SPH&TS – Sparks, NV

Almost every Fall, the Southern Pacific Historical and Technical Society (SPH&TS) holds its annual convention, usually in a city formerly served by the Southern Pacific and easily accessible to the big populations in urban California (north and south).  This year’s convention was held in Sparks, NV, next door to Reno and site of a major locomotive shop for the SP.  Indeed, our hotel rooms looked out upon the former SP (now UP) yard and the shop buildings.  

 

The SPH&TS convention has long been on my “must attend” list each year.  In the past it was mostly about information gathering from the many excellent presentations.  Increasingly I now find that I eagerly attend the conventions for the opportunity to meet friends from my past or individuals I have met primarily at this event.  

 

Me, Ken C, Wouter deW, Wayne C.  Wayne and I have long attended SPH&TS conventions together or at least coordinated.  Wouter has been a long-time friend from afar and made it to this meet which focused upon his primary modeling interest of Donner Pass and the Overland Route.

 

The presentations tend to focus on topics drawn from the geographic area of the convention. This year was no exception, with topics covering the Overland Limited and the Nevada California and Oregon narrow gauge line that ran from Reno to Lakeview, Oregon.  The NCO line was purchased in 1925 by the SP to form a critical link in what became the Modoc Line which provided a quicker connection for Oregon traffic to the mainline leading to Ogden, Utah.  

 

In addition to the more formal display of models for a popular vote “contest,” the SPH&TS has now added a day of model display for a Rail Prototype Modelers Meet (RPM).  Several SF Bay Area stalwarts of the RPM movement brought models for display and discussion.  Dave Maffei saw me and remembered my RPM interests from prior meets, most recently the Bridgetown RPM Meet in Portland at the beginning of October.  He asked if I had anything to display.  As it happened, I had a passenger car I brought along to discuss with another modeler, so I joined in.

 

Several of the RPM displays with my nearly-scratch-built Cascade sleeper in the foreground and extending to Rick H’s. display in the distance.

 

A hallmark of RPM activity is taking extra effort to achieve closer fidelity to a prototype locomotive, car or structure.  The most common subjects are locomotives and freight cars, but examples of other items such as my passenger car show up and are welcome.  Binding RPM modelers together is the emphasis and effort needed to bring a model closer to what we observe in photos and in person.  

 

My Cascade sleeper is an example of using commercially-produced car sides together with a core kit (roof, floor, ends) for a Pullman Standard car to achieve a model unavailable elsewhere or for far less cost than rare brass models.  My car features interior walls made of styrene strip and sheet-stock welded to the laser-cut sides.  I brought it along because I had arranged to show it and discuss the construction with a fellow modeler who recently developed an interest in doing a similar job.  I was happy to add it to the RPM displays to provide further exposure to the construction ideas it illustrates.

 

Wayne and Ken C. and I had time to catch just one of the Reno area layouts open for tour on Saturday afternoon.  We were well-advised by others to get out to Jim Price’s layout.  Jim is building his vision of the Overland Route from the Oakland Mole up over Donner to Sparks.  His layout occupies comparable space to mine.  He has much of the lower levels of his railroad built and operating (seen by car card boxes and other operating aids around the railroad space) and has begun the climb of Donner Pass up to Colfax.

 

The Oakland Mole on Jim Price’s layout.  The Oakland Mole was the traditional end of the rail line in the SP’s West, with the final miles achieved by ferry service from the Mole to the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

 

Jim Price’s Roseville ice dock.  The ice dock is 18 feet long, making his refrigerator trains similar in length to my operation.  Note the rising benchwork and platform structure behind this Roseville scene.  Jim has more railroad to build!

 

The SPH&TS convention drew over 160 in attendance-a marked improvement from two years ago, indicating we are coming out of the Covid-19 doldrums.  I chose not to partake of the extra fare events on Sunday and Monday.  I had seen them in prior visits to the Reno area.  Next year we meet in Tucson.

A FOREST CORNER

One of the first open terrain areas encountered on my railroad as it climbs out of Oakridge is beyond the Salmon Creek bridge and behind the Pope and Talbot saw mill location.  This is a back corner in the layout space and often overlooked.  This was one of my early ground cover experiment areas.  With ground cover in place, this made for a great place to add the forest.

