My favorite shortline is the North Pacific Coast. This narrow gauge line ran a ferry from San Francisco to Sauselito then a line through the redwood forests to the north. while it started out as a lumbering line, in its later years it was primarily a commuter and tourist line. Ten months ago, I'd never heard of the NPC. But in doing research on Mason Bogies, I picked up the Timber Times book, 'Narrow Gauge to the Redwoods'. I read the book and it caused me to alter my plans to run standard gauge in my new garden railroad. Now, the new pike will model the NPC. Tom
Nice choice Tom! I'm familiar with the PNC and you are correct about its diverse operation. An interesting line to model, for sure. Welcome to Trainboard and thank you for your input in the SL&NG forum. Hope you might have some pics to share of the PNC, and of your PNC garden RR as it progresses in the future.
Hey Bill, My garden RR is a semi-long-term project. We just moved into a new house on the outskirts of Madison. I have 4 acres of land -- mostly in grass, a 30 by 50 foot pond, and a 30 x 50 foot metal shed with a concrete floor. I'm going to build a 1:20.3 scale switching pike modeling the Sauselito yards and the dock in the metal shed. The line will extend outside and run about 500 feet to the pond. Along the way I plan to model a number of communities the NPC served. The pond will be the banks of the Russian River. Still figuring out how I'm going to model redwoods outdoors in Wisconsin . May have to bash some Dwarf Alberta Spruices. Engines will include the two Mason Bogies I'm scratchbuilding as part of the MasterClass 2002 project on MyLargeScale.com. They are No 2 - the San Rafel, and Number 8, The Bully Boy. I'll also be modeling Number 13, a 2-6-0 Mogul using a Bachmann 2-6-0 Spectrum that's on its way to me from San-Val. The undecorated Bachmann Spectrum appears to be right on with the prototype so it will be mostly paint and lettering. I also have two cheap Bachman 4-6-0's I picked up cheap on eBay that I'm bashing into 4-4-0 Americans. The bottom line is that us large scalers can be every bit as rivit-countin scale-Nazis as you guys in the smaller scales. I got really frosted about a letter a HO scaler wrote to MR criticising them for featuring a garden railroad an issue or two ago. He made a number of comments about whether the 'toy scale' layouts belonged in amongst indoor railroads from serious modelers. Last time I checked, real prototype railroads ran outdoors. I figure I have a much better chance of modeling one accurately outdoors than indoors. How many of you have real scale fish swimming around in your indoor HO ponds? How many of you need to construct waterways to deal with real flash floods? Anyway, I'll be happy to post some pictures as I go along. And I apologize for the rant. Tom
Tom, Well .. that certainly *is* a major long-term project, indeed! I live on 11 acres in the mountains on the Scott River in N. California and had considered a large scale pike out there. But after considering all, I decided that I would not be able to run it during the winter snows, and I'm really too busy during the summer months to spend much time with the hobby. Your plan sounds like a realchallange! I have a slight feeling that it snows back there a little too Anyway, I can just picture those fish in the pond next to a string of loaded log boggies. I guess in scale ... they would have to be called California Gray Whales, huh? LOL I'll be lookin forward to seeing pics of your progress.
If someone complains about the diversity of the hobby that Model Railroader tries to bring everyone, they should cancel their subscription. All scales, all layouts big, small, expertly made, amateurishly made should not be so upsetting to someone that it makes their blood pressure boil. Aren't model trains toys for adults no matter what they are? I know I'll never grow up! Railroading for real or in scale is a hobby that brings people together to share ideas. My favorite shortline is the NEW YORK CROSS HARBOR RAILROAD at BUSH TREMINAL in BAY RIDGE, BROOKLYN, NY.
The Wisconsin and Michigan, a shortline which gave up the ghost in 1938. At its peak, it operated a line from Peshtigo Harbor, Wisconsin to Iron Mountain, Michigan (77.2 miles). It entered Menominee, Michigan through trackage rights over the Milwaukee Road from Bagley Junction, Wisconsin to Menominee. The road also had a long branch running from Everett Junction, Michigan to Costine, Wisconsin via Miscauno Island. In addition to operating a fleet of 4-6-0 steamers, the road also purchased an early Stover gas railcar.
I have to say I'm partial to the D&RGW around the Durango, CO area. I lived there for two years (just moved to DFW, TX two months ago) and my office overlooked the tracks at 12th & Main Ave. in Durango. What a sight every day! Now, as far as standard gauge stuff goes, I like the Fort Worth Western Railroad here in Texas. They run the Tarantula steam excursion train along with some general freight movements along the old Frisco line. On another note, I'm glad to have found a new message board to voice my opinion on! Thanks to the webmasters for providing this forum.
