Diversions

Well, I decided to start writing about the Camas Prairie RR railroad model I am building in the upper floor of my Tejas house.  Writing, is a great diversion from working on the layout, but since only a few of my model railroading compatriots live near me, I wanted a way to share what I am up to.  Over the years, I have had numerous ideas on what I should model.  Different eras, different locales and MANY different railroads!


The Milwaukee Road in the west has and always will intrigue me due to its quirky operations on the Rocky Mountain and Coast Divisions.  When the Hyrail Milwaukee Road Book came out in 1990, I was absolutely hooked!  I built a few freight cars and a couple of locomotives that I figured would work on a western themed layout.  I even went so far as to acquire some OMI brass "boxcab" freight motors, just in case I decided to model the Milwaukee under wires!


Later on, I sort of settled on the St. Maries and Plummer Idaho areas as a potential modeling subject and in 1993, I made a sojourn to Idaho and Washington to look at the abandoned carcass of what was once the Milwaukee Road, Lines West.  My base of operations for this trip, was at the home of some family friends in Pullman, WA, which was fairly close to the parts of the Milwaukee Road I was interested in looking over.


About this time, I was learning to take railroad pictures and I had heard about this operation out of Lewiston, Idaho that had spectacular scenery, so a trip to Lewiston to check out the Camas Prairie RR was also on my list of to do's.  Lewiston is only about an hour away from Pullman, so it seemed like an easy day trip to take a look at it.  I didn't know much about the Camas Prairie, other than it was owned by the Burlington Northern and Union Pacific Railroad's and that somewhere on their system, they traversed a mighty wood trestle known as Half-Moon.


I trundled to Lewiston and wandered into the yard office.  The clerk told me the train had departed about an hour ago and that they were headed to Grangeville.  I headed out of Lewiston and up US 95 following the tracks looking for the train.  The line was dotted with grain elevators in little communities, but there was no "live action", so I kept driving along, my attention being diverted by the intriguing scenery.


I had heard of Lapwai Canyon, but had never driven through the area, so I was quite impressed with the depth of the canyon and scenery...but still no train!!!  I figured I must have missed it and figured I would turn around when Half Moon Trestle appeared high up on the hill side.  There was a small pull off with a sign that said "railroad tunnels" so I stopped to take a picture when the train popped out over Half Moon. WOW!


I hurried myself up the highway and met up with the train switching at Craigmont.  They were busy spotting a couple of the elevators and I just sat in the rental car and watched them.


I spent the next few days ghost chasing the Milwaukee Road and taking some uninspiring pictures of the St. Maries River RR, which operated a segment of the former Milwaukee I was interested in modeling. The St. Maries was very cool and I really dug the log operation, but the Camas Prairie RR I had followed my first day out was already diverting my attention away from the Milwaukee Road.


I continued to pursue the Milwaukee Road as a modeling subject for quite a while, but I diverted my much of my research time to learning about the Camas Prairie RR.  The internet was in its infancy at this time, so most of my research was from books, pictures, magazine articles , employee timetables, etc.


My friend Dan Holbrook had quite a bit of information on the Camas Prairie, like he has on many railroad subjects.  Seriously, anytime I am looking for some information on a railroad subject, I check with him.  More often than not he has the dope!!!


By 1996, I was headed to Missoula, Montana to go to college and I was leaning heavily toward modeling the Camas Prairie RR.  I was a slightly better picture taker by then and after moving into my dorm room in Missoula, I headed straight to Idaho, to check out the Camas Prairie before the semester started.


I went to Grangeville and spent the night.  The next day I followed the Grangeville train all the way back to Lewsiton.  In 1993 when I followed the train, I stopped at Craigmont and didn't follow the train across the prairie.  What a HUGE mistake! After watching the train work its way back to Lewiston, switching the many grain elevators and lumber mills along the way, I knew this was modeling subject I should pursue.


While I was going to school in Montana, between August of '96 and April of '98, I made at least 20 separate trips to the Lewiston area  taking thousands of photos.  I made several friends, both railroaders and railfans, damaged two different vehicles and missed MANY classes.  The Camas Prairie Railroad, the people and the region, became a close friend.


Since then, when I decided I should model the Camas Prairie, I have diverted modeling themes more times that I care to count, including back and forth to the Camas Prairie a few times!  It really has become quite a joke.  Worse, however, is that my modeling focus had waned to not really doing anything.


My friend and colleague, Blair Kooistra, has torn down his first railroad, moved to a new house, built a new railroad, ripped up that one, and built another.  All since I moved here in 2004! Just ask many of my friends about my subject wandering, analysis paralysis (you'll have your chance to take your shots at me if you read any of this by posting comments!).  When someone asked what I modeled, I would just say, Northern Pacific, mid to late 60's, somewhere in the eastern half of Washington. Pretty darn vague and I really had no idea what I was going to model!


Then, a few months ago, I was on the phone with another model railroading friend, Ryan Reed, an NP, BN and/or MILW modeler depending on the day, and we were discussing the relationship we each had with our modeling subjects.  He grew up in the Tri-cities area of Washington in the late 70's and early 80's and has a really close kinship with the BN in Pasco in 1981.


I realized, from my conversation with Ryan, that I have a very special relationship with the Camas Prairie that I just didn't have with other subjects I was considering, even the Milwaukee Road.  So here I am in 2011, modeling the Camas Prairie RR again, but this time I making my plans public.  It kind of commits me to moving forward.


"BUILD SOMETHING" I have heard many times.  Here goes...