The Clearwater Pacific: Busy Sunday on the CSLP

CSLP RS-3 #94 and Office Car #1 "Alder Gulch"

After a quick trip to Seattle it's back to working on the railroad. It's one step at a time and we got a few done this Sunday. So we'll start with the basics and that was getting the Northern Range Packing Works looking a little better. There are two spots on at the works and the building for what is called CC1 came in. I whipped up a logo and applied it then using 2mm foam set up a concrete pad for the buildings. This makes two spots at the factory and one is now covered for all weather use. This means that year round operations can take place. I'm sure the packing workers are finding it nice this cold rainy winter.

Northern Range Packing Works

I then turned to ballast. For the mainline of the CSLP I decided that NP Grey from from Arizona Rock & Mineral would be our mainline color. The story is a contractor out of the Spokane area did the rehabilitation work for the railroad and this grey, which can be seen on the BNSF in the region, was what was used. My ballasting technique is still developing and I can't add a shoulder to save my life but it looks far better then it was. Touch ups over the next few weeks will have the yard looking like it should. Speaking of the yard I have a sand tower inbound for the engine barn and I hope to add a pair of yard lights as well. The BNSF interchange takes place in the dark and I'm guessing they'd like to be able to see what they are doing. I imagine you can use your phone to turn them on.

Foreman Dan Hernandez is mobile now.

One of the YouTube channels I watch SoCal Scale Models adds bases to his figures and moves them around the layout. Well I thought that was brilliant and a few of my figures can now move around the layout as they need to.

And the last order of business was to start work on the scrap yard. I've seen that it really doesn't take much so I threw down some yard mix and ordered an excavator. I also have a pile of scrap on the way as well. That should be enough to get the yard started. I need some old car bodies for one of the walls. The lore is that the Williams Brothers, Roger and Dale, had some old car bodies that the county was finally about to throw the book at. So over beers one night they decided they would start a scrap yard and store the rusted out vehicles there. Well it's starting. You can read more about this in an earlier blog. I want to get some solid fence panels up around the sides and it'll look alright I think.

Now we just need some scrap and can get to work.

On the less visual side of things we have motive power changes coming up. The GP-9 "Cedar" should be showing up tomorrow. I ordered it through Ebay from Trainz.com and was sent the wrong version. Their customer service was excellent and the return was no hassle at all. So much so I ordered a NW2 to replace the DCC only 70-Tonner I was prepping to give all the bells and whistles. Literally. This means that #94 can take a much needed back seat for most all jobs. Reliable EMD power means while keeping the Alco afloat has been a labor of love and sometimes hate for CMO Cannon O'Reilly it'll be less stress on keeping it running because it's the only locomotive the road has. The NW2 will be "Scoot" and will wear the #70. Oh I have decals sets on the way to do that as well.

And a few other odds and ends like striping for the road and crossing signals for MT-20. Some whistle signals as well to remind us to make noise at crossings. And a few new cars as well. The CSLP is now a 50' car railroad and we're doing more with less. I'm trying to get a lot of shortline cares as well to keep up the visual "texture" of the railroad that can so easily be lost when you make the year 2024. Longer term plans have me starting the Seeley Lake extension and starting the higher detail work on the Clearwater area.

Oh I mentioned Seattle so I'll tell you a bit about that. The day after we arrived I took a train (Link) to a train (Cascades) to a train (T Line) to go look at......model trains. The trip from Seattle to Tacoma was melancholy as it may well be my last ride on Talgo equipment in the US. I'm sure riding the new Airo trains will get me over it though. I got to see the massive layout at the Washington History Museum as well as a host of modular layouts from Z to Live Steam and even one that modeled Europe. I'll end with some images from the trip.