Playing with trains

Mike Baker's new 2-8-2 Great Northern steamer has a short train in tow on the Evergreen train layout.

 

Marvin's Northern Pacific train has first generation units in the lead as a rival Great Northern passes the other way.

Three of the major railroads gather together as NP, SP&S and GN are all represented on this stretch of the layout.

My Union Pacific steamer waits a call to duty to take another passenger train up to Wallace, Idaho.

 

Greg has a pair of EMD Geeps waiting for a green light on the front part of the layout.

 

 

Saturday action at the Eveergreen Railroad.

When the crew got back form a road trip Thorp, Washington to see a fantastic layout based on the Keddee Wye on the old Western Pacific Railroad ( future e-mail photo coverage ) we found Jim Bowden running his Alaska Railroad coal train.

 

The power was 5 GP38's? pulling 30 Alaska coal cars and it was quite a sight.

 

it even had one of those old fashioned cabooses on the tail end which I miss so much from the current

railroad scene.

 

Jim was also tuning up his Alaska F units for another train but I could not hang around to see what it was going to pull.

 

As you may know I sold Signal Signs to Gary Frizzell and one of our first assist to Gary was to create this first heritage sign in a large format for a customer. We plan to expand it to cover most of the mergers with the same enthusiasm. The panel material is 1/8 inch masonite so it needs no frame.

Photos from 14th Annual Open House

We had our 14th annual open house tonight and about 110 visitors showed up to see what we  have been up too.  Everyone seemed to have a good time including the 15 children that came by tonight. Say, is that Steve Welton hiding in the corner with those other North Idahoians?

 

Mike Baker showed off his Great Northern Empire Builder and it reminded me of how good we had it back in the day when streamliners were the pride of the railroads.

 

New member Janis had 2 of her steam engines running up on the Green Branch where the older equipment should run as the curves are tighter up there for small engines.

 

The bigger engines need wider radius curves such as these 6 axle monsters attest.

 

Burt kept the back of the club in good order by watching for any problems with the trains.

 

Remember the MRL video? This location was featured in Steve's presentation.

 

 

Open House Invitation Saturday October 10th

SP&S Roundup happened without planning it!

When we got back from dinner on Thursday it was obvious that it was going to be a big night for the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railroad at the Evergreen. Steve Wesolowski added his FA and GP power to his train while Greg's train had 2 Alco RS units in the lead.

 

A little while later Mr SP&S Keith Wiles hauled out his favorite #750 E unit assisted by a visiting GN E unit.

 

Then I started to get recommendations from the group that several trains in one shot would be nice so this spot added to the multiple units showing up.

 

That wasn't good enough so the gang decided to add even more SP&S power to the collection including 2 of my C-636s for this set up shot. Not bad for a bunch of kids I thought!

 

I could not let it be said that an interloper showed up in the form of an NP F unit freight. The NP actually owned 50 percent of the SP&S so that makes it OK.

 

After a tough battle on the grades of Washington State my Alco C-636 gets a look over in the shops to make sure all the pistons are where they belong.

Evergreen invaded by the Maine Central Railroad!

In a grand conspiracy with Greg Mercier and myself we planned to have an eastern USA appearance of railroads that we love from the East Coast. I forgot to bring my Susquehanna Railroad stuff so that left Greg to do his part in showing off his Maine Central trains on Thursday.

 

Will Greg ever trust me again? Wait till next week! His connection with the Maine Central has something to do with family stuff.  The Geep above handles the freight and the E7 below handles a mixed freight on the Blue Main. Thanks Greg.

 

Thankfully other members showed up with our western heritage in the form of SP&S FAs roaming

the line with Steve Wesolowski  running this long train.

 

There's the lead unit passing its own caboose so prove how long it was. I think it was 904 cars but I could be wrong?

 

Janis showed up after dinner with a pair of Great Northern U boats. I good example could be made to have the trucks weathered to show detail as the clean black plaster does not show detail in a photo. That might be a hard sell as I don't know how Janis feels about such things?

