Union Pacific GP9 interchanges with freelanced Walla Walla Traction Co. SW-1 at the WWTCo's small yard.
A good deal of this blog's readership are modelers from Australia, who likely aren't very familar with my modeling interests prior to taking up NSW outline in 2008. So, here's a bit of a recap of the long-ago modeling days of 2000-2004, back when Mary and I were newlyweds and new parents, and a 10 X 12' bedroom in our old home contained my modeling hobby.
A good narrative of these early small bedroom railroads with lots of illustration are available on my Walla Walla Valley website, so I'll just share a few photos of the earliest layouts.
Walla Walla Traction Company
2000-2002: The original bedroom layout, a freelanced former interurban railroad in eastern Washington, making its trade much like the actual Yakima Valley Transportation (but without the steeplecab electrics) hauling lumber and fruit in the late 1960s. Originally, Bachman 70-Ton GE's were used, supplanted with Walthers SW-1s. The layout occupied three walls, hung from shelving brackets 63" off the floor. On the left wall was the Potlatch lumber mill, with three staging tracks (representing Union Pacific and Northern Pacific) hidden behind the mill. The middle wall featured WWTCo.'s ice house, small yard, and engine house. The right wall portrayed the cold storage and packing sheds which loaded mechanical and ice reefers with apples and varied vegetables. As enjoyable as the freelance concept was, what I came up with was so close to the actual Walla Walla Valley Railway that after a couple years decided to just devote my modeling and research time on a prototype railroad, and converted the WWTCo. to the WWV, rebuilding some of the layout to a still highly freelanced version of the WWV.
Silver-trucks on WWTCo 60 were a short-lived experiment. "Too flashy," declared management.
An overall view of one wall of the WWTCo.
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Snazzy SW-1's purchased to replaced the GE 70-tonners pose for the company photographer.
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WWTCo. interchanged with Union Pacific, which used SW9's like this Life-Like model.
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For a small bedroom layout, there was enough work to keep two two-person operating crews busy for an hour or two.
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The Potlatch Lumber mill was a major customer.
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2 comments:
Nice modelling there - thanks for sharing!
I liked this layout. It was a well thought out model railroad. Is there any chance that you could put up a track plan of the Walla Walla Valley Traction layout?
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