 

Before I added three-dimensional trees, I needed to augment the trees on the backdrop.  The backdrop had only a little bit of terrain or trees showing above the three-dimensional terrain.  Experience with my initial forest installation at Cruzatte guided my efforts in this back corner.  I needed to add a semblance of trees above the terrain.  The scene needed dark forest represented above the terrain.  

 

Hillside in the “back corner” behind Pope and Talbot and the initial climb out of Oakridge.  Note there is no forest represented on the backdrop nor any other terrain above the peak of the three-dimensional hillside.

 

I pulled out my acrylic paints and brushes to add forest above the three-dimensional hill.  The trees of the forest did not need to be fancy as quite a few three-dimensional trees would be installed in front of the backdrop.  Still, I chose to represent typical Douglas Fir shapes, albeit in simple block form.  This was a good chance to experiment with tree painting, knowing most of the effort will be covered by the three-dimensional trees.  I will call this a work in process…..

 

Initial backdrop tree effort.  I subsequently added more tree shapes between the primary set seen here.  I also experimented with a bit of streaking within these backdrop trees.  I need to develop my backdrop tree techniques further, but these will be fine for this forest.

 

With the backdrop addressed, I began the three-dimensional forest by installing a row of half-trees against the backdrop.  This image also shows the additional backdrop trees filling in gaps between the primary trees.

 

Forest development with the back row of half trees and a row of full trees in front of that back row.  One can already see the painted backdrop trees simply extending the forest without calling attention to painted detail.

 

Bringing the forest down to the track, one can see how this scene will develop.

 

I ran out of tree-making supplies, so I could just provide a major hint as to how this scene will develop.  Getting this far motivates me to pursue materials to add to the scene!

THE RAILROAD AT YEAR TWELVE

Each year at the beginning of August, I do a photo survey of my railroad.  This helps document progress through the year and serves as a useful focal point for blog viewers to see the complete railroad.  Last year’s survey may be found at:

https://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-railroad-at-year-eleven.html

Prior years may be viewed by working back through the links for prior years at the top of each annual survey.

 

This year I chose to do my photo survey in the midst of my August operating session.  I had two guest operators within a full crew.  Dick D. was one of those and was engineer on the chosen train.  Regular crewmember Craig P. served as Dick’s conductor.  The session picked up from the prior operating session at 1:30 am on the fast clock (3:1 ratio).  That time period on the daily line-up features a fleet of priority trains leaving Eugene RR-West (southbound—toward California) followed by more general freight traffic.  

 

We will follow the 01-EULAY.  This is the first general manifest train of the day sent south from Eugene with traffic for Los Angeles and beyond.  In the 1984 era represented by the rolling stock and locomotives on the layout, this train is headed for the large SP classification in West Colton, CA, on the east end of the Los Angeles Basin.  The train will pass through another large classification yard at Roseville, CA, but will not have work in that yard.

Eugene Arrival-Departure Yardmaster Vic N. (right) works with yard switcher David L (Left) in the arrival-departure yard.  The A-D Yard features reverse loop staging for RR-West trains.  The yard crew is responsible for sorting outbound cars into appropriate classification tracks for road freights.

 

Engineer Dick D. (left) and Conductor Craig P. (right) have picked up their train from a departure track and are working out of the A-D Yard.  Their train’s locomotives are seen between them.  They will work out of Eugene on the “West Main” while a RR-East train arrives via the Eugene Mainline and “East Main” immediately in front of them.  

 

The 01-EULAY works its way through the Eugene Depot area while the Eugene Classification Yard crew continues working.  Rear to front (left to right) in the view are West Switcher Bob L, Yardmaster Emerick S, Engineer Dick D., and East Switcher Rick A.  

 

With no mainline traffic passing through, Eugene City Switcher John B. (red cap, rear) takes advantage of the break to cross over the mainlines to switch industries at the RR-East end of the depot complex.  The five double slip switches I installed to help create the second mainline between the two Eugene Yard complexes (my “Covid Project”) get a workout during full operating sessions such as this August 2024 session.

 

Conductor Craig P. watches as our train enters single track at the RR-West end of Eugene.  The mock-up for Eugene Planing is against the backdrop wall.  We met a former manager of that plant during our Alaska tour—small world!  My “RIP Track” (Repair In Place) area is in the foreground.  Crewmembers place bad order cars or cars and car card mismatches in this area.  I succeeded in repairing a half dozen cars from this area before this operating session.