Never had heard of this one. Just out of curiousity, what commodities did they haul? Was it lumber based? Or, as they were in the general vicinity, did they have anything to do with the iron ore? BoxcabE50
Whisky and Proto ... welcome to TrainBoard! I had not heard of your railroad Whisky .. but of course, almost everyone has heard of the D&RG! I hope to visit them some day. That's the beauty of this forum and this string: we can learn about the abundant shortlines that were, and still operate in the US and abroad. Thank you for your participation.
My favorite shortline is the Buffalo and Pittsburgh here in Pennsylvania and New York. They run GP9s, SD45-2s, GP18s, GP38s, and GP40s. They have the paint scheme of parent railroad Genesee and Wyoming. Greg
Greg, Welcome to the trainBoard, we're glad to have you on board! There is also a shortline that runs between Gulfport and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the old Gulf & Ship Island from 1912. It's now part of the KCS, but it's orphaned from their main east/west line in Jackson by at least 75 miles. It also seems that KCS would just as soon forget about it. The line's main power are four GP-10's, ex-IC Paducah re-builds in Mid-South colors, and there are various lost (abandoned?) locos from KCS ... GP-35's and -38's in Gateway Eastern, Gateway Western, and even one in KCS White(!) livery. We even had a GP-9 for a while about 2 years ago. [ 22. December 2002, 21:16: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
Coal & Coke Railroad. 45 miles through through the heart of North Central West Virginia. Elkins to Pickens and to Buckhannon. the B&O bought it up in 1959. They had 8 4-8-2's which were actually B&O engines with C&CRR sub-lettering from what I've seen at the local Historical Society. The line was abandoned in February 1986 after 36 of 45 miles being washed out by Flood in November 3-6, 1985. the other 9 miles is not connected to anywhere, and the county tried to get the state to buy it, but CSX took one look and said they'd scrap it for them.
Not to get sidetracked here (pun intended), but this thread has been active (off and on) since April 2000. That's quite a long time, and this isn't even a controversial thread! And every post a good one, informational, and fun to read. Let's see Trainorders do THAT just once! OK, back to shortlines........like, say, the Blacklands Railroad, which is operating the Cotton Belt's line from Mt. Pleasant, TX west to Greenville, TX (it's gone west of Simtrott to Wylie due to washouts at Lavon). Motive power consists of two RS3s and a rebuilt GP9. Their website is here: Blacklands Railroad
Nice information you guys I am always one to ask if you have any photos to share of your favorite shortline. If you do, how 'bout posting them!
While these are not my pictures, here's a page of some of the B&P engines. http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/bp/bp.html All kinds of other railroads, both Class 1, shortlines, and everything inbetween, can be found at: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ . There are instructions for sending in photos to put on the site on the main page. Greg
Hiya, Whiskey. The Wisconsin and Michigan (1894-1938) was considered a Class II Railroad. It's former name was the Ingalls, White Rapids and Northern (1890-1894).
G&W, Here's another bit of useless railroad trivia. LOL! From the early 1800's until now, there have been 36 railroads whose names began with the word, "BUFFALO"! And I came up with two electric railroads that began with "Buffalo".
My Favorite regional line is the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway on Vancouver Island. It was built in 1886 by Coal Baron Robert Dunsmuir. Canadian Pacific purchased the E&N in 1905, extended it to Lake Cowichan, Port Alberni, Courtenay, Crofton, and Great Central Lake. CP later abandoned the lines to Lake Cowichan, Crofton and Great Central. CP sold a portion of the line from Stocketts jct.(Jct. with Wellcox yard spur) to Port Alberni via Parksville Jct and leased the rest to Rail America in 1999. The E&N runs, in partnership with VIA Rail Canada, passenger service between Victoria and Courtenay, Parksville-Port Alberni passenger service was dropped in 1957, and it runs freight service to currently three customers. The current E&N Railway owns 181 miles(not including abandonments) of track and currently operates 143 miles. This logo can be found on the side of the ENR locomotives. Here's one of the ENR's locomotives(since declared surplus and sent to the Puget Sound and Pacific) Gordon Hulford photo. Three Budd Rail Diesel Cars provide passenger service from Victoria-Courtenay. RDC1's 6133, 6135, and 6148. Mick Hall caught VIA 6135 loading passengers at Victoria. During the winter months and early spring they often run with only 1 car...however during the summer they will run up to all three cars on the trains. [ 10. January 2003, 00:36: Message edited by: E&NRailway ]
Hi, everyone. I see this board is mostly drawn to west of Arizona, and here I am in SC! Seriously, though, reading all the pages of postings, I can't believe you missed the CCTC, Central California Traction. It started out as a real traction RR with passenger and freight service, using electric box engines. Now it has a GP7 low-nose, a GP18...oh well, just go to the web page to check it out. CCT
