Where's This Train Headed?

Here is some background and detail on what my modeling and interests in model railroading are about.  In my first post, I described my model railroad as a proto-freelanced branch of the Great Northern Railroad, set in the Puget Sound area during 1965, with a forest products emphasis.

Specifically, I'm calling it the Olympic Peninsula Branch of the Pacific Coast Railroad (PCRR), which was actually a small branch of the Great Northern in Western Washington after 1951.  The real PCRR was primarily a coal hauling line conceived originally by investors in the Seattle area to carry the coal mined from nearby seams in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains to the port of Seattle for use by steamships.  

There is an excellent book, Pacific Coast - Seattle's Own Railroad, authored by Kurt Armbruster, which tells the story of the origins and history of this small railroad.  The book focuses primarily on the history from 1874 up to the Great Northern purchase in 1951.  Great Northern operated the line until the Burlington Northern merger in 1970.

Book Cover

The book is available for purchase through the Great Northern Railroad Historical Society (GNRHS).  You can follow a link to the GNRHS store page for the book here.  

In my model world, the PCRR operates from Seattle to the Pacific coast on the Olympic Peninsula, and obtains much of its revenue from various forest products industries, including lumber as well as pulp and paper mills. My PCRR pivoted from coal to forest products as the steam era waned and the coal seams were abandoned, expanding it's reach for this rapidly growing revenue source.  Using my modeler's license, the line runs mostly on track that actually once belonged to the Northern Pacific Railroad, extending west from Centralia to Grays Harbor on the coast, as well as north to the naval shipyard at Bremerton, a significant customer.  The Olympic Peninsula is the land mass west of Puget Sound, between Seattle and the Pacific coast, where these locales are found (see map below).

It's important to distinguish between the Pacific Coast Railroad and the Pacific Coast Railway, a completely different and unrelated railroad that operated in California.

When the Great Northern purchased the Pacific Coast Railroad, they soon replaced steam engines with diesels, using primarily GN owned motive power, and also "upgraded" some of the well used PCRR rolling stock, especially the aged gondolas used for hauling coal, with surplus GN cars.  

In my world, the PCRR has more and a wider variety of rolling stock as well as some of their own diesel engines, but GN or other Hill Line motive power and rolling stock are common.  This allows me to plausibly operate Northern Pacific or Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S) equipment alongside PCRR.  As the Milwaukee Railroad also operated in this area, there is significant interchange with them as well.

This map shows the trackage, which was originally Northern Pacific, then BNSF, and is currently owned and operated by The Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad Co., part of Genesee and Wyoming Inc. a short line railroad holding company.

credit - By Aaron Schwarz - http://psp.ghrr.org/, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24317853

My layout will focus on a major pulp and paper mill complex in Grays Harbor with local switching and a small yard and team track.  It will be a shelf layout primarily, although I hope to be able to accommodate a loop of track for a bit of continuous running as well.  This is both for my own enjoyment as well as my grandkids, in case we just want to "run trains".  Offline industries will include a plywood mill, lumber mills, creosoting plant, as well as a fish processor and cranberry packing plant.  I mentioned the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, and PSNS will be an important, if more occasional customer providing interesting loads.

This scenario allows me to model and operate a range of rolling stock, from standard 40 foot single or double door boxcars, to flat cars, gondolas and chemical tank cars.  Motive power is primarily switchers and four axle locomotives for short local trains setting out and picking up cars at the mill and other industries.  I plan to model the pulp and paper complex extensively and will discuss this in more depth soon.

Another attraction of my chosen railroads and setting is the opportunity to explore the history of these railroads in the Northwest and to model them accurately as I learn and build my skills.  Future posts will expand on these themes.

Photo by author

This photo is a present day view of the Navy owned track near Bremerton, my local railroad only a mile or so from where I live. I think it captures the spirit of branch line railroading for me, with the tracks leading to adventure and discovery around the bend ahead.