The Inland Empire (NP Tacoma Division)

[RudiJaeger]

InlandEmpireMap_01.jpg

Introducing "The Inland Empire", depicting the Northern Pacific Tacoma Division between Centralia-Chehalis and Longview-Kelso, in Southwest Washington, circa 1955-1975.

I'm nowhere near releasing anything yet, but it's a start. My first attempt ended in failure; hopefully this one makes it to the finish line. The new route has all the mainline installed (no branchlines yet), but only has around 2.5 miles of completed scenery, with about 45 miles remaining. The scenery placement is mostly from memory, historical photos, and recollections from the area's old-timers. I left for the Army in 1982, so I still carry a mental photo album of pre-80's Southwest Washington; which is why I try not to look too long at any modern images of the area while building the route.

Before proceeding, I'd like to acknowledge some of our membership who helped make this route a reality:

~ Bob, Buzz, and Chacal, for maintaining a home for our hobby, and for their timely and knowledgeable advice to everyone.

~ BoostedFridge, for providing the hi-def terrain data. I can't say enough about how much impact his contribution has made to this route.

~ ErikGorbiHamilton, for providing the Tacoma Division track data. This was my go-to reference during the crucial track-laying phase.

~ Minerman, GreatNortherner, ET44C4, and Wayne Campbell; for providing advice and mentorship. Whenever I had a question or asset request, these gentlemen always came to the rescue.

Thanks again everyone!

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And now, the shopping list! If anything changes, I'll post it here along with a notation and "as of" date; so you can always refer to page-1 for the assets. I've tried to keep it user-friendly for our "Outside the USA" membership, so hopefully nothing gets the corporate logo ban-hammer in the meantime. Everything I've listed is top-notch content, so even though the route is a long way from completion; it certainly won't hurt to add this content to your collections. All the following DLC creators did a fantastic job, be it payware or freeware; many thanks for their efforts. Unfortunately, there is a "20 url limit" when posting links, so there are several third party objects which I'll provide links to later, or in the readme upon release.

Required payware:

1. Konstanz-Villingen (Textures, weather, vegetation)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/6219 ... nid=958135

2. VNHRR Springfield (track & bridges)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3259 ... nid=958135

3. Montana Hi-Line (Northwest related objects)
USA Customers: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1055 ... nid=958135
Outside USA (No BNSF logos): https://store.steampowered.com/app/1147 ... ute_AddOn/

4. G-Trax Cascadian (Northwest related objects)
https://www.railworksamerica.com/index. ... dian-route

5. RWA Lakeside (vehicles, Semaphores)
https://www.railworksamerica.com/index. ... side-route

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Required Freeware Routes:

Montana Hi-Line, 1950s/60s Version (Steam Workshop item; requires payware H-Line listed above)): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/ ... earchtext=

Montana Hi-Line Backdating Kit - Required Asset Pack for the 50s-60s version (Seperate Download!): http://golden-age-rails.com/rwscenry.html#hilbackdate

G-Trax: Maine Maritime route (Urban blocks, select buildings):
https://www.railworksamerica.com/index. ... collection

Wayne Campbell: Columbia Valley Pacific (CVP) Route (several scenery items): https://www.railworksamerica.com/index. ... collection

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Last assets list update: 03 MAR 2020
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[RudiJaeger]

After completing the mainline trackage, I decided to begin terrain-painting and scenery construction in my old home-town of Vader, which is centrally located along the route's mainline.

Vader was originally named "Little Falls" for the nearby series of falls on Olequa Creek, but shipments on the NP were often erroneosly routed to Little Falls, Minnesota. As a result, the town was temporarily named Sopenah until finally being named Vader after one of it's residents. In the early 1900's it was a boom-town due to the surrounding old-growth timber and rich clay deposits, which supported the Stillwater Lumber Company, and the Little Falls Fire Clay Company, which made bricks and pipe for much of the region. Both companies are long gone, but I included a fictional rendition of the sawmill so we can have a reason to stop at Vader and have a look around. I also included the Little Crane Cafe, which exists today; train crews would often grab a quick meal there when switching the sidings. The old water tower was still standing in 1982, but has since been demolished; although the storage tower is located away from the tracks, there was once an accompanying water crane to service the steam locos (I'm still debating whether to include this feature). The water crane was removed after steam operations ceased, but it's water tower remained, albeit without a roof. The depot was originally similar in size to the object I used, but the real one was demolished in favor of a much smaller whistle-stop structure, and passenger ops completely ceased around 1969 and the little depot was eventually removed.

One of the most challenging pieces of scenery was the Vader trestle which spans Olequa Creek. Each section had to be tilted and spun around to match the angle of the curve's super-elevation. After completion, I found an old photo I'd taken around 1974. Despite working from memory, I think the bridge came out fairly close:

RJ_Vader_Trestle_UP_01c.jpg

RJ_Vader_Trestle_UP_01wTS.jpg

btw; the second unit (no. 401B) in the real photo is an SD24B, built in 1959. This initial phase of the scenery build has been a long time coming, so I have a bunch more screenshots to follow...

[RudiJaeger]

...here are some birds-eye views:

Screenshot_Inland Empire_46.39938--122.96484_15-54-50.jpg

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[RudiJaeger]

...and some closer shots:

Screenshot_Inland Empire_46.39549--122.95954_15-35-23.jpg

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[buzz456]

Anything I can do to help out just holler.

