Grain trains dominate the Evergreen Railroad!

You can tell it's fall by the amount of grain trains passing through Spokane every day and now the Evergreen Railroad has the same experience.

Here is a collective photo of 3 big grain trains passing each other on the way to and from the coast  It wasn't planned but that's how it ended up

with Mike Baker, Marvin and Steve Weso adding the fleet to the scene.

They meet again on another portion of the layout. The real product will turn into breads and pastas

around the world. Thank you farmers...and the railroads as well.

 

John Schwarze did not get the e-mail as to bringing a grain train, then again no one told him to bring

his favorite train from sunny California. Nice headlight John!

Marvin's train was 70 cars long and as you can see the locos to the left but the caboose is still out of the

photo.

Nicely weathered U-boats depart the yard that belong to Mike Baker, the Mayor of Bakersville.

Mommy, where do all the automobiles come from?

 

They come from the BNSF dear, the BNSF brings them to us! Mr. Weso said so!

 

Say it ain't so! Don't they come from a factory or Detroit? Maybe a large cargo ship?

 

No dear, they come from the BNSF in large numbers. Can you see the end of the train?

 

They come in large boxes.....with wheels on them as well.

 

Do you see the end of the train? I still don't!  Mr. Weso, do you see the end of the train?

Mommy, where do all the automobiles come from?

They come from the BNSF dear, the BNSF brings them to us! Mr. Weso said so!

 

Say it ain't so! Don't they come from a factory or Detroit? Maybe a large cargo ship?

 

No dear, they come from the BNSF in large numbers. Can you see the end of the train?

 

They come in large boxes.....with wheels on them as well.

 

Do you see the end of the train? I still don't!  Mr. Weso, do you see the end of the train?

Still making rocks!

 

 

Maybe you remember the 2' by 4' display I made last week? Jim Bowden was so impressed with it that

he asked if I would do one for him. This one was made from leftover materials from the big one which

included a piece of blue foam 24" by 12"  base with a similar piece for the back to hold the rock castings.

The rock debris was created by putting the junk castings in a plastic bag and bashing it with a hammer.

Use latex glue as regular Liquid Nails will eat the blue foam. The cork roadbed is in place as well. Connect

the rock castings with spackle and use a wet brush to force the spackle into the seams.

 

Now the fun begins! Get your water base colors dabbed on a scrap piece of wood and have a pan of water

handy. Use small dabs of color ( Black, tan, brown, red? earth colors ) and use plenty of water on the brush

and start lightly as you don't want 100 percent colors. Keep adding color as you desire. Mix over the

base colors so it blends middle tones of those colors. Add Sculptamold for ground cover with sprinkles

of green stuff or better yet trees on top! Add the track and rust it!

 

The purpose of this display is to use it as a background for Ebay model sales and it is a good idea.

 

It should make the model look more special in such a setting.  How about you?

Trolley line gets a going over.

 

 

 

A week or so has gone by when the guys decided to work on the trolley line that normally gets ignored by the track crew. Over the years the

black underlayment that represents the road decided to lift up which made the trolley operation questionable.

 

John Schwarze carefully climbed up on the layout to fix the problem but John being 87 times larger than

the layout makes him look out of scale.

 

This fella is looking for enemy planes or something that was not explained to me but I assume it has

something to do with looking at models. A complete investigation is under way.

 

Last week we had a Spokane Train Show or Swap Meet where an HO layout called FREEMO was on display.

The most impressive section on the system was this one with this massive double track wood trestle

built by one of our ex-members Allan Cunningham shown on the right.

THe larger G scale was also there with a set of Santa Fe F units in charge as this kid was following it around

the layout. This is the stuff that make outdoor railroading possible.

 

Finally the photo of the BN caboose that was done up in red, white and blue just like the Desert Storm

diesel was to support our troops who were in danger back in 1992.

Now it looks like the BNSF is doing the trespassing on the Evergreen Railroad property.

Not one but two sets of powerful locomotives from the mighty BNSF make their way across the mountains of the Evergreen Region.  Evergreen

Security better check on their Green cards, environmental impact, calorie intake and mental health!

 

We checked this guy out and he passed all the tests so far. Steve Weso does video recording of

Steve Ray's train so we can look forward to more viewing enjoyment!

 

Marvelous Marvin had his Boeing Airplane bodies on the rails praying that they can make it through Montana before they become seaplanes again.

 

Scotty Smith had these large UP diesels in charge of a 39 car coal train and what a sight it made

winding through the entire layout last night. No coal dust was found after it passed.

 

Brand new to the club was Janis Ledum and Rod Huffman's commuter train called the Sounder. They are

the trains that serve the needs of the Washington State that live along the coast of Pudget Sound.

 

The Milwaukee Road is always represented by Don Carnegie but this time he includes the #156 Bi-centennial,

a standard U boat and in the middle is a Erie Lackawanna Bi-centennial in red, white and blue as well.

