Field Trip, part 1...

It so happens that my position at BNSF as a chief dispatcher covers a large portion of Washington state. On February 12th, I trekked to the Northwest on company business to see my territory.  Not the best time of year to be in the Northwest, mainly because the days are so short, but it worked out well.  I spent 9 days in Washington and took one day for myself and traveled to Lewiston to look over what was left of the trackage and structures. 


As I develop my layout based on the Camas Prairie Railroad's Lewiston terminal area, I find myself trying to find out little details about things such as whether there are drainage ditches within the body of the freight yard at East Lewiston, if the main track was tamped up higher than the yard tracks, how much curve exists in a turnout or lead, etc.


Arriving in Lewiston last week was sort of melancholy, as much of what I remember from just a few years ago has been changed, removed, razed or completely obliterated.   I had heard that the Twin Cities Foods building had been razed, and that the city is interested in turning entire area into a city park, so I wasn't sure what was left.  Progress I suppose.


I wanted to take a look at some details of the trackage and buildings in the downtown area, so this was my first stop. One of the details I was interested in, was how some of the turnouts were laid out on the east end of the downtown yard.  The station map below gives a great view of how the downtown area was once laid out. 

Portion of Lewiston (downtown) station map, circa 1950.



Looking westward from the east lead into the downtown yard.  The old Home Lumber building is in the background.  Notice the curve in the turnouts.  Feb 20, 2011.

 I have decided to hand lay my turnouts, and the above picture of the east lead shows, in part, my reason why.  The turnouts are basically curved throughout, except for the frogs and the points are almost on top of the adjacent turnouts frogs.  Some curving can be accomplished with prefab turnouts and friends Dan Holbrook and Steve Lorenz pioneered much of this when laying track on Dan's BN Missabe Division railroad model, however they used mostly #8 sized turnouts.

I have also experimented with curving prefab turnouts from Shinohara, but with #6 sized turnouts, there isn't much curving that can be accomplished, without stressing the integrity of the turnout.  By handlaying the turnouts, I can adjust for the curve of the turnout by varying the distance from the frog to the points, making it easier to squeeze some of the trackage into my limited space.  I'll use the Fast Tracks tools to make the frogs, points and slotted stock rails, helping greatly with consistency and speed.


The Erb Hardware cable warehouse is sort of a key structure on my future layout as it will sit right in the front of the downtown scene.  Also, there was a spur that went into the west end of this building.

The east side of the Cable Warehouse.  Feb 20, 2011.

The West side of the cable warehouse.  Interesting that the door is not centered.  There was once a spur track into the warehouse through the door.  In the foreground is what is left of the turnout to the removed Twin Cities food spur.  To the left of the cable warehouse, with stored cars on them,  are the house tracks.  These tracks once tied into the main industry lead on the west end too.  Feb 20, 2011.

My next stop was to look at the trackage and structures along Snake River Ave.  This street runs south from downtown Lewiston, along the east bank of the Snake River.  From the the downtown yard, there is an industrial lead that curves south and follows Snake River Ave about one mile to a Lewiston Grain Growers elevator that is still served by the contemporary Great Northwest Railroad.  Its not street running, but the track is right up against the side of the side of the street.  Along the way were a couple of spurs that served served local industries on the other side of the street.

Goodman oil and a Coors beer distributor were served by one spur that came off the Snake River Ave lead.  As you can see, the track is not the in the best of condition.  It may have been in a little better shape in the 1960's, but not much.

Industrial track along Snake River Ave.  Just beyond the crossing, is part of a turnout that once served Goodman Oil and a Coors beer distributor on the other side of the street.  Feb 20, 2011.

The Coors distributor was at the end of the spur.  The blue building in the background is where Goodman oil once was. A former employee told me that during certain periods, the beer distributor sometimes received 3 to 4 cars of beer a week.    

A little further down is the spur to the former Pacific Fruit and Produce warehouse, now the Paper Tigers.   The spur on the other side of the street has room for one 50ft or 60ft boxcar and possibly two 40ft cars. Since it so close to a main street, the single car spur is protected by a switch point derail. This neat little tidbit will be a must on the layout!  Part 2 of my day in Lewiston will follow soon...

The old Pacific Fruit and Produce warehouse, now owned by a company called Paper Tigers, is served by this short industrial spur that crosses Snake River Ave.

Another view of the Pacific Fruit and Produce warehouse.

Switch point derail on the old Pacific Fruit spur.  An old NP switchstand is still in service too.