfying for you.)

Lately I have been on a Western Pacific kick. The WP was an interesting railroad; built in the nineteen-oughts to allow George Gould's rail conglomerate to compete with the Harriman-owned Union Pacific and Southern Pacific empire, it spent much of its life hanging on by its fingernails. But the Wobbly was an underdog you could root for.

One of the WP's quirks is, at the time of its building, its charter prevented it from building any branch lines. It was to run from Salt Lake City to Oakland without any detours. This attitude would actually make sense in modern Western railroading, as much of modern freight traffic is just passing through, between ports of entry. But in 1910, the freight traffic was resource-based, and you had to get to the traffic in order to haul it.

By 1920, this prohibition had ended, but SP and a host of small railroads already had tracks where the WP wanted to go. So in true business fashion - if you can't beat 'em, and they're smaller than you, buy 'em. In this fashion, the Sacramento Northern and the Tidewater Southern were added to the WP letterhead.

One of the facinating aspects about these subsidiary roads is that they maintained an individual identity right up to Union Pacific Marger Day. Locomotives were painted in Western Pacific paint schemes but lettered for the subsidiary road.

Photo by Jim Munding at RailPictures.Net
Now, I'm not interested (at least not this week) in modelling the interior valleys of Northern California. I want the WP to run somewhere it actually didn't, and do so realistically.

So - I'll invent my own WP subsidiary. I'm not the first to come up with this, actually. Rob Spangler did it first, with his HO scale Northern Nevada running from Elko north to Twin Falls. (See the June 1997 Model Railroader for details.)

Actually, I'm thinking I'll invent two: the Salt Lake & Western (SL&W), an unmodelled terminal road serving the Salt Lake environs (as a tip of the hat to home), and... the other.

Therein lies the problem. I envision a branchline, either running between Westwood and Susanville, CA (and possibly on to Reno), or running from Reno to points south, Las Vegas and/or Mojave and a connection with the Santa Fe. So what do I call it?

Some ideas:

Sierra Nevada (I like the sound of it, but does it seem too similar to the Sacramento Northern, a real subsidiary?)
Nevada Western
Nevada Central
Sierra Mojave
Sierra Pacific (But there are already several companies by that name)
Sierra Eastern or Eastern Sierra
Lassen & Reno

I need something railroady, but realistic. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or preference. please leave me a comment. Thanks in advance.

For More Info:
The Tidewater Southern
Ken Rattenne's Website

SPR: The Hazards Of Videos

2005-10-03T10:36:00.000-06:00

Scratch-Pad Ramblings:
The Hazards of Videos

I recently started watching Pentrex's The Joint Line. That probably wasn't the best idea.

Now, I'm hankering to run Rio Grande, BN, and ATSF trains, rather than the Pacific Northwest roads I mentioned below in the Layout Design Journal series. I've decided I'm simply weak and easily influenced.

Plus, there's also the WP factor - the Western Pacific factor. You see, the Denver & Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific were hometown roads, scrappy underdogs against the yellow might of the Union Pacific. (The Southern Pacific was pretty much a non-factor until the D&RGW-SP merger in the late '80s, as until then it only had a presence in Ogden, which was outside my range then. Even after the merger I didn't pay much attention to it - I was mad that they were absorbing the Grande. Some of the moves involved in that merger still don't make any sense to me, such as why did the Rio Grande have to be the road that disappeared? The Rio Grande bought the Southern Pacific.) Not that it matters now - both of those roads and the once-mighty Southern Pacific have faded into a yellow blur. I never saw the WP run - something I could only make up for by modelling it, or some version of it.

But back to my lack of willpower for a moment. My model railroad roster is a reflection of my lack of modelling discipline. I can put together at least one decent train for any of a number of railroads: WP, D&RGW, SP, UP, BN, NP, GN, MILW, CPR... That's not a boast. That's an admission of shame.

And I still have videos of Beaumont Hill and the Highline to watch....

LDJ, Part I (con.) - Model What Again?

2005-09-16T17:22:00.000-06:00

Layout Design Journal, Part I, Continued

Model What Again?