Colorful? Different? Believeable? Don has an answer! After all it's what you make it. But would

Colin Capernick stand for it as it passed? Probably not.

 

Old friend and visitor gets track priviliges on the Evergreen!

Steve Ray and me, back in 1980, joined the old River City club some 36 years ago in the Spokane Valley,

paid us a visit today and ran his special train on our tracks. He's the one with the black shirt while Steve

Weso, Greg Domme and young Eliam watch as his train starts up hill.

 

 

 

Steve nails the Paloue River & Coulee City 3651 almost to a tee. The yellow safety stripes may have

been added to this engine after the photo was taken. Railroad was located west and south of Spokane.

Amazing capture of the prototype.

 

Typical of shortlines they switch power from one line to another depending on traffic, repairs,

etc. to help a sister railroad out of a jam. The 799 is owned by the same entity but different location.

 

Steve did his own decals for this private car and he had 6 or more of these cars on his train.

 

The PCC served a large grain growing region so grain cars are the norm.  Thanks Steve, for sharing this with us!

 

 

Project Grandson

Hi Guys,

Making foam look like a mountain side.

A grand mother from Spokane wants a 2 foot by 4 foot portable display

made for her grand son who has Dept. 56 collection

and wanted me to build one for him. This is how I did it. Jerry

 

From: Karen Lindberg

Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2016 2:27 PM

To: Jerry Quinn

Subject: Re: Project Grandson

 

This looks amazing!  You are the best!  I can't wait for my grandson to see this masterpiece.  He will be so excited.

I am not able to meet you on Friday but can do it any day next week except Friday.  Please give me a call so we can discuss.

If I bring you the snow can you glue it on for me?  Also, are you going to be able to drill some holes for the electrical cords? 

Thanks, and I look forward to talking to you.  Karen 

 

On Thu, Oct 13, 2016 at 12:19 AM, Jerry Quinn <Jerry@signalsigns.com> wrote:

Hi Karen, Here are a few of the steps I took to get the platform for the eight Dept. 56 buildings.

Figuring out how to do the hillside to accommodate the buildings and allowing a road/trail to connect

all of the buildings to make it believable. I started with 2 " dense blue foam and had it cut with a

bandsaw.

 

I then cast the plaster molds to allow pieces of the detail to be glued to the blue foam and then I

connected them with spackle. Several steps were used in the coloration of the rocks.

I also used my "oatmeal" formula of 2 kinds of insulation, glue, and water to make the contours

for the roadways or the ramps to get to each level. Side panels were also installed.

 

Finally I added ground cover and grey gravel to tie everything together. I purchased 2 handles to make

it easier to move from one place to another because of its size and bulk. If I remember right you said

you had snow to make it a winter scene so we need to glue the snow on if that is your direction.

I will have it at the ad agency at 727 West Garland this Friday afternoon if that fits your schedule.

I hope you and your grandson have lots of pleasure when you complete it with the structures, trees

and people.  Jerry Quinn 939-5845.

 

 

Leftovers anyone?

The Northern Pacific lives on with our models, memories and fondness with several members of the Evergreen. This set of SD45s passes our oil

industry on the back side of the club layout. Not bad for a iphone camera photo?

 

New to the hobby are these aged BN locos with the faded look. All that is needed is a little grimy

black and some rust colors? Anyone know how to do that?

 

This one is new to me as I never saw this car before. The new way to ship metal coils protected from

the weather and such, the brackets on top is for stacking the tops when they are unlading the coils.

 

My Spokane International train passes a government road project that has taken 4 years so far and they

are still not finished with the project. I see the trucks in the background still waiting to get through!

 

Jim Bowden and Marvin Sheppard watch as a potential customer checks out the deals on the table

at the Spokane Train Show this past Sunday.

 

A contrast in history s an aged steam engine still works the Green Branch while the Red Main gets

to have SI locos work upgrade past Beaver Canyon.

 

 

Open house proves to be fun night.

 

 

Saturday Night and the place was hopping with new stuff like a 15 car Great Northern passenger train in Big Sky Blue. That was Keith Wiles

contribution to the evening while Jim Bowden had his two beautiful Eastern Canadian Alcos pulling a freight train.

 

New member Robert Case had a new BN GP30 as his first power unit crossing Bertley Bridge.

 

Marvin added a chip to my forth RS-1 so we added that to my consist passing Bakersville.

 

Marvin's pride and joy is his MRL passenger train just like the real one that came to Spokane about a year ago.

 

Jim Bowden also ran this Great Northern 4-8-4 and not only is it gorgeous and it was putting out a neat smoke

pattern as well.

 

We had about 40 guests over the 4 hours of our open house but without media coverage we don't

get the crushing numbers that it becomes standing room only. These kids seemed impressed.