It's 2024. Again.

  

Big Sky Forest Products

    As things happen here on the railroad change has come again. As this is an ever evolving project the desires and needs of the builder change and grow. But I had to drill down on what I was really wanting and what would work for my own mindset as the layout is concerned and this lead to some updates that will act as Matthew Freix would say "guiderails" keeping things on track. Terrible railroad puns intentional or not are free on this blog.

   The railroad is set in the summer of 2024.  Before construction it was the late 1950's and when construction had just begun that slipped to varying time periods but it's settled on 2024. This means that BNSF has taken over the MRL and by extension the Big Blackfoot Branch from Bonner Jct to Clearwater Jct. The Glacier Rail Park has been full and in operation for a few years as well meaning business to the north of the CSLP have had time to mature and gain customers and traffic. One thing I've heard and read repeatedly is when in doubt look to the prototype. So in this case it's the real life Mission Mountain Railroad when it operated the Kalispell branch and the Bitterroot Branch when it was under MRL ownership. What an eye opener a dozen photographs gave me. I could model this withing in the constraints of my layout size and operation. We'll get into the operations in the next installment of this blog but now I have something to work on.

     New power and rolling stock is coming to the railroad too. Currently my car fleet is almost exclusively pre-1960 40' cars. Although I tried to work them into the modern concept I've decided to simply bite the bullet and update the fleet. A few of the current fleet will be saved as we'll need rolling stock for photo work but post 1980 stock is coming. My goal however is keep the texture alive. This means a lot of leased cars and cars from smaller roads that existed in the late 20th century but were not as common as the megamergers consumed the variety and color that once existed on our railroads.  I've purchased my first modern power in the form of a ex-leased GP9 PII that will take over the bulk of assignments for the time being. As we move forward the keyword for motive power is reliability in a tough environment and this locomotive should fit the bill. 

1601 Small Livery (Notional)

    Scenery on the layout also continues. We are learning and while sometimes it's one step forward and one step back it's amazing what you can accomplish by simply watching a YouTube video and winging it.  I look forward in the future to pointing out where I started.  My bar for most of what is happening scenery wise is serviceable and I think I've managed to meet it.

With a little AI help, Happy Holidays to all us from the Clearwater Pacific!

A New Business Enters Clearwater

 

Future Home of Williams Bros Metal Recycling

    The Clearwater town council woke to two surprises this morning. A foot of snow and a request for a scrap yard to the west of town. Well neither was really a surprise as it IS December and the Williams Brothers have been looking for a place to stash their "vintage" vehicle fleet for awhile. 

    It took only six months of notices for the request to appear. It was requested that ~70' of track be constructed between the end of the team track and MT 20 for the purposes of a metal recycling concern. The fact half a dozen rusted automobile hulks will provide one fence of the place is neither here nor there. In the proposal was also that the petitioner would provide the track work and ensure it is "suitable for purpose". The council agreed in a 4 to 1 vote over coffee at Melba's Diner and an email was sent to Roger Williams, the elder brother. 

    Within hours the Williams' cousin Vinny from Helena showed up with a flatbed dually Ford 250 piled high with track building material and a dream . The next day the extension was finished. Sure the curve is the sharpest we've seen yet and the grading is suspect but it might work. That is until the state man shows up and checks how it works in proximity to the state highway right there.  

    In the proposal as well was projected service as "A car maybe every two weeks possibly" and when asked if they could provide that level of service the Clearwater Pacific superintendent responded with a laconic "We can. Maybe, possibly" Time will tell if the scrap-pardon recycling yard will become a going concern but it's provided no end of speculation at Melba's. And maybe that's the best outcome we can hope for. 

Mini-Session and Soo Line #2640

 

Engine House and Servicing Area, Edmunds Landing

    Finished up a few minor things and held the Blue Star Job on the layout today. All went well save a gremlin or too that may need chasing down. It's very nice to have a layout that works and can do work. I've had the design now for a few months and now it's laid down and working. I think the next major thing will be a few more feeders and ballast. A test on the 7th and the next official operating session on the 14th. 

    Got some power back too. #940 and #291 are back at the engine house. Still finding what works best for both but we have more power if we need it. 

 On a slightly more interesting note a 1919 Soo Line Brooks 4-6-0 has shown up on the property. #2640 was first reported at the B. Dirks Servicing Facility where the CMO was looking her over. The very next day it appeared on display outside of the  Clearwater Pacific offices. No official word on what the big ten wheeler is doing in Clearwater except when asked the superintendent said "Ain't she pretty?" Time will tell what the story is with the E-24 Class. 

CMO Cannon O'Reilly looks over #2640

On Display at the CP Offices in Clearwater

Clearwater is Done!

Clearwater

     My track arrived today and in about three hours I had Clearwater done, that is track laid and wired. I was as usual not expecting to simply check one box after another and before you know it have it complete. But that's something I've learned on building this layout. So I figure I'll go ahead and share some other things I've learned thus far on building a layout. For knowledge level I consider myself an advanced beginner when it comes to model railroading and here is what that can mean.