 

Our train crosses the Willamette River on its way into Springfield.

 

Dick D. (left) brings the 01-EULAY into Springfield on the siding.  Greg B. (right) waits with his RR-East train on the mainline.

 

Our train has progressed through much of Springfield with major industries now in view including Rosboro Lumber in the foreground, National Metallurgy peeking in on the right, Clear Fir (doors and window moldings) in the mid-ground, and Tilbury Cement (green silo) back toward the depot.

 

Another view of the heavy activity at Springfield as our train passes through on the siding in the foreground.  The RR-East train is on the mainline in the middle.  Meanwhile, Mike L. uses the drill track to assist his work on the Marcola Branch in the back with a pair of low-nose GP9s as his power.

 

Our train has rounded the turnback curve at the end of the Springfield peninsula with Engineer Dick D. in control (right).  Rodger C. is behind him observing the action.  Rodger’s locomotives are waiting at Oakridge to serve as helpers for our train.  The large Neste Resins (Arclin) wood chemical plant dominates the scene on the Marcola Branch, while the last vestiges of an earlier agriculture era hang on, represented by the green grain/seed elevator on the left.

 

Our train rolls past Westfir and the Western Lumber mill.  We are crossing the bridge over the North Fork of the Willamette River and will plunge through Tunnel 22 into Oakridge.  Dick D. (right) and Craig P. (center) watch their train while Loren M. watches his train at Wicopee in the background.

 

Jim M. organizes the Oakridge Turn at Oakridge and will switch local industry as the mainline moves traffic.  Our 01-EULAY is arriving in the background.  It will have a mid-train helper inserted into the train here.

 

Jim M. (left) is working at Oakridge with the Oakridge Turn while helper Engineer Rodger C. (right, blue shirt) watches the mainline action to the left.

 

Our train crosses Salmon Creek as it leaves Oakridge and begins its climb of the Cascades.  The railroad climbs at a continuous 1.8 percent from here to Cascade Summit.

 

Dick D. controls our train as it climbs out of Oakridge. Ground cover has been applied in the corner.  Trees for the forest are next.

 

Rodger C. controls the returning helpers on the point of a RR-East train controlled by Mike B.  Dispatchers often take advantage of a RR-East train to add helpers returning downhill to Oakridge.  This train is passing under Montieth Rock, an interesting volcanic plug found in the Salt Creek Canyon used by the railroad to climb the Cascades.  

 

Our 01-EULAY is in McCredie Springs.  I “imagineered” a quarry in this location.  Although there are no quarries served by the railroad here, there are several road-served quarries in the immediate area.

 

A RR-West train climbs out of McCredie Springs, crossing Eagle Creek.  The large viaduct/trestle at Shady Creek looms in the background.  Craig L. (center) controls the helpers while Mike B. (background) controls the entire train.

 

Loren M. controls a RR-East train downhill out of Wicopee and into Tunnel 20.  The station village at Cruzatte is seen on the level above the train at Wicopee.  While compressed in many ways, this pairing of stations—high and low—occurs in the middle part of the Cascade climb.

 

The 01-EULAY is arriving at Wicopee (lower track) while a RR-East is descending through Cruzatte.  Helper Engineer Rodger C. is on the left.  Engineer Keith K. has the train at Cruzatte.  Crew for our 01-EULAY, Craig P. and Dick D. are on the right.  Our uphill train is taking the Wicopee siding to allow the RR-East downhill train to keep rolling through on the Main.  It is best to keep the downhill trains rolling rather than exhausting their air brakes and then needing to release those brakes to start rolling, which can be a challenge for safe train handling.

 

After meeting the downhill RR-East train at Wicopee, our train crosses Salt Creek Trestle with Engineer Dick D. (left) and Helper Engineer Rodger C. (right) seen through the trestle towers.

 

Our train ventures out onto Noisy Creek Trestle, guided by Rodger and Dick.  My railroad features all three of the steel viaducts/trestles found on the Cascade Line.

 

After crossing Noisy Creek Trestle (in the background), Dick D. brings our train into Cruzatte.  Cruzatte has a typical SP “company village” built to provide housing for track maintenance and operating personnel in the remote mountain region.  Better road and four-wheel drive vehicles plus changes in railroad operations eventually made such villages obsolete.

