There's a new queen in the empire!

They were promised for 2 years to be delivered and they finally came! Jim Bowden was one of 12 guys that ordered the Great Northern S-2 Northern

and here it is in all its glory! I added the smoke but it did do some of that on its own. There's a saved one in Havre, Montana that I saw several times

over the years and now they are in perfect model form at our club. Models reflect history that we try to remember with models.

 

 

Jim has been collecting GN cars for a number of years to create this masterpiece.

 

Jim's other train on Tuesday was his 2 Alaska Railroad diesels.

 

I think every car was an Alaska Railroad car including this colorful caboose. Jim spent 40 years

up in the Great White North  and now lives in sunny Spokane.

 

Greg Mercier just got back from Hawaii and brought in his Maine Central  passenger train.

 

Burt test ran his 2-10-2 Canadian loco that he purchased from Allan Cunningham and soon will

turn it into a Union Pacific loco with the help of one of his friends that knows how to do that.

Another Weso production video

 

 

From: wesolowski4@comcast.net

Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 5:23 PM

To: Quinn, Jerry

Subject: another video

 

Hi Jerry,

 

I sent you this link a few days ago but don't see that you've received it or shared it yet.

 

Weso

 

 

click on this here link ----->   https://youtu.be/Rzn2eTDzXt4

Before and After... Beaver Canyon

BEFORE

79 days since we started on the layout is where we were at this moment in time. Nov 19, 2008. The red

chalk lines represent the Green branch and the Red Main yet to be built but the Blue Main is in place with its

cork roadbed and rail.  It was hard to imagine what this was going to look like in the future but we

were determined to find out. It's like making sausage....it's not pretty.

 

AFTER

This was the most difficult spot to scenic for me as the footing to the bridge were in place and I had

to figure out how the rocks would work in the canyon itself. The answer was to thin cast the rock so they

didn't have a backing or connection and added individual rocks pushed into our "Oatmeal" ground cover and then

I connected the rocks with spackle. It made Beaver Canyon our most scenic location for photos.

Clinic anyone?

Before and After... the Blue Yard, north

Peter Heppler was an early member of the Evergreen club and the date is December 2, 2008 or 3 months since we opened our doors. As you can see it is in

a primitive stage with plywood cutouts for the backdrops, the cork is down for the main tracks but no actual rail has been placed. I don't even think the crossover

switches remained after we put in the 10 track yard. We passed the hat and raised about $500.00 to get it put in. Money, effort and time, that's all you need!

 

Peter Fassler is the son of member Mike Fassler and Peter has the right stuff to run his trains on the layout as he keeps an eye on it, runs at reasonable speeds,

and never gets any of the other guys concerned with his talents. The Blue main yard is a big feature of the club's operations as everyone sets up in either

direction for their trains.  Atta boy, Peter!

All cabooses are the same....aren't they?

Looking through my collection of 587 caboose photos I realized how many varieties of cabooses there are.

Here are a few. This one comes in a 4 wheel version for the B&O. Baltimore RR Museum, Baltimore, MD.

 

A friend of mine who is on this e-mail list is Mark McNaghten and I was able to get him in action

coming back from a trip to Pasco or Wenatchee, 2 terminal points west of Spokane. They call this kind

bay window style and it is 1 of 2 that used to be Great Northern RR for taconite service.

 

My father-in-law shot this for me down in Arizona or Nevada some 40 years ago. Now it is a place

called home for somebody. The initials are for the Los Angeles & Salt Lake subsidiary the UP took over.

This one is called a no-wheel version.

 

Photo taken near Interbay near Seattle where they hung out waiting to be called into action.

The Big Sky Blue came into being in 1967. The photo was taken around 1970. The caboose was

removed from service about 1985.

 

Some cabooses come with platforms which serve the crew better in yards and industrial areas where

jumping off and on is more common. Probably a stove, a toilet and a desk inside and that's about it.

 

One of the saddest photos I ever took was near the New York state  border where this collection

of cabooses was deteriorating to the elements.  It was from a defunct railroad called the

New York, Ontario & Western. Probably around 1965.

Back east railroading

 

This tunnel still exists but the rolling stock is long gone. It is the exit from the New York Harbor area where the old Lackawanna station still serves

the region as NJTransit out of Hoboken, NJ. My nephew Kevin Quinn works the tower for this section of commuter trains that arrive

and depart by the dozens every day.We went thru that tunnel on the way to New York City last year when the Super Bowl was

about to be played there. The Seahawks won that weekend in February 2014.  Is that Kevin near the brake wheel?

 

It was credited to be on the Susquehanna somewhere in New York State. Does anyone know where? Does it still look like this?

Before and after .....north end of Blue Yard

 

 

 

BEFORE

Member Terry Frank puts on the final coat of "Oatmeal" ( our ground formula) on the hillside above the Blue Yard. Putting

it on with your hands makes for a smoother surface before the colors, bushes and trees go on.  To be a good

modeler it seems good knees are required. The date is March 6th, 2009 or 7 years ago. Anerexia is not tolerated

at the Evergreen!

 

AFTER

Today we have a forest growing up so we can justify our newest industry to cut them down for houses, pianos and

baseball bats.  What a Union Pacific Gas Turbine is doing in the wilds of the Northwest baffles me!

 

Before and After.... the front entry.

BEFORE

This is the extreme front part of the layout where some of the track is installed and the upper red chalk

lines represent where Burt indicates the upper Green Branch will be built in the future. Dateline late 2008.

This is the area we wanted to do our best work as everyone who comes in the door will see it first.

