New models and old friends

 

 

 

Very nice!  1667 was a Spokane engine and the last of the W-1 class here.  I remember it well.  It spent time on the P&L and even handled passenger trains 311-314 Spokane – Lewiston on January 15, 1955; very late in the branch line steam era on the NP around here.  To the best of my knowledge the W-1 and W-2 classes were identical.  W-2 class engines I remember around here were the 1902, 1904, and 1914.

 

The following picture is a Phil Hastings shot showing Baldwin 501 and W-1 1662 on a train at Marshall.

 

NP had 3 Baldwin roadswitchers.  4-axle 500 & 501 were assigned to P&L passenger trains 311, 312, 313, & 314.  When 312-313 were discontinued in 1950, the 500 moved to Seattle.  501 was replaced by GP7 556 spring 1952. 6-axle Baldwin 525 originally operated on the Walla Walla branch out of Pasco.

 

 

 

 

Never before seen by the Lords of the Evergreen Clan is this brass W&R W-1 Mikado owned by member Greg Mercier. What a beauty she is with all the detail of the real thing. Greg asked me

to give it a little weathering but the model was painted with a well done paint job so being careful was a priority.

 

The W-1s would have been used in helper service in the mountainous areas of the railroad and this

one is helping a new Baldwin diesel up some grade.

Once clear of the mountain grades she puts on her own display of power so now she is pulling the diesel

quicker than the diesel could run.

 

It turned out to be Northern Pacific Day at the Evergreen when Marvin put his own show on with a long

North Coast Limited passenger train.

 

The light coming into the train layout looks different with the sunlight making for a more realistic

lighting on the train. Too bad we don't have skylights at the club.

 

Playing catch up on goings on at the Evergreen Railroad.

 

 

 

These photos were taken with my iphone but I don't think there is much of a drop off in quality from the

normal stuff I shoot with my Canon T5. This is a 3 truck Shay used in the backwoods of America some 50 years ago.

Burt got it from me as a Eli Thomas Lumber Co. but wanted it redone as a Craig Mountain Lumber that ran near the Camas Prairie

Railroad back in the day. I don't know if the lettering is correct but Burt likes it.

 

New member Tom Hindley had has 3 big Santa Fe units ready to go with the famous war bonnet scheme.

 

Greg Mercier's SP&S power passes the control tower at the north end of the Blue yard. They must be new units

and arrived on the property yesterday?

 

Keith's pride and joys are his new SP&S F units, both with sound and are they pretty!

 

If you read the local papers and watched the news this week you would have heard about Amtrak

hitting a truck in Wenatchee, some 200 miles away from here.

 

Joketer Rod Huffman decided to replicate it on the layout on Thursday so when we got back from dinner

this is what we saw. Janis allowed Rod to use her models to do this and it was all done in fun. Amtrak

didn't think it was funny but they are not members so they have no vote.

 

 

 

 

Fw: Leftovers from the leftovers

 

 

A long string of Northern Pacific passenger cars takes up a stretch of rail on the Evergreen layout with Marvin's favorite train. He saw it many times passing

though his hometown of Paradise, Montana when he was just a mere child.

 

Maine Central found its way on our Northwest club layout but the scenery is pretty much the same

as ours is back there, except in the fall! Greg Mercier has a wife that grew up back there.

 

Another favorite train around these parts is the Great Northern and since I don't see any dome cars

I will assume this is the Western Star instead of the more famous Empire Builder. Janis owns this baby.

 

Almost the whole family showed up for this reunion as Steve Weso's SP&S freight passes Don's

Milwaukee Road train and Keith Wiles SP&S passenger train. Nice to see them all getting along!

Since we have eastern railroads and western railroads represented why not do a favor for the midwest

guys with a Milwaukee Road commuter train stopping at Bakersville to pick up a few unlucky souls

to be delivered to Chicago!

 

And lets not forget the Northwest champion Burlington Northern who dominated this part of the country

for 25 years before the BNSF took over. Say, does that pickup truck have nitro in the back of the truck?

F units still rule the rails!

 

 

Brand new Alaska Railroad F units handle Jim Bowden's 50s era passenger train with a prominent

blue paint scheme

 

A lowly Great Northern S-1 Alco switcher gets the duty to work the branch line and pick up some log loads. Hopefully he treads lightly over that shaky timber trestle.

 

Rock Island locos show up in a "what if" they survived paint scheme and acquired these locos.

 

Burt had his F units for Union Pacific running the Red main and rolls past our wonderful industry that

supplies us with such luxuries such as energy to run our cars and keeps our homes warm at a much lower

cost than windmills and sun panels.

 

Our third look at F units is Keith Wiles new set for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railroad. They

served the SP&S and BN for almost 40 years!

 

Large, big power comes our way in the form of Alco and EMD power including a F45 as the third

unit in the mix. All the Alcos and the F45s are long gone from the real railroad but we still got 'em.

