Derailed

I sort of derailed on blogging once we lost our unlimited Internet threshold usage but for the past week or so our satellite service provider's system has been down so we are back with unlimited usage and I can upload.

We have been nice and not abusing the system, mostly watching lots of You Tube. My interest has been HO Model Trains ever since I was bit by the hobby. So this post is a picture gallery from this evening showing the progress over the past 48 days since returning from Bellevue, Washington visiting my parents for 6 weeks.

A derailment after forgetting to secure the turnout for the "through route" and it went off the "diverting route" and off the track.

Three brand new, unweathered  rolling stock, two NP box cars and a CB&Q caboose. Gifts from my train buddies up in Seattle.

A small tunnel with wooden portals I made on Saturday. The plan is for this to be an overview where people can view up and down the canyon and wave at the passing trains. 

Here we have the beginning's of a small tunnel mountain scene.

Basically three mains and two industry loops. Starting on the far right we have the Outer Loop, moving left the middle or  Freight loop, going through the upper tunnel is the Outer industry loop, through the lower tunnel is the Inner loop or what I am now calling the Canyon loop and finally the entrance to the future inner industry.   

Here is my vintage DC Power Pack.

Lower left corner of the layout with 2% grades. Only the Freight loop and outer industry loop track is working.

Back side of foam mountain. 

Looking at Canyon Land and the back side of the layout.

Beginning's of Trellis Corner.

Little chunks of blue foam mixed with drywall compound.

Start of a curved bridge with abutments.

View of the upper Plateau were there will be a light industry area.

This lower level will be a small train yard and on the left the train station.

I saw culverts like these on You Tube the other night so I made a couple. Not sure yet where they will go.

Fun with a few bridges, better known as a Through Truss and a Pony Plate Girder. In the back ground is another bridge heading off to the industry area from  Outer industry loop.

Vintage Athearn brand Blue Box Great Northern EMD GP-9 passing over the bridges hauling some light freight. 

An EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division in the United States, and General Motors Diesel in Canada between January, 1954, and August, 1963. US production ended in December, 1959, while an additional thirteen units were built in Canada, including the last two in August, 1963. Power was provided by an EMD 567C sixteen-cylinder engine which generated 1,750 horsepower (1.30 MW).^[1] This locomotive type was offered both with and without control cabs; locomotives built without control cabs were called GP9B locomotives. All GP9B locomotives were built in the United States between February, 1954, and December, 1959.

The Great Northern Railway purchased 95 units.

So how about a bit of twentieth century history

After the turn of the century the Northern Pacific had a record of steady improvement. Together with the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific also gained control of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, gaining important access to Chicago, the central Middle West and Texas, as well as the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway, an important route through eastern and southern Washington. Its physical plant was upgraded continuously, with double tracking in key areas, and automatic block signaling along its entire main line. This in turn gave way to centralized traffic control, microwave and radio communications as time progressed.

The Northern Pacific maintained and continuously upgraded its equipment and service. The road helped pioneer the 4-8-4 Northern type steam engine, the 2-8-8-4Yellowstone, and was among the first railroads in the country to adopt diesel power beginning with General Motors’ FTs in 1944.

The Northern Pacific's premier passenger train, the North Coast Limited was among the safest and finest in the nation, suffering only one passenger fatality in nearly 70 years of operation.

In later years, consolidation in American railroading brought the Northern Pacific together with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, the Great Northern Railway and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway on March 2, 1970, to form the Burlington Northern Railroad. Ironically, the merger was allowed despite a challenge in the Supreme Court, essentially reversing the outcome of the 1904 Northern Securities ruling.

So there you go......

Tom