Three birthday boys make It to the Evergreen club to celebrate the big day!

 

In December 5 of our members have a birthday and 3 of them, Jesse, Steve and Larry were so honored.''

Jack Pappas and Kent Clausen were AWOL and work had something to do with their absence.

Marvin supplies the pies that he makes every month for us members. Looks like Steve was wishing for Kabassa?

 

I think this was Larry's Santa Fe passenger train with EMD E-6 unit in the lead. Love those slant noses! Looks like the handrail needs help?

ic

 

This critter looks a lot like the Rio Grande Galloping Goose reconfigured from a Mack truck with railroad wheels.

Rod has big plans for it with a remodel. It actually works and so do the headlights.

 

Another newcomer to the club was this 4 unit Nickel Plate Alco PA set. The new members have expanded

our choices beyond NP, SP&S, BNSF and Union Pacific stuff.

 

Northern Pacific Mainstreeter visits Union Station in downtown Cobbleton on a detour from their own

tracks to accomplish this?

 

As all of you know I'm not one to toot my horn but here I am hanging out with my son-in-law Kent

Clausen who played linebacker for the Jets for 2 years and a guy called Mark Rippen, who played quarterback

for the Washington Redskins and won the Super Bowl back in the 1980s. The little guy in the middle is me!

It was a birthday party my daughter Bonnie had for her husband Kent and I was invited. Free food!

 

 

High Bridge or what's left of it.

Someone asked me a questions.... so I answered. Jerry

 

Hi Jerry,
I am interested in local history, including railway history.  I've looked around to try to find the south abutment of the High Bridge without success. 

Does it still exist?  If so, where is it, please?  If not, where was it and the railed following from it?

Many thanks,
Michael Cain

 

I am standing on the south abutment to High Bridge in this 1968 photo of the Hinkle Express that,left Spokane around 11 am every morning until Amtrak took

over passenger service and this train was no more. It was a mixed collection of a coach, a baggage car and what freight had to get to Hinkle that early afternoon.

I would guess that this fill is still there and would get you to your south abutment.

 

A quarter mile past the first photo would be where the Union Pacific crossed I-90 and you can see the

shadow of the bridge still in place just past the road bridge around 1975.

 

This is how the Union Pacific got in and out of Spokane to the south and west. The Maple Street Bridge

is still there but homes, apartments and commercial structures are there now where railroads used to be.

High Bridge is to the left and downtown is to the right.

 

Grab shot as City of Hinkle (rail yard in Oregon) heads south. The abutments can still be seen

in the river west of the Centennial trail crossing.

 

Sometimes I could plan my day to be in the area to get a shot of a UP mixed freight.

Perhaps those buildings are still there to get you a sense where those abutments are located.

Bridge no more. It came down a few years later when BNSF Latah Bridge was the UP route in and

out of Spokane and Marshall Canyon. Just past Cheney it got on its own tracks towards the Snake River

and the famous town (yard) of Hinkle where it met UP's main line to Portland, Oregon.

I have thousands of photos on Cds of many railroads in the country if you need additional info.

Thanks for asking Jerry Quinn 509-939-5845

 

 

We got a date picked out you might enjoy between the holidays

 

If you enjoy seeing these photos of the club and are in the area, why not plan

to stop by and see it in real life. We promise you will enjoy yourself or we will

double your money back. Oh wait, we don't charge for admission! dang!

 

 

 

Steve Weso put on a show with a long BN grain train making it around the port district, Old Town and

Cobbletown. Or maybe he is just showing off?

 

New member Doug had a model there on Thursday that was the replica of the John Bull. Back then they

didn't know what a steam engine was supposed to look like so this is what they came up with.

 

Janis had a long Great Northern passenger train with 5 F units in charge. The Green & orange was replaced

by the Blue and White in 1967 but I don't know why?

 

This is an odd collection of equipment with a Norfolk & Western steamer in front of a Sounder

(Portland, Ore to Vancouver, BC ) commuter train. Maybe it was on tour of the Northwest?

