A Tour Of The Layout Part 2 by Neal Imperatrice
Oh hello, it's me, Neal Imperatrice again. We're going on another journey today, along the "Oregon Trunk" line and the Washington side of the Columbia on our layout.
We'll start in our recreation of the Central Oregon town of Bend. This is the starting point of our coal trains, where they're loaded before heading down the line through Madras and Paxton. Following a train down the line, we wind around Mt. McGinley, named for the member who built it, and over the Crooked River Bridge. The Crooked River Bridge stretches high above the Deschutes River shortly before it spills into the Columbia.
Rolling off the Crooked River Bridge
We'll come back to the Deschutes a bit later, as we've now reached the Gateway siding and the town of Maupin, which serves as the trade-off point for trains between the Oregon Trunk line and the mainline. He're the train must wait for a clear track in before it can head out onto the mainline and towards it's ultimate destination of Troutdale, Oregon.
Coal train stopped to wait
Leaving the train behind, we head farther down the track to find the town of Wishram, Washington, a small town off of Highway 14, along the Columbia. From here we can just make out Interstate 84 across the river on the Oregon side. The train station in Wishram is so small, if you'd blink, you'd miss it, but the station on our layout services many different passenger trains. Notable details in Wishram include a big top circus tent, a schoolhouse, and a baseball diamond. Across town is the freight yard, from where trains head west to Portland or east to Spokane and beyond.
Mainline through Wishram
As we head out of Wishram we pass by a large grain elevator. A cut of grain cars idles on a siding nearby, waiting to be loaded. Further down the line we'll reach the Deschutes again as we head over the Celilo crossover. High above us we can see a pair of hot air balloons as they tour the gorge. Along the riverbanks here are salmon fishing platforms, where fish are caught as they head upstream. In 1957, four years after our layout's setting, the falls were flooded by the construction of The Dalles Dam, upending thousands of local livelihoods.
Fishing at Celilo
Around the bend is the small town of Horse Thief, Washington. There's a motel, a few farming related businesses, and a number of farms and orchards. Another grain elevator loading hopper cars highlights the tie between agriculture and railroad. The development of the railroad helped Oregon grain production more than double between 1870 and 1920, and remained an integral part of agricultural transport long after. Be sure to keep an eye out for our refrigerated fruit express!
It’s not just agricultural trains passing through!
That concludes today's excursion, I hope you enjoyed the tour! Be sure to tell your friends and family about us here at the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Historical Society, and thank you for visiting my blog!
Niel Imperatirce