• Make your layout the right height. My layout height of 42" was based on the shelf that appears on the walls of the basement apartment. But by a happy accident it's a pretty good height to run a single level layout. Also working underneath the layout can be accomplished while sitting in an office chair. Doesn't do anything for the neck cricks but it's far more comfortable then laying on your back. 
• Set some of your expectations lower. Take soldering for instance. I have developed three criteria to gauge my soldering success. Will it derail a train? Does it stay attached? And will ballast cover your major errors? If the answer is yes then congrats you're on your way. At least I am. Just don't look to close.
• IDC Connectors are amazing. I've mentioned before I'm tying to stay up to date with how things are being done. And these suitcase connectors seem to be the current way. From Model Railroader to the DCC Guy this easy and quick way of doing your main bus drops is painless. My advice is go on eBay and find a set of 7" Craftsman Robogrips. Your hands will thank you and you won't need to shell out larger money for a specialty tool. 

    Now comes the fun part before the operating session in fifteen days. Getting the fascia on, scenicing some more, make sure the diagrams match up and get ready to run some trains.  I can't wait.

Clearwater Diagram

Testing Testing

Working the Blue Star Switch Job

     Operations means testing for everything. And this means that every job should go off without a hitch due to infrastructure. So with the Blue Star Rail Park and Edmonds Landing complete I decided to work the first job of an Op and see if it would work. Blue Star Rail Park was inspired by Blue Star Freight, a freight house located on Rod Vance's Willow Creek. It has three industries with six spots and rates it's own switch job. It's the first job of any day and it can help set a tone for how the rest of the work is going to go.  So I set some cars up, drew up a switch order, figured out the switch list and went to town. I'm pleased to say it went well. Refining the paperwork will take time but I think I'm on the the right track.  

C&O 400455 is the newest car on the layout. So modern!

It's Starting to Look Railroady in Here!

 

A work in progress

    As the temperature plumets here in the Rocky Mountain West the layout work has really ramped up. We held our first operating session and the next one is scheduled for December 14th. This gives me a date to get some work done. There has been a rework of the entire railroad. From it's name and image to the time period it exists in. Learn more about these changes and updated maps on the website. But the recent work is that on Edmonds Landing and boy has it gone quickly. 

    A shout out to the Milwaukee Road Des Moines Subdivision in HO for his video on how to make foam roads. 2mm Silly Winks foam is in my eyes unmatched as a 1/87th building material. In three hours we have laid more roads, wooden walkways, and concrete foundations then would have bene possible before. Sure it's a bit slap dash at times and we'll need to touch up the shoulder a bit here and there but it's looking like it should. And that's the goal. I want myself and my operators to know what is in the area. I'm not a looking to get it absolutely realistic but if you say "Hey look a road" then I've achieved my scenic goal. And the apple barrel brand paint that was recommended is doing great work as pavement, color "pavement" and wood, color "Burnt Umber". I'm not a scale painter at all but even I'm surprised how easy it can be if you Just Do It. It's learning and that's what important. 

    I need to put the final coat on the roads and head to bed. But we're making progress and here's to more.

Vibes and Audacity!

 

Test Fitting a curved wood crossing.

    I joke that most of my layout work is "Vibes and Audacity" and it's actually quite true. While I'm a decent planner of things railroad I'm not great at planning when the work on the railroad happens. Generally it's a whim that gets me up for twenty minutes and after throwing caution to the wind and with only a hint of an idea what I'm doing some new part of the layout comes to be. So far that's covered laying track and wiring. Today was no different. Once I got Marvin's Curve in I knew I could finish out to the Produce Spur in short order. And that's just what I did. It took twenty minutes and of all the track I've laid it may well be the easiest. 

    Once wiring is complete I'll be able to run refers and LCL freight to this spur from the yard. Granted we're missing about a third of the layout but The Clearwater Pacific will become a functioning railroad. What with two industries to serve and a yard. One thing that I'm keeping in mind is to ensure the track and wiring is as  bulletproof as it can be before we begin on major scenic work. This is an layout for operations and poor operating hurts no matter how pretty it is.  

Produce Spur

 What's cool about the above photo is that Daylight baggage car is signed by Doyle McCormick and the 50' boxcar is much like a car I had back in the Salmon Bay Terminal days. Seems the more things change the more they stay the same. 

One Step at a Time

 

Edmonds Landing Yard

    We've got the yard laid and wire drops in. With help from The Typesetter we're getting prepared for a afternoon of soldering. The main bus will be run along the front of the layout so it took two tries to the get the wire length right. But it's worth it and I'm glad I did.  I watched a video on Model Railroad Academy and the double L bend helped a lot. 