[RudiJaeger]

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[RudiJaeger]

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[RudiJaeger]

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[RudiJaeger]

Throwing in a couple of vintage rw shots of the area:

RJ_Vader_BN_MixLok_01c.jpg

RJ_Vader_BN_MixLok_03c.jpg

Screenshot_Inland Empire_46.41354--122.96352_15-41-23.jpg

Screenshot_Inland Empire_46.42230--122.96476_15-08-09.jpg

Screenshot_Inland Empire_46.42231--122.96476_15-43-33.jpg

That's all now; going back to work. Cheers! ...and thanks Buzz, I'm sure I'll need you're advice from time to time

[Chacal]

Awesome trackside scenes!
They remind me of my model railroading days.

[minerman146]

Rudi,
This is beautiful and it is your memories which is even better. I can see the love in the work. This is special.

[GreatNortherner]

Hi Rudi,

I can't say it better than Minerman just did. This is special indeed! The screenshots are very atmospheric.

(Also, great BN rainbow era lashups!)

Cheers
Michael

[ET44C4]

Loading up them wheat straw bales!! The scenery work is spectacular and so detailed! I love all the scenes, it makes the route feel alive. Amazing work....

One of my employers spent his childhood not far from that area (somewhere off of UP trackage, though), somewhat before/around the time period that the route is set to, too. He has shared his stories relating to the Uncle Pete and Washington's plentiful agriculture from back then.

[ErikGorbiHamilton]

Absolutely amazing! I remember seeing the searchlights before the BNSF replaced them all in the mid 2010s. I could see why you want to end at Bucoda, considering in the 50's the NP secondary main (and originally THE main) split off at Tenino and took a wildly different route! Well be neat to see Centralia/Chehalis. Harold Borovec is an old family friend down in Chehalis who saved and worked on the 15 on the CC&C. Such a neat little tourist op. IIRC this is set before the MILW secured rights to operate down to Longview (that became more of a thing in the 70's IIRC) This means the MILW wasn't the backwater "mainline" it was later, which will be neat to see!

[RudiJaeger]

Thanks everyone; much appreciated! It always makes me feel the extra effort was worthwhile when all the little details are noticed. I only wish I could have found some hay-hooks to make loading those bales a bit easier for the crew

Before any readers search their asset inventories, I should explain that the cable-carriage for the mill's log-dock crane was scratch-built using a resized and tilted trash-bin and a couple of hand-carts, and ride along the "cables" of telephone poles tilted and hidden into the crane boom and anchor piling on the opposite end. And near the depot, the spout on the water tank is spun around so it's out of view amidst the tree boughs, and the "refueling function-link" is attached to a short piece of invisible track near the base of the trees; this allows the tower to be placed in it's actual location and keeps the spout out of the actual trackage, opting for possible addition of the prototypical water crane for steam ops (still debating).

@ Minerman: You're very perceptive; it is indeed a labor of love. My mother was a mail-order bride who made the trip from the hills of Western North Carolina during the Great Depression to marry a WWI veteran (Corps of Engineers) who later became the section-foreman in Vader. She ran the section-house (being demolished in one of the screenshots) and hung-out the mail-bags for the passing express trains. Several years and three kids later, my mother parted ways but stayed in Vader and married my father after he returned from the Korean War. My older brother also worked for the NP on the Tacoma Division, and all the way east to Fargo, North Dakota; he would eventually take-up his father's position as section foreman and made the transition from the NP to the BN, and would later become a track supervisor for the Weyerhaeuser woods railroad. My aunt also made the trip "out west" and worked in Kelso for the NP as the Allen Street crossing guard; if I recall correctly, she was the last crossing guard that worked for the NP before automation put her into retirement. They've all since passed; but I always think of them while I'm working on the route.

@ Erik: Your comments certainly bring back memories. I recall old No.15 when it was a static display at the Chehalis community park, along with the old McKinley Stump. Glad to see it's been restored and running; kudos to Mr. Borovec. He'll be happy to know that I'm including the trackage it runs on today, along with some of the former trackage that is now the Willipa Hills Trail. Eventually, I'm hoping to take the branchline as far as Adna, maybe farther depending upon how much gas is in my tank by that point. I also intend to model the old wrecking yard just south of Chehalis, where some of the Milwaukee's Little Joes went to die; perhaps by that point in the build, we'll have some Little Joes. I think you're correct about the MILW trackage rights, although I seem to remember an occasional consist prior to the BN merger; probably branchline related. But yes, the heavy MILW traffic really started to appear in the mid-70's; lots of SD45's and U-boats, and the unique bay window caboose; BN and UP always ran with cupolas for the most part.

I wish I could post more real-world photos for everyone, but unfortunately, the majority of negs and photos from my rail-fanning days were lost when I left home. I used to do my own developing (B&W) and documented about 5 years of local rail history... visits from the Royal Hudson, American Freedom Train, UP's 8444, and several BN merger consists. Slowly but surely, BN green was beginning to cover up all those wonderful old paint schemes, and I tried to take as many photos as possible before everything turned green. But I've since concluded that most of the negs and photos must have accidentally been tossed at some point. Although, one or two pop up occasionally when sifting through boxes of old photos. Speaking of which, I'll close with this photo, taken between Vader and Winlock, of EMD F7A BN 684 (ex-GN 464A Blt. 01/53) and EMD F7A BN 626 (ex-GN 308C Blt. 10/50). The photo is rather blurry, but I think the lead BN unit is the same Alco C424 No.4241 (ex SP&S 301) featured in the previous merger shot:

RJ_Vader_BN_MixLok_02c.jpg

Cheers!