Thursday night is the happiest night of the week!

 

 

 

I think this is Steve Weso's train and it has an Oakway lease unit in the lead. I haven't seen one in almost 10 years so the lease must be up.

 

I caught Steve shooting a video of his train but why he is eating the computer controller is beyond me?

 

Greg Mercier brings his 4 unit NP F unit set into the yard along side Tom Kirk's Rio Grande passenger train.

 

A visitor is enhanced by Greg's train as it makes its way up hill. Future member?

 

It was a big night for Janis as the club honors her birthday with a delicious cake made by Marvin for the event.

 

Speaking of big, Scotty Smith needs a big drill as well

to get through the layers of plywood under the layout.

We are improving our switches and signaling so drill we must!

The final hurrah!

 

I stopped by the club on Monday afternoon and no one was there so I decided to run a train by myself!  Not just any train but an imaginary SP&S railfan trip on the

last day of the SP&S existence before the big merger into the mighty BN railroad. The SP&S railfans decided that the only diesel worthy to haul the 10 passenger cars

was a husky Alco C-636 diesel.

 

It had a mix of Union Pacific and Evergreen passenger cars that the friendly Evergreen Railroad

allowed them to use their equipment to provide this final tribute to this little spunky railroad that

served the Northwest for 60 plus years.

 

What a magical afternoon it was as the Alco behaved itself by not failing and not pouring smoke out

of its exhaust stack.

 

One frightening moment for the engineer was the near miss he had with a fisherman that did not move

on a narrow bridge. If he was a railfan the cops would want to round him up!

 

It was a fun ride but it was also the final curtain for a railroad where everyone knew each other and

their families. They also waved to us bystanders to history as they passed us along the way.

 

The sun is setting on this day as well as on the friendly railroad called the SP&S. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

It was Canadian night at the Evergreen Railroad!

 

 

It just turned out that way that 3 members showed up with Canadian models to run on the layout tonight. Spike ( Mike) Gorley had his 2 big units working in

elephant fashion while new member Greg Domme got his new CP Rail diesel running just ahead of Spike.

 

Upon departure from the club Greg asked if I could weather his new unit for him. I think I have a new

best friend?

 

One of Spike's cars was this Saskatchewan grain car and I would vote for this paint scheme the best

paint design of modern freight cars. Its dramatic, colorful and easy to read from a mile away!

 

Adding to Greg's train was this Union Pacific diesel that I weathered last week and now leads the

Canadian loco which happens in Spokane frequently as they share motive power through the Northwest.

 

Not to be left out was Steve Weso's Maersk loco along with a Santa Fe unit just like they did when there

was a railroad called the Santa Fe. It was painted like this for a TV commercial as Maersk is a shipping

company and might be remembered in the movie...Mr. Phillips. We won that battle as I recall.

 

John Schwarze adds his train to the collection as they have their trains passing each other going their

separate ways.  The 2 UP units are factory paint colors, the dirty vents on the middle train are by Jerry the Q,

Evergreen Railroad Modelers go on tour!

Having four real railroaders on the membership roster pays dividends at times for our model railroad

club as Keith Wiles invited the Greeners to a Family Day Open House at the Fuel facility at Hauser, Idaho.

 

Not only did they have events, prizes and lunch for us they included a tour of a BNSF Dash 9 4400

horsepower locomotive. Wearing earplugs was a requirement for us.

 

Marvin gets the catbird seat so he gets in the cab photo. It's a heck of a lot better than the old systems

and now the crew is in air conditional comfort and a lot less noise than steam and early diesels.

 

Steve Welton points out something to his wife as they closed down Track 1 for the event. The locos

on Track 2 are being fueled for their trip to Seattle and will get another fill up when they return east.

Keith Wiles, John Smith, Mike Gorley and Marvin Sheppard talk it up as other folks tour the engine.

 

While we were there on Saturday 3 trains were in and out of the facility including this stack train with a CSX borrowed power stopped by for a fill up. One thing they didn't count on when they

built the facility was most trains have pushers at the rear of trains today so most have to stop twice at the pumps to take care of the trailing units.  Slows things down.

More photos from the fuel depot on Saturday.

 

 

 

Keith goes through a little briefing before the tour with Marvin, Steve Welton and Mike Conners

paying close attention.

 

Other members watch the monitor in the Train Masters office where you can see all the rail traffic in the

general area around Spokane.

 

Steve's wife gets a shot of Steve getting ready to enter the cab of one

of the locomotives on display.  Some guys take their wifes' to Hawaii,

Steve takes his wife to a fuel depot! She still enjoyed it!

 

They keep track of how many units they serve each day and how many gallons as well.

 

BNSF had a cop unit with a K-9 on display. We later found out the name of the dog......QUINN!!!!

 

Finally Keith Wiles had the last laugh and brought his own set of hand cuffs for Evergreen's

wayward President Jerry. But Saturday was a free day so they were not needed.