Marvin's Curve

Yard Work

 

Edmonds Landing Yard

    Today was the day I wanted to get the Edmonds Yard down. I had watched a YouTube video and I liked how the creator did it so how hard could it be? A trip to the hardware store gave me all the materials I needed for this project. Liquid Nails for Projects, a caulking gun, drywall roller, caulk saver cap and a few other odds and ends. I was ready.

    Fifteen minutes after I started the project the first phase was one. You'll see where a spur is "Missing". Well that's the caboose track and won't be installed until we know how the engine house will sit. The hole above the engine house track is for the BLI water tower. The blue tape you see is marking the spot for the dedicated programing track. Once the layout is ready we'll move from the NCE Power Cab to a smart booster and the power cab will be used to power that track for dedicated programing. 

Incline Anchor installed

    Edmonds yards is built on a slight grade. With the upgrade to metal wheels cars roll far easier. A huge inspiration to me is the Willow Creek Railroad. In one of the videos the owner mentions using the bristles of a small broom to create hold backs in a a yard. If a Master Model Railroader can do it I figured so can I. Right now the Incline Anchors, what I'm calling them,  are simply a proof of concept. They will most likely need to be replaced once ballasting is done. But it makes the yard usable once I can play with my trains again. 

    

Milwaukee Road RSC-2 #940

    It was a train show weekend with plans to attend two. Well I made it to one, spent all my money and saved three hours of driving. The big haul was a Kato RSC-2 with DCC and sound installed for under $100.  Couldn't pass it up as such a locomotive is perfect for this railroad. I did a video of it you can see below. 

    Few other things were accomplished today. In addition to the the installation of the Incline Anchors, holes were drilled for the installation of the yard feeder wires. The Superintendent has decided that the railroad will go the keep alive route instead of frog juicing. The juice is an option but having capacitors as standard on all motive power will go a long way in making the railroad operation friendly. 

    The next project will be the installation of Marvin's Curve, an 18" curve leading to Clearwater proper, and soldering joints and keepers. The railroad should be ready for full operations no later then the 1st of December of this year.  

    On the prototype front here are some shots of ACM #7 and the Library car a few weekends ago. Things are looking good. 

Headlight Illuminated. 

Bethlehem Steel

Wooden Bits Looking Good

The 70-ton Bonner Movie STar

Little Library Car in front of the Library Car

A Thoroughly Modern Layout

Kadee #48 and metal wheels meet on my test track. 

    One of the goals of the Clearwater Pacific is to create what can be considered a modern, up to date layout. This is 2025 and the state of the art has moved forward. Getting back into a hobby as deep as model railroading is a fascinating process.  The last time I was seriously looking at layout building and what was out there was when this blog ended around 2011. Since then there has been travel, sailing,  and a host of other things to move my mind away from this hobby. But now I'm back and boy has it changed. 

    Well not really. But the standard for a modern operating layout are pretty well set. Groups like OpSig, the OPerating Special Interest Group of the NMRA seem to have it dialed in pretty well. And the internet expands the ability to communicate and share information and hard won knowledge. A favorite of mine at the moment is the Talking Ops with Don Irace sections of the Around the Layout Podcast. Lot of good things percolating from listening to those episodes. 

    Later posts will delve into the operation of the layout and what I have planned but now I wanted to touch on standards. If you're interested in operating it becomes very apparent very quickly that setting yourself up for success is a matter of eliminating as many variables as possible. This means your standards for track, wiring, couplers, wheels, and more have to be exact and maintained.

    So the Clearwater Pacific is now different. In a great episode of Talking Ops on Bulletproof Operations Don mentioned two things I'll touch on here. They are couplers and wheels. On the subject of wheels switching to metal wheel sets is a recommended practice for a variety of reasons. Those reasons include layout and track cleanliness and less friction. On the CP we're settled on Walthers 33" wheelsets as standard for our freight cars. Changing over the current roster is slow but once done maintenance will be more cost effective and easier. Couplers are standardized with Kadee 148. These are easy to install, have less required parts and are a great improvement over a mix of different knuckle coupler types. At the time of writing this all of our cars have Kadee 148's and the locomotive fleet is rapidly changing over as well. Eventually as we get to the wiring and control system that too will be standard. We'll most likely devote a few posts to that but it's coming.

    In conclusion we've set these standards early and hope to reap the benefits as we get closer to actually laying tracks and running trains. 

Don't Call It a Comeback

 

    Let us return to the big north woods. The story that started all those years ago has returned. Some old faces will make an appearance. The lure of tall timber and small trains is still there. But we needed an outlet for the creative side of things and this blog will become it. So join us once more as we delve deep into Montana's history in both the real world and cinema. And the depths of my own imagination. 

    I kept wanting to write about what I'm doing with this layout. And thinking I should start a blog. But then I remembered I already had one. This one. So the history from the first Big Blackfoot remains but we'll build on that foundation. This is where I'll update you on progress, sketches, harebrained half baked ideas and the joy that comes from building your own miniature world. All aboard it's going to be a great ride.