Stencil on the side of a BN caboose at East Lewiston

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Camas Prairie train operations part 1: Connections with Union Pacific and Northern Pacific

Recently, one the readers asked some questions about how the Camas Prairie Railroad interchanged cars  and made connections to the parent railroads, Union Pacific and Northern Pacific.  I figured this was a good time to start discussing, in more detail, what trains operated, when and what their purpose was, in my modeling period of 1967. 

Riparia, the western most station on Camas Prairie Railroad's third subdivision,  was the point of interchange to both NP and UP in 1967.  When the Camas Prairie Railroad was created in 1909, the NP, who already had access from the east via Pullman,  gained access to Lewiston from the Riparia side. 

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Modeling downtown Lewiston, Part 1: Design compression

My inspiration for modeling the Camas Prairie's Lewiston terminal started with the idea of the downtown Lewiston industrial area in a bedroom, an idea I have had for several years.  Ideas for this type of industrial district came from Jack Ozanich's Atlantic Great Eastern, South Dover city yard and a portion of Dan Holbrook's BN Missabe Divn at Connors Point.  Keith Jordan's Santa Fe "Patch" railroad is another source of inspiration considering the size of the layout relative to all the industries and dominating structures.