Dan Pantaleo’s N scale railroad represents a scenically striking section of the prototype BNSF Hi Line Subdivision in the early-to-mid 1990s through the early 2000s. West to east trains (first video) depart from Cut Bank yard, pass through East Glacier (Glacier Park), are protected by snowsheds, cross the iconic Goat Lick trestle, proceed through Essex, cross the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, continue through Glacier National Park, Columbia Falls, and Whitefish, Montana. Regional freights do work at the sidings in East Glacier, are worked by the MOW switcher crew at Essex, and deliver and pick up loads in Whitefish with the help of the Whitefish Shifter. In Whitefish the local switcher services the prototypical industries of Plum Creek Lumber and the Columbia Falls Aluminum Corp as well as other incidental businesses. Both the Plum Creek and Columbia Falls Aluminum prototypes have since shut down operations. The Essex MOW crew takes track maintenance materials from regional freights and both wood and concrete tie work trains from the Essex MOW yard to the MOW spur at Summit (the location of the Continental Divide) and other locations keeping the track in good order, the snow sheds under repair and returning empties back to Essex for pick-up by the next regional manifest. The Eureka Local takes empties farther west from Whitefish delivering them to the prototypical Thompson River Lumber Company and Knife Creek Aggregate and Gravel (shown in the eastbound video), returning lumber loads to Plum Creek Lumber and spotting gravel loads at Whitefish for pickup by regional manifests. East Glacier, Essex (home of the historic Izaak Walton Inn) and Whitefish are Amtrak stops serviced by the prototype westbound Amtrak train #7 and eastbound train #8 Empire Builder and are run on the layout. Dan also runs a “retro” Great Northern excursion version of the Empire Builder (flyover video). While prototype eastbound (second video) manifests and unit trains typically originate in Spokane and Pasco, Washington or Sand Point, Idaho and points further west, east bound freights on the layout depart from the semi-fictitious Eureka yard. These trains run the layout in reverse terminating in the Cut Bank yard doing work at each of the major operating points. In operating sessions east- and west-bound freights are simultaneously run often interspersed with the Empire Builder. Once in a while a stray Montana Rail Link (MRL) “oil can” or grain “Exploder” will create challenges for dispatchers. Two passing sidings get a lot of use. The layout is Digitrax DCC duplex running on Kato Unitrack with powered Kato switches. Westbound: https://youtu.be/2_IwIZfmsJU Eastbound: https://youtu.be/5qJOKrbIRR4 Flyover: https://youtu.be/BcDO7Fgr2fM Slideshow: https://youtu.be/0GGKqs-DY2s
This is right in my "back yard" so to speak. The "local" switcher out of Whitefish, eastward, which also works the branch to Evergreen, is the Whitefish Road Switcher. In Columbia Falls, the Plum Creek plant is not shut down, it was bought by Weyerhaeuser. Area folks jokingly call it Plumhaeuser.