Now that I've whined about the problem, now comes the fun part - solving it.

What grabs you about trains? The equipment? The railroad company? The scenery?

The sight of trains dwarfed by magnificent mountain scenery? Or the sight of a dirty switcher shoving a couple of boxcars down a gritty industrial alley?

If some asks you to imagine a train - what do you conjure?

Take a good long look at that image - that is a good start for thinking about your own model railroad.

Also, take full advantage of the modeling resources out there - they are a treasure trove of ideas. And those ideas can appear at any time. Some suggestions:

Realistic Model Railroad Design, by Tony Koester. Mr. Koester is a name you will run into often, and for good reason. He could probably be considered the chief philosopher of model railroading. Not because of his ideas - but because of his ability to communicate them. He has rendered tacit much of what makes a model railroad seem like the real thing.
Realistic Model Railroad Operation, by Tony Koester. If you know how and why the real thing operates, you can understand how to model it. And want to model it right.
Track Planning for Realistic Operation, by John Armstrong. Mr. Armstrong is still known as "The Dean of Track Planning." This book will show you why, and its advice and methodology are extremely helpful when it comes down to building the railroad you can have - rather than the one you want, for which you need an acre-sized barn.
Model Railroader magazine, and its annuals, Great Model Railroads and Model Railroad Planning.
Especially Model Railroad Planning. It is devoted to articles by people who have just been where you and I now are.
Railroad Model Craftsman - especially their issues that feature a "Railroad You Can Model" article.

And don't be afraid to change your mind. I'm not the best example of this, since I've allowed "analysis paralysis" to stymie me for three years now, but keep in mind that you are allowed to change your mind. It can be expensive, but there is nothing saying you have to model the same thing forever.

It's a hobby. Have fun with it. If you're not having fun anymore - change it.

All right - so what am I doing with it? You would have to ask.

Steve Eschom at RailroadForums.com
Imagine, if you will, a bustling Pacific Northwest seaport city. Its docks send off the grain, logs, lumber, and coal of the American West and Midwest overseas, and accepts the autos and containers of consumer goods from Asia. Such a bustling port needs a good strong link to the rest of the nation - and one such link will be my railroad.

Also imagine, the backroads leading out of that port, the farm towns and mill towns that raise the grain and cut and saw the timber. They need a link to the rest of the country - including that aforementioned seaport.

In addition, the Pacific Northwest has all these neat little branchlines and shortlines. Some connect mill towns to the mainlines. Others service industrial trackage in port cities. Some, like the Weyerhaeuser railroad pics shown here, are logging railroads. And some of those shortlines aren't that short, like the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad.

So - I'm going to to a little bit of all of it. I have narrowed my timeline down to Burlington Northern's days, running from the 1970s into the mid-1980s. I'm going to cheat on that a little, though; while they won't be part of every operating session, there will be double-stack container trains. And they will be run with cabooses, another part of that cheating. (By the time double-stack trains got really big, cabooses were a disappearing part of the past. They weren't gone, but they were pretty hard to find.)

BN and a yet-to-be-named free-lance regional railroad will be the big players. The disappearance of the Milwaukee Road from the PNW in 1980 left a lot of trackage without an operator. Rather than scrap it all, the state of Washington tried to keep it operating. Making a deal with BN, who decided they could use some extra capacity and a route around Seattle to their Cascade mainline at Everett via the old Milwaukee main from Tacoma to Snoqualmie and Milwaukee's Everett branch. (Yes, there is some gratuitous abuse of actual railroad history here. Work with me.) So, the regional operates the old Tacoma Eastern, with some trackage rights into Portland, the Milwaukee main from Tacoma to Cedar Falls, and the old Milwaukee Everett branch. BN is a major stockholder in this line, as is the State of Washington. Traffic is largely carload traffic (i.e. boxcars, tank cars, hoppers - rather than container trains). Some BN run-through trains operate as well.

Connecting at various points are a port industrial line, the Port of Undecided-City Terminal, and a logging line, the McPherson Timber Company.

