Open House Success at the Evergreen Club!

The look on the kids faces says it all!  Allan's CP steam train with 18 coal cars on the Green line was just a thrill to see run!

We did not get TV or newspaper coverage this time but a few radio stations carried the open house event on air. I guess we had 120 people but 30 some of that number were kids 6 or younger to see Thomas the Train running around the layout.

The double-headed steam power crosses Heimerdinger bridge on the back side of the layout. So where's the smoke?

Rick's Southern Pacific Alco powered train passes the CP train on the Green branch.

I think this guy is a new member....no wait that's an old member but we don't see him much with his work load being what it is. Both Terry Frank and his wife Candice were at the open house and she gave out cookies and train stickers to the kids when they came into the clubhouse.

Just in time for the open house!

Rick and Jim have been working on the trolley line and have installed street lights for Cobbleton. Rick did the install and Jim wired them up.

We now don't have to be afraid of the dark!

I brought in my SP&S 700 for a test run but it does not like the switches and would stall out. Therefore it does not make the grade for running Saturday night.

Mike Walcker was in town Thursday so we put him to work adding the apple trees to the hillside above Bakersville.

Burt was busy making up a few batches of Oatmeal scenery mix or what we now call Mountain Magic that we will be selling

at the train show. That's John in the background helping out.

Planning to visit sunny Wellington this year?

No, I don't mean the Wellington in New Zealand, but the one in Washington State. 102 years ago on the crest of the Cascade Mountains the most terrible railroad disaster occurred in the United States. For days in February 1910 we had a cold front come in from Canada and a wet front "El Nino" came in from the south over California. The 2 fronts stalled over the Cascades and dumped dozens of feet of wet snow capturing several passenger trains and many pieces of Great Northern railroad equipment and crews in a town called Wellington.

A crew shows how deep it got where the tops of the rotary plows were below the top of the snow. Then the snow slides started and washed all buildings and rail equipment into the ravine.

But before the snow rotaries could be brought in from other regions it was all done by hand as the rotaries that were
here were now at the bottom of the canyon. That structure behind the men is the top of the snow shed where the trains would go through if they could.

Up the hillside somewhere is the main line of the Great Northern. it will be weeks before this electric locomotive will
be moved back to the rails. Over 100 people were killed in this tragedy and it caused Jim Hill to start to build the current 8 mile Cascade Tunnel to avoid this location. Some 19 years later the tunnel was finished and so was Tye, Washington.  They changed the name of the town from Wellington because of this terrible event. I found these photos at an auction in Spokane and I knew they were valuable enough to save them for history. I hope you agree.

Open House February 18th with Thomas the Tank Engine!

OPEN HOUSE

SATURDAY,FEBRUARY 18th from 5pm to 9 pm

Evergreen Railroad Modelers, 18213 East Appleway, Spokane Valley

A sure croud pleaser is the world famous TV and movie star "Thomas" will be running this weekend.

The members of our club are inviting visitors and especially children to see our impressive HO layout we have built in a 25 foot by 60 foot storefront at the Greenacres Shopping Center.

We have 18 bridges, a dozen tunnels, large city, seaport, large rail yard, 3 different main lines, mountains, small town, many industries, and with a computer system that allows the operator to run trains with realistic sounds for steam and diesels in real life situations.

MEDIA DAY IS SCHEDULED FOR

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16th

Call Jerry at 509-939-5845 for more information for video production,

interviews and photos for advance scheduling.

Leftovers from Thursday night‏

Jim Bowden brought new his new Northern Pacific FT units to the club and are they beauties! The Fts were the first of the

cowled F units that dominated railroading for over 20 years. When I saw F units running around Spokane back in the day,

I don't remember them being this clean?

I took this photo of the Cunningham bridge at a high angle to give it a different look as the two 4-4-0s made their way around the Green Branch.  The Whitney mine has been closed down by the government because they would not put doors on their buildings!

Tommy was sure proud on having his UP passenger train almost finished and running around the layout. Tommy is marking the cars to be sure they line up the same way and will mark them somehow on the underframe.

Tommy's train passes underneath the Thomas train that we will feature Saturday night on the 18th of the month. Jim Bowden

changed the whistle to be more "foreign" sounding.

Young Steve Welton ran his new trainset up the hill in front of the club layout. Say that's mighty fine rock work son!

 

The Teakettles rise again!‏

Just when you thought it was safe to bring out your diesels the little Giants make a return in force in a doubleheader on the Green Branch. These engines will be featured in our Saturday February 18th open house from 5 to 9 pm at the club. By then I should have the lettering on the second loco in NP.

The little 4-4-0s make there way across Heimerdinger bridge on the north end of Green branch.

 The real star at the Saturday Open House is the world famous Thomas The tank Engine! Jim Bowden acquired this beauty and installed a sound chip that makes it a real attention getter. This open house is geared for the kids but age is not a factor in enjoying steam trains running thru the mountains.  That's Saturday Feb.18th from 5 pm to 9 pm. at 18213 East Appleway in the Spokane Valley. Take exit 293 at Barker Road and go south. Take a right on Appleway and go 3 blocks to the Greenacres Shopping Center.

Cobbleton keeps getting better and better as Rick martin adds tress and scenery to the east end of the city. I'm working on the trolleys so soon we will have a real live city to show off.

One of those newfangled diesel sets show up at Union Station at Cobbleton that is owned by Tommy Frank. Jerry repainted the units from ex- Milwaukee Road units and matched the yellow to the AHM colors on the passenger cars. Tom is looking for a tail car to go with the other 13 cars he now has.

 New member Steve Welton watches his brand new high tech diesels make its way around the layout on the Blue Main. The lead unit is one of those heritage UP units painted in the Western Pacific colors in honor of one of the many railroads merged into the mighty Union Pacific.

Strange beast passes thru Spokane‏

There I was minding my own business when i saw this SD70 ACe in trail heading west. The morning light darkened the trucks but the colors are there. When we were looking for a home for Evergreen RR Modelers the pink building to the left was considered for our layout. We got a better location with windows.

This is what Spokane should look like in orange, yellow and black. This set was eastbound with a string of 100 empty container cars going somewhere in a hurry. N ope, did not trespass for the shot, sorry Dave!

I came across this photo of Mt. Whitney taken almost 1 year ago and my how it has changed!  

This will cheer up young Mike Applegate lost somewhere on the trundra of North Dakota as these are Mike's F units!

Another oldie is Keith's SP&S passenger train passing the ice house before the siding was installed. I would guess the piece of track and the loco was the eye candy to "Get Er Done".