 

Dick and Rodger are bringing their train out of Cruzatte and over Shady Creek Trestle while the RR-East train they met at Wicopee slips over Eagle Creek below them.

 

The 01-EULAY pokes out of Tunnel 5 and its rock shed on its way toward the summit.

 

Our train is entering Cascade Summit as the crew of Rodger C, Craig P, and Dick D. looks on.

 

Rodger C. has cut off his helper locomotives and is moving them onto the Beattie Spur—the usual collection point for helpers at the summit.

 

With the light helpers over on the Beattie Spur (actually a siding), Dick and Craig put their train back together to continue further RR-West toward California.

 

Our train is entering Crescent Lake and the end of its journey on my railroad.  Crescent Lake was the historic RR-Division meeting point between the Portland and Shasta Divisions.  The SP merged much of the Shasta Division into a new Oregon Division in 1964.  Crescent Lake on my railroad features a twelve-track reverse-loop staging yard as implied by the locomotive sets in the foreground.

 

Orchestrating the August 2024, operating session was Dave H.

 

I am happy that operations on my railroad have settled into a regular routine with most of the crew now familiar with multiple aspects of the operation.  This has been one of my goals for this effort.

Skagway, Alaska—the White Pass and Yukon Rwy

Our Alaska adventure in June included a land portion featuring Denali National Park and an ocean cruise along the southeast coast of Alaska and into the Inland Passage.  I covered the land portion with the trek on the Alaska Railroad from Denali Park to Anchorage in the previous post:

https://espeecascades.blogspot.com/2024/06/north-to-alaska.html

 

Our first port of call after embarkation at Whittier was at Skagway.  Skagway developed as a port during the Yukon goldrush of 1898 as it provided the most direct access to the Yukon Territory via the White Pass.  Gold-seekers built their required supplies for entry into Canada by serving as labor to build the White Pass and Yukon Railway.  The WP&Y is a narrow gauge (3-foot gauge0 line that remains in service, now hauling tourists.  The rail trip up into the pass and back was mandatory for me.

 

The WP&Y railway has been used for freight hauling, but the roadway into Skagway has provided an alternative for freight.  Today the main business appears to be hauling tourists.

 

Our trip began from the Broadway dock spur, one of three serving the cruise ship port.  The first few miles were relatively level, passing the official railway depot and then the Skagway shops where locomotives and cars are maintained.  As we got further into the Skagway River canyon, the grade increased and the canyon walls closed in, well showing why a narrow-gauge railroad was a practical solution.  A lot of dynamite was used over the course of the construction project.  

 

Skagway shops.  One of the original “shovel nose” GE diesel electrics 0f 1954-56 resides outside the east side of the shops.

 

The railway climbs nearly 2900 feet into the White Pass with grades reaching 3.9 percent.  That gradient is double what the SP engineered for the Cascade Line that I model (1.8%).  Add a modest traffic base (initially gold rush supplies, later mineral ores) to the terrain challenges and one sees why more expensive engineering was not used.  Skagway to the White Pass summit is about twenty miles.

 

I was struck by the number of trains on the line to the pass.  That should not be too surprising as we had four cruise ships in port, each with a couple thousand passengers.  Each of those ships likely generated traffic for two or three trains in addition to other activities and transportation modes (bus and helicopter).  Many times during the climb to the pass and return I could see other trins ahead or behind us.  I did not confirm the control system used by the WP&Y, but I suspect a form of Centralized Traffic Control and powered track switches was used.

 

Our train climbing the canyon towards the White Pass.  One can barely see the green and yellow locomotive through the trees.

 

A scenic highlight seen near the pass summit was a former bridge trestle that spanned a canyon spur.  This trestle once featured in WP&Y publicity materials.  The wood trestle approach failed under the weight of the then-new diesel locomotives, leading to new line that climbs a bit further into the canyon before crossing on a new bridge and then passes through a tunnel on the way to the summit.

 

Original bridge and trestle seen from the new line.  The original wood trestle approach to the steel bridge on the right collapsed.  Our train is descending from the summit and tunnel.