 

Another prize in Janis's train collection is this 3 truck Shay direct form the factory and ready to move logs and ore cars on the Green branch.

North to Alaska via Evergreen Route

Sometimes I spend a little bit more time on a photo when it is special like this Alaskan beauty of a passenger train that Jim Bowden was running on a Wednesday night that I was there to shoot.

 

Next a coal train shows up with 4 units and 31 coal cars which is the mainstay in income for the Alaska RR.

 

Tuning up ready to depart the Blue yard is Marvin's beautiful Northern Pacific North Coast Limited which I was fortunate to ride the real one  three times before Amtrak took over. Riding the dome cars was the height of luxury to see America.

Greg Mercier had his second favorite railroad running on Thursday in the form of NP F units.

 

Big time Spike Gorley goes modern with 3 BNSF paint schemes on his freight.

 

Marvin's freight on Thursday had the 2 big SD70s in the middle of his consist just like the real ones coming out of Helena. Montana.

Thursday night turns out to be a good steam night!

We start out showing off Jim Bowden's new Canadian National 4-6-2 Pacific running the red line past the Titanic Ice plant. Must be right out of the factory?

 

Making its debut last night was Marvin's miniature version of the MRL executive passenger train that visited Spokane 2 months ago. I painted the blue stripes for him and they await the decals plus a observation car yet to be completed.

 

The power is a brand new SD70 right out of the wash rack to pull the president of the line around his empire in Montana.

 

New member Janis showed up with an eastern railroad model in the form of a Norfolk and Western 4-8-4 pulling a passenger car fleet.

 

Steve Wessolowski had another special train on the rails as this one is a BN big shot train surveying

the property to see what they can remove from the tax rolls. A big building in Fort Worth is where I would start.

 

Jimmy Bowden likes Santa Fe as well as Alaska RR and these yellow F units were in vogue for a time on the railroad. You never know what is going to show up on any given night! Does anyone know why they used yellow when they had a winner with red?

 

 

Remember 3206?

This is a rare photo of the 3206 under steam that one of the NRHS members decided to test it out. The historical society in Spokane moved it to the Spokane Fairgrounds around 1979 so I would guess this is 1982. I will eventually letter the engine to its proper number and details.

 

Well here's my memory of it as my life was intertwined with this engine for many years when I was with the NRHS in Spokane. I helped raise the money to move it from High Bridge park where vandals were taking a toll on it. Got it located in the Fairgrounds for protection and many other things. Woops, there's the edge of the earth!

 

The tender is not right as it was an oil burner, not coal.

 

The 4 passenger cars I got in New Jersey 2 months ago and now represent the type of cars the 3206 would

have pulled from Spokane to Wallace, Idaho and other places back in the day.  The engine came from

the Calvin Tucker estate sale. Smoke would be nice?

 

Marvin's 4 car North Coast Limited crosses Beaver Canyon in the front part of the layout.

 

Greg's 5 unit freight set is making time and money for the man as it traverses the middle section of the layout. The cattle business is still going strong on the railroad.

Aluminum Overcast visits Felts Field on tour of Northwest

My second hobby interest is military history and a B-17 is a big part of a conflict called World War 2. It's on display on Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm at Felt's Field in the Spokane Valley.

 

Without the B-17 doing its thing back in 1942 and onward  it could be argued that Adolph's boys would still be ruling the European continent. The sacrifices the men that flew them is represented in this machine of war.

 

The nose art says it's the "Aluminum Overcast" but I think I heard it was a remake of the real one that did 31 bombing raids over Europe. Many of them did not survive the anti-aircraft fire and the fighters.

 

It was so clean it looked like it just came out of the factory on its way to combat but that was 70 years ago when I was just a mere child.  How many of us could do it today to do what they did so many years ago?

 

By the way, this power set was waiting for clearance to get on the BNSF main at Felt's Field on the UP (ex- Spokane International trackage ) through Spokane.