Go East young man!

Young Steve Welton is full of surprises when I showed up at the Wednesday night run festival I found Steve running an official back east train.

The cars were mostly eastern cars as you would expect but the locomotives gave it away!

 

The power was 2 Pennsylvania steam locos with authentic steam sounds that could take the wallpaper off the wall....if we had wallpaper!

 

As a New Jersey boy the Pennsylvania was about 20 miles away from where I grew up and any time we went near the Jersey Meadows we usually

saw Pennsy GG1s running to or from New York City. They called it the Standard of the World and it was until it merged into the dreaded Penn Central.

 

These engines had a very distinctive tender that was as long as you dared when enough coal and water

to get to wherever they were going.

Variety is the spice of life.

There are at least 9 places on that Union Pacific loco on the point of John Schwarze train where the number

of the loco shows up.  Ya got to wonder why it is so much needed?  John is a Western Pacific fan and

still resents when Union Pacific took it over!

 

Mr. Steve Weso had this brace of five SP&S FAs in charge of his train on Wednesday night passing Bakersville named after some obscure Johnson &

Johnson bandage salesman who didn't make the meeting tonight. Nice models Steve!

 

Marvelous Marvin has these 3 BNSF in 3 different paint schemes which there have been many since

they started painting them 26 years ago. The third one was an experimental scheme that didn't make it

to the big time. And no its not an H1 scheme.

 

Another shot of Don's Rock Island Rocket making a run on the Green Branch serving miners, off-griders,

and wayward railfans.

 

Talk about big units, they look even bigger when you paint them red! We see plenty of CP power

come through Spokane from Canada on the old Spokane International (UP) line. But not this clean.

 

What's this? It looks like the electrical department of the Evergreen Train club is having another

meeting behind closed doors.

The HO Empire strikes back! ( I'm running out of headlines?)

Three of my Milwaukee Road locos put on a show as they leave the Blue Main Yard. But where's the

smoke....they are U boats!

 

Jim Bowden had his Canadian National taken a spin on the railroad today with the Wednesday group.

 

New to the scene is Don Carnegie's Rocket RDC making the rounds on the Green Branch picking up stray riders and railfans that their cars were acquired by the railroad cops.

 

A lowly Milwaukee Road switcher brings home the bacon by delivering the goods. No pigs were

hurt in the use of this terminology just given. 

 

This is my brass model of a Northern Pacific FT set that replaced the steam engines back in the late 40's

but it finally gets to run on the layout thanks to Marvin who replaced the power with reliable parts.

Brass models were the pinnacle of detail back in the day but the power was of poor quality.

 

A gentleman stopped by the club to show off this 1 in 10 scale model of a grain tower that was  recently

torn down. He took a timber from it and made this model with that wood from it. I guess he wanted to

show it off to men that would appreciate his work....and we did!

New video of steam action on the Evergreen Railroad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDn6peVEz9w

We Don't Need No Stinking Diesels Steam powered trains on the Evergreen Railroad Modelers club layout

Gone steaming

 

 

Plenty of action was happening on the Evergreen Railroad last night as Tom Kirk got his SP&S Challenger back in running condition thanks to member Jim Bowden repaired the
traction tires on the wheels. New member Greg Domme run the club;s other UP Challenger and Janis ran her Rio Grande 4-8-4 on a freight train.

 

Greg Domme has his CPRail diesel working the line as the MRL executive train hauls the owner

Marvin Sheppard around his empire!

 

This Photoshoped photo adds a little more drama to the photo as it gives a still shot some motion

and a sense of power as well. The grey paint scheme comes from passenger equipment for the

Challenger passenger trains of Union Pacific heritage going to Portland, Oregon back then.

 

Member Don Carnegie is a Milwaukee Road fan and this Little Joe will not remain in this paint

for long. He got it on Ebay and it was from a collection who had a Brazilian railroad who purchased

Little Joes as well. The logos were an easy fix to make it Milwaukee....not!

 

It still looks pretty good with a string of Milwaukee passenger cars behind it.

 

I'm selling off my Milwaukee Road diesels which include U boats, SD45s and others with and without DCC.

If you are interested in any of them I will send you more info, just let me know. Jerry 609-939-5845

Evergreen train club picnic finds itself watching trains pass by!

At the end of our picnic at Rathrum, Idaho I finally remembered to take a photo of the event! This pavilion was ours for the day and overlooking the BNSF

main line that is in the tree line in the background. Besides having a steak dinner with lots of trimmings we had about a dozen trains pass while we were there.

I want to thank some of the guys for helping out and spreading the work load to have a successful event. Greg brought the BBQ, Tom and Don took care

of the drinks, I took care of the meats, and Marvin arranged the location and brought in the corn cob. Mike Baker volunteered to be the cook!

We had 15 members show up with 3 wives!  The weather was perfect as well. Thanks guys!

 

Does this hip roof look familiar? If you are a Milwaukee Road fan you may know it well. It is the

station at Rathrum that remains today as a home for some lucky resident. The tracks were abandoned

around 1975 where they went up to North Idaho to Metaline Falls to serve a mine.

 

Did you know that Marvin served in the U.S. Army in artillery? I found this cannon at the Greenwood

Cemetery and wondered if Marvin knew how to aim this critter?  Maybe it is one he trained on?

 

The BNSF finally advertises in the Spokane area as the city

wants to tax every oil and coal car about $250.00 for passing

through Spokane. Imagine every city doing that along the way

and by the time it got to the coast it would be worth the same

as gold.

 

For your reading pleasure.

 

 

You know where I am on Thursday nights?

That's when the rail action comes alive on the Evergreen Railroad but you rarely see Evergreen equipment. They run late at night when the lights are out!

But we catch SP&S Alco models passing through tunnels along the Columbia River like this one.

Sometimes we catch little teakettles like this one making smoke and making good speed on the Green Branch where early stuff seems to thrive in the clouds.

 

Somewhere in the Cascade Mountains we catch a Milwaukee Road steamer bringing home the bacon

(In this instance the bacon looks a lot like logs heading for the mill.)

 

Meanwhile on the main lines we have big time NP power pulling hard to get to Seattle,

 

The BNSF merger is in full swing as GP60 units have a hot shot freight to keep trailers and containers

moving towards their destinations. Only the Spokane City Council can keep them from reaching their goals.

 

Steve Weso was shooting video of that last spot so when you see the Weso magic show up on your

computer this is how he does it!

 

 

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?