Northern Pacific

[ScaleCraft]

I grew up in WA state. Visit once a year. Can't even recognize the place. Infiltrated with Starbucks and wigged out kids playing pocket pool with their palm pals.

Yup. Were you any of the TCA, TTOS, LOTS guys who visited railroads for meets?
You must have seen Bill's pike.

26 years to the day from when we started building it, we started tearing it down. Look at the YouTuBe links in first posting and you can see it.

[rogruth]

Seems to have been quite a nice layout.

[ScaleCraft]

Entire center island with yards, roundhouse, turntable, control panels.....all out.

[jlong]

I grew up in WA state. Visit once a year. Can't even recognize the place. Infiltrated with Starbucks and wigged out kids playing pocket pool with their palm pals.

Yup. Were you any of the TCA, TTOS, LOTS guys who visited railroads for meets?
You must have seen Bill's pike.

26 years to the day from when we started building it, we started tearing it down. Look at the YouTuBe links in first posting and you can see it.

I belonged to the TCA and went to meets in Centralia. Palled with guys from Tacoma, Olympia, Fife, Puyallup and Federal Way. French's train shop on hwy 99 was closing about the same time I got into the hobby. Also visited Al Cox's basement shop a number of times. He also did TCA auctions in Centralia. I don't recall Bill or his pike. Moved from WA State in 1984.

[ScaleCraft]

He used to go down to the Centralia meets all the time. Olsen was the S guy down there, right?


Still have a bit of wiring to go. All the control panels are here, lots of track (now cleaned of ballast), All-Trols, huge whacking 275VA 24V power supplies (eliminate the ZW) switches, under board mount Tenshodos, mountains are coming down, north wall stripped out, backdrops out (somebody wants them tomorrow). Have a HUGE box of drywall screws, plywood coming here tomorrow, need a bigger box for the wire.

5 hours a day and I'm toast.

[jlong]

He used to go down to the Centralia meets all the time. Olsen was the S guy down there, right?


Still have a bit of wiring to go. All the control panels are here, lots of track (now cleaned of ballast), All-Trols, huge whacking 275VA 24V power supplies (eliminate the ZW) switches, under board mount Tenshodos, mountains are coming down, north wall stripped out, backdrops out (somebody wants them tomorrow). Have a HUGE box of drywall screws, plywood coming here tomorrow, need a bigger box for the wire.

5 hours a day and I'm toast.

Olsen rings a bell. Ron Levington is the S guy I remember.

[healey36]

He used to go down to the Centralia meets all the time. Olsen was the S guy down there, right?


Still have a bit of wiring to go. All the control panels are here, lots of track (now cleaned of ballast), All-Trols, huge whacking 275VA 24V power supplies (eliminate the ZW) switches, under board mount Tenshodos, mountains are coming down, north wall stripped out, backdrops out (somebody wants them tomorrow). Have a HUGE box of drywall screws, plywood coming here tomorrow, need a bigger box for the wire.

5 hours a day and I'm toast.

Olsen rings a bell. Ron Levington is the S guy I remember.

Bought a lot of Flyer S-gauge parts from Ron Leventon back in the day. Carried quite a bit of prewar Flyer O-gauge parts as well...wish he was still around.

[ScaleCraft]

It's all down, bare walls, this afternoon.
13'X33' layout.

Crazy.

[rogruth]

It's all down, bare walls, this afternoon.
13'X33' layout.

Crazy.

Dave,
What happens next?
I either missed or don't remember.

[ScaleCraft]

He moves to Tucson, Arid-Zone-A.

Cars are gone, trains are gone, 50 years or 60 of bound MR went to the dump today, along with stacks of OGR and CTT.

Some e-bayer who specializes in plastic model kits bought the cars and engines, and maybe any remaining buildings.

26 years of history..gone to the dump.

[rogruth]

This is probably more common than we think.

[ScaleCraft]

Yes. A LOT of junior realtors think a railroad is an "asset", and leave it...until the buyer gives his or her demands, and it has to go. FAR easier to remove it before the house goes on the market.

[bob turner]

My brother is a G Gordon Liddy conservative. I am one of the few liberals I know - very much in favor of free education for any who qualify and who will maintain grades - all the way through an MD.

Among other liberal ideas . . .

I ask him, and shall ask you - where would we go to exist under a government better than this, even with its considerable flaws?

My brother does not answer - he just angrily shouts at the government. The same government that sends him a full military retirement and a full civil service retirement. The same government that provides his free health care.

I am, of course, horrified by recent events, but believe we will survive to become a better nation.

And yeah - I do have some nice Northern Pacific models.

[ScaleCraft]

What he has grown weary of (as most of us have) is the pressure the liberal voting base in Seattle places on us all.
They swallow the Kool-Aid uncut.

Sound Transit 3. Supposedly light rail. First off, taking away the reversible lanes for traffic on I-90, already creating issues. In our town, all we get from the billions they collect in taxes is a 500-car parking garage in8 years. That's it.

Push the gas tax through 8 years ago, pumping us to #2 gas tax in the nation...going to solve all our roads issues for ever.
TWO YEARS after passage, without notice, the Legislature can re-allocate those funds to whatever they want to.
So, they TOLL the Interstate, taking away lanes to do it..and the latest is shoulder driving. Seriously...

I could go on and on.

[ScaleCraft]

DSCN0653.JPG (784.66 KiB) Viewed 4065 times

DSCN0652.JPG (830.34 KiB) Viewed 4065 times

33' X 13', all evidence of railroad removed, walls patched and painted, fluorescent lights all out (and here, now), can lights installed, new carpeting. 26 years and all that's left is photos.