 

A model in the making is this GN diesel with a kit built snow plow followed by a crew caboose

for the day's effort to keep the man line open after a snowstorm.

 

 

Young members increase Evergreen membership

 

To keep the model railroading hobby alive the club and the hobby in general needs to increase our

attraction for younger members and that we did this week with the addition to the crew is Alex Carl,

a 19 year old college student that wants to learn all aspects of the hobby. Member 37 if I remember correctly.

He was rusting track 30 minutes after joining!

 

Marvin had his 4 Northern Pacific EMD and GE 6 axle power units running on the Red line and that gave me this photo op to catch it in front of the station at Bakersville.

 

Alex brough in this Civil War era 4-4-0 as one of his locos and it looked right at home at the lumber mill.

 

Rod Huffman had his work equipment making the rounds and always he adds his sense of humor to

his stuff.

 

Doug used the cartoon Pogo to model the Altoona & Fort Mudge Railroad but we learned this week that this is the passenger colors for the railroad as well.

 

My junior assistant Will Windom was inspired to cut into the hillside behind Bakersville to make the

landings for the soon to be high tension towers to power the town with the evil electricity to make

things run.  The white area is plaster cloth to start the new hillsides. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

 

The Western Pacific lives!

 

And member John Schwarze intends to keep it that way with 4 silver and orange units making time and money for the man! It was consumed by the

Union Pacific in the early 1980s and the yellow peril took over the Feather River Canyon line into Sacramento.

 

The mighty SP&S was sucked into the BN merger back in 1970 and that spelt the end of Alco power on the Columbia River in yellow and black.

 

The Great Northern suffered the same fate as anything pre merger was to be erased as fast as possible. In better times this GN SD9 handles a local freight

That's a nice Chooch wall Mike O'Connell!

 

A long way from home are these 6 units for the Chicago Great Western. Looks like the CGW saved a lot of money by not hiring a artist to come up with

a paint scheme instead of buying a bunch of logos to slap on the car bodies.

 

Robert Case and his brother William stopped by the club on Thursday and they brought a Talgo train to run on the layout. The main feature is their

size and weight for ease of handling on commuter runs plus they tilt on curves for a nicer ride. Robert is rumored to move back to Spokane to attend Eastern

Washington University again. We hope so.

The Wednesday Wonder video by WESO

 

 

 

VIDEO DONE BY MEMBER STEVE WESO AT THE EVERGREEN CLUB LAST WEDNESDAY EVENING. JERRY

 

 

  Here's the next one!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzF4GLU0k4g

Wednesday Wonderment www.youtube.com Ever heard of the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway? I hadn't until member Jim B. brought in a pair of Alco Century series locomotives all dressed ou...

The glorys of the Southern Pacific are revealed!

 

Here I thought the magic of SP was Cab Forwards and Daylight 4-8-4s, but I was wrong! It turns out its this little 44 ton switcher that Doug

brought in Tuesday! Sure its small and well.... small but its cute and easy to put on the track. Now I see why Chuck Heimerdinger is such a fan!

 

Welcome to New Josiey! Doug's other loco was a Central of New Jersey FM road switcher in original paint. I never ventured south 20 miles to

photograph these babies running when I lived back there. Let's see... I was young, did not have a car or a camera or film or even know they existed!

 

Must have been a windstorm that pushed over that rail cleaner box car? Or maybe it was my elbow trying to get this shot of 3 big BNSF units heading out.

 

Contrasting eras is shown here with F7 #725 represents the 1950s and 1991 Desert Storm represents 1990s era power.

 

Janus had her collection of red, white and blue locos together for a test run on Tuesday, The units represent BN honoring BN employees for serving

during Desert Storm, the middle two units are America's 200th birthday and the trailing unit is SP version of the Bi-Centennial effort.