Chief inspiration for this delusion, er, vision? Ken Gentili's Puget Sound Southern from the January 1995 Model Railroader.

Now, I start trying to figure out how to pull this off.

Steve Eschom at RailroadForums.com

LDJ, Part I: What to Model?

2005-09-06T17:38:00.000-06:00

Layout Design Journal, Part I
What do I do now?

If your interest survives your first train set, eventually there comes a point where you want to take it to the next level.

The question then becomes, how do I get there?

If you're anything like me, that can be a really tough question. We live in a golden age for hobbies. There are more high-quality products in more scales than ever before. Prices have climbed some than they were ten years ago - but what you're buying is better, too. The paint and detail on an Athearn SD40-2 is worth the doubling in price, at least to my mind. In the end, it comes down to a couple of simple things: you get what you pay for, and quality is better than quantity.

Not that you would learn that from me. I'm a rolling-stock hog. My current state of living has allowed me to spend a lot of money on cars and locomotives "that I've always wanted," and far more than I should have. And I have no desire to part with any of it. Even though I really have no need of two Atlas Rio Grande GP7s (or do I?).

For there is the rub. I want all this stuff, but I don't do anything with it. I'm suffering from a self-inflicted dose of analysis paralysis. So many things I could/want to do! For example:

Burlington Northern in the Pacific Northwest - mainline railroading in spectaular scenery.
Milwaukee Road, in same.
Northern Pacific (BN predecessor) in same, and in either the steam era, the early diesel era, or right before (or right after) the 1970 merger that created BN.
Southern Pacific in Oregon. SD45's on the main and SD9's on the branchlines. You can model a gillion* trees or not, depending on where in the Willamette Valley you set the scene.
Union Pacific over the Blue Mountains of Oregon and through the Columbia River Gorge. This could be fun in either steam or diesel, set in the 1940s/1950s or in the 1970s/1980s.
Branchlines! Of the BN, MILW, or the SP, in Oregon, Washington or Idaho. You won't see any big trains here, except for mine trains. (Usually.**)
D&RGW branchlines in Utah. Two really good ideas here: the D&RGW line west from Provo to Eureka, or the line south from Thistle to Marysvale. Both lasted into the 1980s.
Shortlines, little railroads that connect a few shippers
Freelancing. Make up your own railroad! Take it anywhere you want, anytime you want, using anything you want! ***
Proto-freelancing. A combination of freelancing and real railroads, modeled together. An example would be modeling a city where your railroad interchanges with models of a real railroad.

So many options! How do you decide?

If the truth is to be told, I have to admit: I still don't completely know. They all still look pretty good.

I do know this, though: I want to run trains, my own trains, and soon. If I'm going to do that, I have toi start making some decisions.

*gillion - geek slang for "a lot."

**A well-known model-railroading axiom - "There is a prototype for everything." In other words, you can find almost anything somewhere on some real railroad. Whether that would be fun to model or not is a whole other question.

***Freelancing can be a lot of fun - or it can drive you nuts. It all depends on what you want your railroad to be, how detail-minded you are, and how anal-retentive you are.

Layout Design Journal

2005-09-06T17:09:00.000-06:00

A multi-part series where I will explain my thinking and share my opinions on turning a model railroad from an idea to an operating entity.

Yeah, this is going to take a while.

Layout Design Journal, Part I: What to Model?

Layout Design Journal, Part I (con.): Model What Again?

Layout Design Journal, Part II: Surveying the Route

Scratch-Pad Ramblings

2005-09-06T09:20:00.000-06:00

This is the index page for my Sketchpad Ramblings series.

The Hazards of Videos (October 3, 2005)
I Need a Name (October 11,2005)

Lurching South - The Saga of the Nevada Western (January 19,2006)

Track Plan Ideas

2005-09-06T08:56:00.000-06:00

This is the index page for my track plan sketches.

Yeah, there's nothing to see here yet. That will change.

Re-Invigorating

2005-08-26T11:52:00.000-06:00

I am relaunching the Pacific Slope Extension, and adding to its scope model railroading.

