Field Trip, part 2...

After my morning spent downtown and along Snake River Ave, I used the rest of the afternoon to look over the East Lewiston Yard and engine facility.  In the old days (did I just call the late 90's that?!) when I would come over to Lewiston, I was a poor college student, so I would eat at the Dairy Queen Brazier near the old Lewiston depot, then drive over to the yard to eat lunch.  The DQ is still there, though they don't call it a Brazier store anymore.  For whatever reason, there aren't a lot of Dairy Queen's here in the Fort Worth area, so I rarely ever get to one.  A cherry Mr. Misty freeze is "the bomb"! 

After a brazier burger and a Mr. Misty freeze, I headed over to the yard.  Several years ago, I spent quite a bit of time taking pictures of trackage and structures in East Lewiston, however, model design considerations were somewhat abstract to me when I was selecting the criteria for my photos. 

I had taken pictures that showed the track arrangement, but there were some details that were not obvious from the pictures I had taken.  A question I had for laying out the main yard at East Lewiston, was whether the main track was at the same level as the rest of the yard tracks.  In the picture at the very top of this post, it is difficult to tell, so this was another item I wanted to look at.


East Lewiston Yard, west lead.  Main track is to the right and is slightly higher than the lead and classification tracks. 
Feb 20, 2011.

 

Another view taken from the lead.  Main track is above and behind the yard lead and yard tracks.  Feb 20, 2011.


As you can see from the two pictures above, one  looking down the west lead and the other from across the classification tracks, the main is slightly higher than the rest of the yard.  Another detail to include when I build the yard area of the layout.  However, when the lead meets the road crossing near the west end of the yard, it raises up, rather abruptly, to the same level as the main and the crossing.

Looking west, down the main, at the west end of the yard.  The overhead bridge is U.S. Highway 12.  Feb 20, 2011.

I think when I lay this part of my layout, I will use some sort of thin cork, like Midwest N-scale cork, to give the main the slightly higher look.  It needs to be subtle though, maybe a scale foot at the most.

East Lewiston was home to the Camas Prairie Railroad's roundhouse and car shops.  The roundhouse was razed in the mid 1980's, however the turntable and some of the whisker tracks are still in use, and I had never taken many pictures of the turntable.  I believe the 85 foot turntable is an NP design.  

Site of the old roundhouse and the current car shop.  Most of the whisker tracks and the roundhouse foundation are still in place.  Feb 20, 2011.

The original turntable.  The Camas Prairie railroad used it to turn NP Mikados and UP MacArthurs.  Present day owner Watco still uses it to deliver car and engines to shop area.  Feb 20, 2011.

The roundhouse that was once here was an NP standard design roundhouse that matches the CC Crow model almost identically.  The prototype roundhouse was 8 stalls, but I will not have room for anything of this magnitude, so a temporary 2 or 3 stall roundhouse will have to suffice in the current space.  

Westward looking view of the East Lewiston engine terminal.  The stub track in foreground is the old cinder pit track.  The next track to the right is the ingoing track and is the main location for fueling the diesel locomotives.  The sand tower is an unusual design with the tank or wrapped around it.  Feb 20, 2011.

Additionally, there is a sand tower and fuel storage area along the tracks leading into the turntable.  The sand tower is still in use, but the fuel storage tank has been removed.  Looks like 90 years of soot, oil and grunge between the rails on the ingoing track to the turntable!  

90 years of ash, sand, cinders and diesel fuel make the ingoing track look like a black quagmire.  What a scenery opportunity!

The store room housed mechanical offices and the company material warehouse.  The store room received all sorts of things from boxes of train order blanks to 55 gallon drums of fuel oil to wheels and just about anything else needed to keep the railroad running.  A store room clerk was in charge of keeping track of it all.  The clerk would likely be your best friend when you needed a part for something!

Looking across the yard at the store room and mechanical office.  Almost all of the company material destined to railroad went to this warehouse.  Notice the dock for unloading material from rail cars.  Feb 20, 2011.

Another view of the Store Room building.  Feb 20, 2011.

 The yard office or freight office sits adjacent to the main track on east end of the yard.  Most of the switching was done from the two leads next to the main.  This structure was my destination whenever I arrived at the yard before the days chase. 
 

The East Lewiston Yard office.  Crew's went on duty here.  In the 1960's, it also had the yardmaster, manifest clerk and train order operator. The telegraph code her was simply "FY" for freight yard.   Feb 20, 2011

 This was the train crew's on duty point.  It also housed the manager, yardmaster, operator and manifest clerk.  In the 1960's, the manger's office was still located in the depot downtown, along with the train dispatcher and several support staff.

With the light fading quickly, and my picture taking about done, I headed out of town for some dinner in Pullman, WA and finally a hotel room in Wenatchee, where I needed to be for work the next day.  Always nice to spend some time in Lewiston, though I have to wonder what else will be gone the next time I get to visit.