 

Summit loop.  One option for WP&Y trains is to briefly enter the Yukon Territory of Canada and use a reverse loop to quickly return to the pass and descend back down to Skagway.

 

Returning to Skagway, I got better views of both our own train’s locomotive and other locos in service.

 

Lead locomotive for our train.  This is one of the new, third-generation diesels on the WP&Y.  It essentially is a narrow gauge, wide nose SD40-2.  That wide nose reflects the “shovel nose” of the original GE locos acquired in the mid-1950s.  Here, our loco, having brought our train down close to the Broadway Pier, is following our train back toward the shops.  Our loco, WP&Y 3002, is one of two painted in the historic yellow and green paint scheme seen on the original GE locos.

 

Another of the third-generation leading a train from one of the other cruise piers.  WP&Y 3006 has the new paint scheme.

 

The second generation of WP&Y diesels were built by Montreal Locomotive Works in the late 1960s.  WP&Y 104 followed our train into town and will pull the train back to the shops for servicing.  This bit of locomotive switching places a locomotive on the front of any movement in the very congested town area—congested with tourists.  This is the generation of WP&Y diesel modeled by LGB for garden railroads.

 

The WP&Y rotary snow plow, a steam locomotive and a caboose now reside near the central part of Skagway.  Tourists and tour buses were everywhere!  Those tourists are the reason we still have the White Pass and Yukon Railway.

 

I enjoyed our trek to the White Pass and return to Skagway.  The train ride amply demonstrated the difficulties faced during construction—lots of very hard granite and a steep canyon.  That tough construction and operating environment justifies use of narrow-gauge railroad equipment.  I was delighted to see examples of all three generations of WP&Y diesels.

This post marks "Milepost 300" on my railroad blogging adventure!

 

 

NORTH TO ALASKA

Fulfilling a long-desired goal, my wife and I finally travelled north to Alaska using a land and sea cruise—a popular option.  Both portions of the trip featured rail activity for me.   

We began by flying to Anchorage and then up to Fairbanks.  The initial part of the tour featured a riverboat cruise and exposition of “typical” Alaska including a float plane demonstration and a native Alaskan village.  A bus then got us to Denali Park—the huge National Park at the center of Alaska.  The tundra wilderness bus tour highlighted subarctic flora and fauna, including the Dall Sheep that led to the original formation of the National Park. 

 

Following the full day into Denali Park, we boarded a train to journey down to Anchorage.  We were blessed with clearing skies and had numerous views of Mt. Denali (ex-McKinley), the tallest peak in North America.  The train was operated by Alaska Railroad, but was composed of cars rebuilt and reconditioned by the cruise lines—in our case by the consortium of Princess and Holland America.  

 

Our Alaska RR train to Anchorage from Denali National Park.

 

The irony for me was that most of these cars were reconditioned from former Southern Pacific Peninsula Commute Cars, retired from that service in the mid-1980s.  These were bilevel cars in that service, now reconfigured but still having two levels.  Those two levels are more like Amtrak’s Superliner equipment by having the main passenger seating on the upper deck and food service below.  Only the outline of the cars remained after the rebuild, with the roof and upper windows replaced by new wide windows for viewing scenery.  The rebuilt cars also feature a platform on one end for both passenger access during loading and unloading and an open viewing platform during the trip.

 

Last car of the train—our car.  Note the platform on the rear of the car ahead (left).  A similar platform was on the far (rear) end of our car.

 

Rolling south on the Alaska Railroad with the full train in view.

 

What was supposed to have been an eight-hour trip turned out to be closer to eleven as we encountered slow orders along the way to Anchorage.  The weather was spectacular!  We got numerous views of Mt. Denali—a rare condition, as Denali literally makes its own weather and is often shrouded in cloud.

 

Mt. Denali looms above the Alaska Range as a pair of all-white peaks.

 

Further along, toward Anchorage, Mt. Denali and its sibling peaks were in full view.

 

After an overnight in Anchorage, we took another train across the peninsula to Whittier where we embarked aboard our cruise ship.  I did not capture pictures of that equipment, which was conventional height passenger cars of the Alaska Railroad.  One aspect of guided tours is being herded along with few opportunities to break out for such tasks as railfanning.  Sigh.

 

The next post will cover the other major rail activity of the cruise tour—Skagway and the White Pass and Yukon.