I have dabbled in model railroading for over twenty years now - since I was six, technically.

Unfortunately, my accomplishments have never quite met my aspirations. I have yet to physically build a layout that is more than a small loop on a sheet of plywood - chiefly because I hadn't made the effort to.

Like many model railroaders, I have hopelessly grand schemes for model railroads that shatter when exposed to the harsh light of reality.

But that is about to change. I have a concept for a model railroad that I believe is doable, now.

So in the next few weeks, I'm going to start posting up here my layout rationale, starting with what I want to portray. Basically, I'm going to use this weblog as an open journal, to record my thoughts and ideas as they happen. Things will evolve and change over time, and I will track those changes here as well.

History-oriented posts will now be found on The Pacific Slope, co-mingling with my political essays and rants. But railroad-related items will continue here, as they strike my fancy.

The goal is a post a week, minimum. Hopefully more.

Thanks for looking around, and I hope you enjoy the trip.

1000 Miles Too Far (Reprise)

2005-08-26T11:51:00.000-06:00

The Late, Great Milwaukee Road
And Its Pacific Coast Extension

In the darkness of early March 15, 1980, the last train of the Milwaukee Road left Tacoma yard and headed east. The dream of the Pacific Coast Extension was dead.

The Milwaukee Road was a successful granger line earning a profit hauling grain from the Upper Midwest to market. The joint ownership of the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads by rail magnate James Hill denies the Milwauke Road any share of the traffic from the booming Pacific Northwest. To prevent itself from becoming trapped in the Midwest, the Milwaukee Road built the Pacific Coast Extension in the early 1900's, and set about making itself into a Chicago-Seattle transcontinental.

Map.

The Road spared no expense. It had the best-engineered line in the West, taking full advantage of the best steel and concrete technology to vault the ravines and coulees and the most of modern machinery to lay the mountains low. And then it really took a bold step - the Milwaukee electrified two major lengths of its line (Harlowton, Montana to Avery, Idaho; and Othello, Washington to Tacoma, Washington), the only Western mainline railroad to do so. Electric locomotives, more powerful and easier to maintain than the steam locomotives of the age, would haul the freight trains of the Milwaukee.

And in so doing, they bankrupted themselves. Though it would know a few brief periods of success, the Milwaukee Road would spend the rest of its life near or in bankruptcy. When the third bankrputcy came in the 1970's, the Milwaukee management decided to leave the West, and in 1980 abandoned everything west of Miles City, Montana.

Keith Anderson Collection.

And that is why the story of the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Coast Extension is worth telling. Despite the sacrifices of seventy years of employees battling Nature and five mountain ranges, the Milwaukee failed. Inept management, corrupt management, and the Hill Lines proved too much to overcome. The lives and money spent building the line, and the blood, sweat and tears spent keeping the line open, was for nothing.

The Milwaukee Road became the only transcontinental railroad ever abandoned.

You can still see the bones of the Pacific Coast Extension. The grade parallels I-90 between Butte and Missoula, Montana. You can see the line again from I-90 crossing Snoqualmie Pass in Washington, its giant steel viaducts visible to the south as you race towards Issaquah. The loop grade up to St. Paul Pass in Idaho is a Forest Service trail, bridges, tunnels, and all. The great bridge over the Columbia River at Beverly, Washington still stands. But the tracks are gone.

In the last decade, the Milwaukee Road's senior management did its best to forget the Pacific Coast Extension. No money for maintenance, no interest in revitalizing its transcontinental route, no desire to make the best route over the Cascade mountains make money. It gave up and hid. Milwaukee's management demanded great sacrifices from its employees, and then abandoned them, in the largest railroad abandonment in American history.

And in the darkness of early morning, March 15, 1980, the Milwaukee Road slipped out of the Northwest, never to return.

For more:
Milwaukee Road Historical Association
Helmut's Lines West Page
Milwaukee Road Online

I Wish I'd Been In Oregon

2005-05-24T15:54:00.000-06:00

Picture by Steve Shom, posted at Railroad Forums.