Burlington Northern sometimes comes in red, white and blue

 

This model of an Burlington Northern SD60 painted in America's colors to honor the men who fought in

Desert Storm back in 1991 showed up at the club today with the return of 2 prior members who rejoined.

Janis Ledum and Rod Huffman are now back after out of area jobs and a fishing date with a salmon or two.

 

Here's the real one on an eastbound freight near Sprague, Washington leading a few other units

in the setting sunlight back in 1993.

 

There was a plaque on the nose of the engine with the names of dozens of employees of the BN

who served over there to get rid of Saddam and his henchmen.

 

This caboose got the same treatment with the colors and a few times run with the locomotive.

4 month absence comes to an end with Rod and Janus

 

Surprise! Surprise! Rod and Janus showed up tonight at the club and rejoined us since early summer

to go on a work and vacation travel adventure. That's Janus's BN loco on the earlier e-mail we talked about.

They are a great addition to our little group of modelers

 

Mike Baker added his GN locos to the action today as Greg Mercier's NP F units give them a run for their money.

 

Doug Nighswonger keeps adding to his surprise collection of various models from distant lands. The Wabash was named after a river back east near Chicago and was absorbed by some

mega railroad some years ago.

 

Steve Weso ( Weslowski ) dad worked for the SP&S and took Steve on many trips with him when he was a wee child so it was in his blood to be an SP&S fan. The trailing unit is in the

original paint while the leading two units are in the broad stripe scheme. The SP&S were big customers for the Alco products such as these FAs units.

 

Scotty installed these 2 shelves today for members to use to put their train boxes on after they set

their trains up on the layout. Special notices are put on the board for members to see.

THANKSGIVING IS ON THURSDAY OF NEXT WEEK SO WE WILL BE MEETING ON FRIDAY INSTEAD!

WE WILL MEET FROM 1 PM TO 6 PM. LUNCH IS AT DONNA'S AT NOON!

Two Idahoians bring back the 1960s.

Well not exactly native Idahoans, but close! One used to be a Montanan and the other was a Seattle area guy, now both moved to a better place. Marvin brought in 4 NP Geeps and so did

Greg but I don't know if they planned it?  It sure brought back memories for me when I arrived in Spokane to stay in the Northwest back in 1967. Now don't go looking for matching numbers?

 

Here they are again this time chasing each other on separate rail lines in the middle of the club layout. Regrettably the edge of the earth is visable.

Ah, the god old days but I don't think we knew it back then.

 

Never seen before is the Altoona & Ft Mudge because Doug Nighswonger was not a member until 3 months ago. He told me that it has to do with a cartoon strip in the newspaper when

one of the characters would refer to this mithical railroad. Do you know which one?

 

November had a number of birthday boys honored at the club last week including Mike Baker,

Mike Olin and Jerry Quinn plus Keith Wiles for October and 2 other not attending the meeting.

Marvin makes the best desserts for the events and we are treated each month with goodies.

 

Doug also had this tiny steam doing work with a mixed freight but no identifying lettering on it.

It must be a poor railroad as they may not be able to pay for it. Maybe we need to pass the hat?

A brief history on ice reefers asked for from a prior e-mail comment.

 

Moving fruits, vegetables or meats across the country raised a problem for the railroads. If the product was not kept at a proper temperature

the product would deteriorate and not accepted by the buyer when it arrived at his door. The answer was to have ice blocks dropped in

hatches on the corners of the roof to keep things cool. Maybe several times they would need re-icing along the way from the west coast to back east. 

 

They made a move to make ice reefers out of steel instead of wood which was smart but they still needed icing after several hundred miles.

The small doors kept cold loss to a minimum.

 

Next came the mechanical reefer as you can see the attachment on the end of the car that kept things cold.

This relied on the motor and fuel for the long journey, if not, the product spoiled and became railroad property.

 

They finally went to Cryo gas that was a lot more reliable as it only lost a few degrees temperature

for the long distance it traveled. I'm no expert on this stuff so I may have quoted something wrong.

I'm sure someone will be writing back on this.