What Era, Railroads, & Locomotives are you set on?

[pgandw]

Do you have a time frame where you're set, time of year?

I chose coastal Oregon in 1900. Air brakes are in use, and the other 1893 safety items have been fully implemented. Knuckle couplers are in use. Time of year is approximately October, so I can use yellow aspens to offset the firs, pines, and cedars. Working sail (logging schooners) still takes the lumber to San Francisco, and occasionally Alaska and Japan. The savings of fuel costs and the premium value of the Port Orford cedar allows sail to still compete with the closer California redwood logging.

What are your railroads and what's the rolling stock consist of for deliveries/industries?

Picture Gorge & Western Railway: The PG&W is a fictional standard gauge railroad running eastward from the town of Charleston on Coos Bay to connect with the Oregon & California at Roseburg (the planned southern route to Coos Bay that was never built). In my alternate universe, the Southern Pacific had not yet absorbed the O&C. The PG&W had visions of expanding eastward across Oregon and into Idaho or Montana to tie into another railroad to form a transcontinental. With this type of rail service and the best bar crossing between San Francisco and Seattle, Charleston (Coos Bay) could become another major West Coast port. Unfortunately, the PG&W founder observed the Coos Bay bar on a rare sunny day, and never saw the usual fog banks that would effectively prevent coastal schooners from using the port. At this point (1900), Charleston remains primarily a fishing port for salmon. The cannery provides both fresh and canned salmon for shipment east and south. Ice, coal, and supplies for both the fishermen, their boats, and the cannery are imported. There is a small sawmill and some lumber production at Charleston. A blacksmith and feed is needed for the horses. The railroad has effectively put the wagon freight trade to the Willamette Valley and Roseburg out of business - only local freight goes by horse-drawn wagon.

Port Orford & Elk River Railway & Navigation Co: The PO&ER is a fictional 3ft gauge logger running from the "dog hole" harbor of Port Orford to the sawmill on the Elk River, and also eastward along the Elk to the prime stands of Port Orford Cedar, redwood, and Douglas Fir in the upper parts of the drainage. Although Port Orford offers no protection from SW winds, and Charleston is a well-protected harbor, Port Orford is favored by working sail for its ease of entry and exit. Charleston, because of frequent calms and fog, is better suited to steamships and local fisherman who are prepared to take advantage of short-lived wind and clearing. The PO&ER, sensing it could grow traffic through its harbor, extended the line through the mountains to Lebanon to an interchange with the PG&W. The Lebanon city fathers insisted that the PO&ER use city labor to transfer freight between the 2 lines as a condition of the land grant to tie to the PG&W. The agreement, until it is renegotiated, has put a kabosh on any plans to widen the PO&ER to standard gauge.

Logging is the primary business of the PO&ER. Logs are landed and loaded onto log cars in the upper part of the Elk River drainage, and transported to the saw mill. From the mill, the sawn lumber goes to Port Orford via the switchback down the cliff to the dock. Supplies for the logging camps, and supplies for the ships, and the occasional passengers form the rest of the local traffic. Bridge traffic from the interchange to Port Orford has begun to develop. The occasional logs go to the interchange, and then to the sawmill at Charleston.

So what are your plans or completed plans for your Railroad/Layout/Engine/Stock?

The PO&ER uses 2 Shays (Keystone/NWSL) to power trains up the switchback(s). A small switcher (Ken Kidder Porter) takes care of business at the Elk River Saw Mill. And a Baldwin 2-6-0 (FED) takes the freight and passengers over the main.

The PG&W uses a modernized 1870s 4-4-0 (Mantua General with Cary boiler) for passenger traffic. A Baldwin 2-8-0 (Model Power/Mantua chassis) pulls the freight. A Class A Climax (Roundhouse) or B-2 Shay (Roundhouse) are available for the steep grade on the branch to the Lebanon interchange.

Passenger cars are all open platform less than 50ft in length. All cars are wood construction with truss rods. Freight cars are typically 28ft to 34ft long. Arch bar trucks are pretty much standard.

Freight uses box cars for most everything, reefers for ice and perishable food hauling, gondolas for coal, and mostly disconnects or flats for logs. Stock cars serve the ranches.

With present space, the Port Orford dock scene, small yard and engine facilities, and switchback are on a shelf on one wall. In the corner is a log landing. The Elk River saw mill scene fits on a 5ft shelf over my modeling desk. The Charleston water front is also planned along with the Lebanon interchange. The O&C interchange at Roseburg and more of Lebanon would be the next areas to be added should I gain additional space.

Fred W
....modeling foggy coastal Oregon, where it's always 1900....