What a great picture. Here, the 700 is making hers way back to Portland from an excursion trip in Salem, crossing the bridge over the Willamette River near Lake Oswego.

WIllamette River Bridge

2005-05-19T09:28:00.000-06:00

Willamette River Bridge

2005-05-19T09:26:00.000-06:00

Willamette River Bridge
Originally uploaded by Tyler-PacificSlope.

How about some bridge action? Here's a look at the Willamette River Bridge.

Flickr

2005-05-19T09:24:00.000-06:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

May 10, 1869

2005-05-10T09:43:00.000-06:00

What was it that the Engines said,Pilots touching, head to head,Facing on a single track,Half a world behind each back?- Bret Harte

On this date, one hundred and thirty-six years ago, America's greatest engineering feat to date was finished. This feat meant the nation would flower, as at long last East was linked to West.

They would never look back.

The Province's Great Enterprise

2005-04-15T10:02:00.000-06:00

In 1912, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway was formed to connect the remote interior of British Columbia with the port city of Vancouver, opening up the resources of the interior for trade and development. The death of its guiding visionary, Issac Hays, on the Titanic in 1912 and the financial difficulties posed by World War One (capital being hard to find for nonessential ventures) drove the company into bankruptcy by 1918.

The Province of British Columbia, seeing a need to open up the interior and provide better transportation, purchased the company in 1918. The railroad has been a Crown Corporation of the British Columbia ever since.

The change in ownership did not mean a change in pace; the railroad would have to wait through the Great Depression and the Second World War before being completed to Prince George in 1952, and finally linked to Vancouver in 1956. By then, diesel locomotives were becoming the mainstay of PGE's motive power fleet, and its passenger trains would soon be replaced by the legendary Budd Cars. In 1972, the railway would change its name from the Pacific Great Eastern to the British Columbia Railway.

In 1974, the province decided to go into the tourism business, running an excursion train from Vancouver to Squamish. To pull the train, they found the 2860, a former Canadian Pacific steam engine that had avoided the scrapyard only to be hung up in museum limbo. The province purchased the locomotive and started up the excursions, and the 2860 became the only steam locomotive in regular daily service in North America.

The locomotive was a source of pride both to the railroaders and the community, as the operation was truly unique. As long as it was in service, the locomotive never looked anything less than gleaming, and the excursion service was very successful.

But it would not last. To be continued...

For further reading:

The PGE/BCR Special Interest Group
Wikipedia
The Exploration Place
Canadian National

BC Rail Splendor

2005-04-15T10:01:00.000-06:00

Above, BC Rail Budd Cars at Mons, BC. Picture by Brian Ambrose at PNWR.
Below, BCR helpers at Nairn Falls, BC. Picture by Nathan Holmes at DRGW.NET.

Empire Builder Derails in Columbia Gorge

2005-04-04T16:00:00.000-06:00

The Portland section of Amtrak's Empire Builder derailed near Home Valley, Washington in the Columbia River Gorge, at 9:30 AM PDT yesterday morning. Home Valley is about forty miles east of Vancouver, WA.

Photo from Excite News/Associated Press.

115 passengers were aboard. One was airlifted to a Portland hospital, one was admitted to the hospital in nearby Hood River, Oregon, and 24 more were treated and released.

There was heavy damage to the track, but Amtrak expects to have passenger operations back to normal by tomorrow.

The Power and Glory

2005-03-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Now don't get me wrong. I like living in the time and place I do. I'm thankful I do not have to drag all I own across the Plains in a wooden box on wheels dragged by a steam of stubborn oxen. I am thankful to live in a time where I had a better than 50% chance of surviving childhood, and to live in a golden age of relative peace and prosperity. But...

But there are times & places I would like to visit, just for a little while...

Just a little while. Please?

Pictures from Steve Thompson, Otto Perry Collection at Denver Public Library, and Catskills Archive.
Crossposted at the Pacific Slope Extension.

1000 Miles Too Far

2005-03-15T17:49:00.000-07:00