 

AFTER

The red chalk line is now the bridge where the little steamer is crossing. While we didn't rush the

scenery we sure worked on it as much as we could.  Our dearly departed friend Roy Wyatt and his

son Kyle made the bridge in three parts and what a showpiece it is!  A guy named Glen Krause did

the trees. I wonder what happened to him? Ralph and I worked the rocks. Good times we had doing it!

Fw: The massive 6900 Union Pacific locos

What did I start?  I never knew the 6936 was ever in Spokane!

Thanks Bruce! Jerry

 

From: Bruce & Marilyne Butler

Sent: Friday, February 12, 2016 10:53 AM

To: Jerry Quinn

Subject: Re: The massive 6900 Union Pacific locos

 

Jerry

 

UP 6936 visited Spokane on April 11, 2008 when the UP ran an Engineering special round-trip from Hinkle to Eastport

 

Northbound, on BNSF at Spokane St, just east of Division.

 

UP 5341 is the second unit.

 

Crossing Trent Ave northbound, after leaving BNSF mainline at Napa St

 

Approaching Fancher Rd.

 

Changing crews at Park Rd.

 

In the Valley at the junction of the Coeur D'Alene branch

 

At Clagstone ID.  I drove like a madman and got here less than a minute ahead of the train!

 

 

It was well after dark when the southbound train returned to Spokane.  Changing crews at Fancher Rd.

 

Here is a link to an interesting article about the Centennials with all kinds of interesting information:

 

http://utahrails.net/articles/up-dda40x.php

 

There were 47 Centennials built.  14 of them still exist:

Road Number	Notes	Date of Display
6900	Donated to City of Omaha, Nebraska	November 1986
6901	Donated to City of Pocatello, Idaho; displayed in Ross Park with a steam 2-8-2 and a CA-1 wooden caboose	March 1986.
6911	Donated to Mexico Institute of Technology, Mexico City	March 1985
6913	Donated to State of Texas, displayed at Texas State Fairgrounds, Dallas, Texas	March 1986
6915	Donated in May 1985 to Southern California Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, Pomona, California, displayed at Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, Pomona, California, adjacent to UP 4-8-8-4 4014	July 1987
6916	Donated to Ogden Union Station, Ogden, Utah	January 1986
6922	Donated to City of North Platte, Nebraska; displayed at Cody Park	October 1985
6925	Stored at Chamberlain, South Dakota, on Dakota Southern Railroad; empty shell, with engines, generators, air compressors and traction motors missing; not officially preserved; still there in mid-January 2015.	April 1987
6930	Donated to Smoky Hill Railway & Historical Society, Shawnee Mission, Kansas; traded to Illinois Railway Museum in exchange for former Wabash coaches	August 1985
6930	Illinois Railway Museum	October 1991
6936	Last operating UP DDA40X, still in service, used for special trains.
6938	On display at Jenks Shops, North Little Rock, Arkansas	November 1989
6944	Donated to National Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, Missouri; cosmetically restored in May 2015	August 1984
6946	Donated to Feather River Rail Society, Portola, California

More of Thursday Night Live!

Most of you know that I do airbrush, decaling and weathering at the train club and here is my

latest effort to take an average composite plastic gondola and turn it into a Spokane International model.

They never had this kind of car but that didn't stop me!

 

A blue and white Oakway lease unit leads two big BN units over Beaver canyon.

 

Marvin had Northern Pacific diesels pulling a freight past tunnels and the Blue Yard.

 

The Red line serves the Titanic ice plant but today it is just a wayside structure.

 

Santa Claus peeked into the train club to see if everyone was naughty or nice.

We don't know if he was real early or way too late. Stand in Rod Huffman had no comment.

 

Finally Keith Wiles makes his way back to the club after helping me carry a heavy box to my car.

It's 9:15 pm and its time to go home.

The massive 6900 Union Pacific locos

Look what showed up at the club last night! One of Union Pacific's heritage locos is the 6936 which

is a double engined monster that rules the rails from 1969 for some 30 years. Scotty Smith is the owner!

 

The 6936 is the only operable Centennial to be saved. Still on the roster as a historical example of big power.

 

In Cheyenne, the 6936 rests behind the other notable UP engines still operable.  The #3985 a 4-6-6-4 Challenger,

the #8444 ( 844), a baby steamer, caboose, and a rotary snowplow. Inside is now a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy #4014 being

restored for operation!

 

Those large U Boats look small compared to the Centennial in the lead.

 

Scotty matches the photo I sent to him by including 2 of those GE U boats in the above photo.

 

The other saved Centennial is at Ogden, Utah with other notable UP  and SP equipment.

I think I'm going to take up golf!

Milwaukee meets Milwaukee in the wilds of the Evergreen Railroad

Don Carnegie mow has two different Milwaukee passenger trains with the correct passenger cars

running the rails last night.

One of those passenger trains meets a Northern Pacific freight train passing the REA building in

the north end of the layout.

 

John Schwarze did a little alteration to his SD 60 by changing the UP slogan to reflect his favorite

Western Pacific Railroad that was taken over by the yellow peril.

 

Janis had this cute Rio Grande passenger train running over Beaver Canyon. Next week Rod and I

will add the lettering to the engine to make it look even better.

 

Spike Gorley makes our layout an International theme with Canadian power ruling the rails.

 

Krith Wiles brings us back to reality with one of our favorite railroads with our home town name

included on the loco. The Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railroad. One of those has a football team!

The next terrific model railroad video from Weso

Hot off the computer!  Jerry

 

Jerry,

 

Here'2 a link to share the video I told you of last night.

Again, not Evergreen but still a fun little concept.

 

Weso

 

click this here link ----->   https://youtu.be/Zil6rxOUr10

Our guy in Seattle in Washington State....Russell Wilson

If you ever watched a Super Bowl game you"ll know what this means.  Jerry