(Volume 5, No. 1)
Election Results
The results of the election are in, and the new officers are:
President Leo Harker
Vice-President Steve Spring
Secretary Doug Herrmann
Treasurer Dave Shaw
Board Member Larry Lane
Layout Committee Report
The layout committee has been reviewing plans proposed by committee members, as well as considering past plans submitted by others. At this time the decision has been made to turn the Idaho Falls modules around, so that they are located at the south end of the east wall of the room. This arrangement leads naturally to some other arrangements which the committee members feel will enhance operation. These arrangements are:
A layout is coming!
New Editor
Doug Herrmann has agreed to try out his Print Shop software by taking on the editorial duties for Eagle Tacks. He still needs material from the members to put in the Eagle Tacks, so anything you can submit is appreciated.
Timetable
Presidents Soapbox
I would first like to thank everyone for participating in the recent election and making their voice heard. The nominating committee, chaired by Craig Miller and assisted by Steve Spring and Larry Lane, are to be commended for their consideration when they contacted the membership in the quest for eligible candidates. I feel that I can speak for all of the officers when I say that we appreciate your confidence by electing us to direct the affairs of the Club.
We should all be pleased with the enthusiasm shown by the members with the prospects of finally beginning the IF to Silver Bow layout. While I can say on one hand that it has always been a personal goal even before I began my association with this group, it has also become the means by which the Society can fulfill an important goal as well. I expect that there will be some increased participation from other interested parties, even non-modelers, who have the desire to see this project come to fruition. It is within our control to see that this project becomes one where we can showcase some special talents, possibly draw talent from outside the group.
Leo Harker
City of Prineville Railway
We recently received the suggestion that we run a "Spotters Column" in the newsletter featuring things unique to railroading which we observe in our travels around the area. One of the goals for having this column is to encourage the membership to identify some of the different locomotive models and build awareness of their diversity and design specialty. The column should not be limited to locomotive identification since there are many unique pieces of rolling stock on the road too. In a previous column, I noted the presence in Idaho Falls of an SD60M in a northbound consist. While in Pocatello earlier this month, I was pleased to see another SD60M in the lash-up of a west bound inter-modal train. Last Monday while traveling to the Rec. Center for a layout planning meeting, I decided to take the Elm-Broadway crossing on the chance there was a train there. Instant Nirvana, there was indeed a train on the crossing with a half dozen cars waiting, some impatiently ducking out of the lineup to head for the nearest underpass. I was probably the only happy person at the crossing since most people see the wait as an inconvenience, but I was pleased to spot a boxcar with the markings of the Nacional Railroad de Mexico, hardly a common sight this far from the border. I was even more surprised to see the last car in the train, proudly carrying the "Fred", was a car bearing the banner of "The City of Prineville". For those of you not familiar with that particular railroad, here is a brief history of that line:
Prineville is a small town in Central Oregon. Like all small towns that got their start in the late 1800's and early 1900's, future growth and success of their town would depend on the presence of a railroad to serve the community. They were elated in early 1900's when Colonel T. Egenton Hogg announced plans to build the Oregon Pacific through Central Oregon to meet with the either the Oregon Shortline or the Chicago and Northwestern. That plan never materialized, but by 1916, it was announced that the Union Pacific and Great Northern were building what ultimately became the Oregon Trunk Line, and Prineville, one of the large settlements in Central Oregon surely would be on new line. This of course would connect them with the outside world and provide dependable transportation for both passengers and their lumber and other products. Disappointment fell in a gloom when the proposed alignment was changed and Prineville was bypassed in favor of a shorter route to the West through Redmond.
Not to be outdone, the town decided they really needed a railroad and raised $100,000 to build a connection to the Trunk mainline near Redmond. They built the roadbed, obtained secondhand rail, engines, and cars and operated their railroad for the benefit of its citizens, city residents riding free. After years of losses, the town's investment began to pay off when they began harvesting timber from the National Forests in the mid 1930's. Several mills were built in town and by 1942, tonnage was 20 times that carried in 1935. The original bonds were paid off and in 1960, the railroad made so much money that all city property taxes were eliminated (later reinstated in the 1970's). The line continues to operate using second hand equipment, including former Milwaukee GP9s.
The City of Prineville has a website and indicates that tourist trains are operated through the summer season in addition to their freight service.
Watch the trains, you may find something unique too. Some of this material was excerpted from Volume 1, Main Streets of the Northwest, by T O. Repp.
Submitted by Leo Harker
THE ISLAND PARK AREA
by Thornton Waite
After leaving Ashton, the Yellowstone Branch ran through the Island Park area on the route to West Yellowstone. The Island Park area, which is a caldera, or collapsed volcano cone, extends from Warm River, just north of Ashton, to Reas Pass, at the Idaho-Montana State Line, and the length of the railroad line through this area was approximately 45 miles. There were no towns in this area when the Yellowstone Branch was built, and the entire area was sparsely populated due to the rugged climate. Although the area was beautiful and contained a lot of wildlife, the winters have always been harsh, with severe cold and snowfalls of 15 to 30 feet in some areas, so that few people settled in the area.
The Island Park area had been surveyed for a possible railroad as early as 1860, when Congress authorized $60,000 for the Raynolds expedition. The expedition was intended to find the best route for a road or railroad to the Montana plains and Idaho mines. Raynolds Pass was discovered during this survey, and Raynolds recommended it for a railroad due to its grade of less than fifty feet to the mile. Nothing ever came of this proposal, however, and it was not until after the turn of the century that a railroad was built through the Island Park region.
When the Yellowstone Park Railroad was built through the Island Park area, the railroad put in sidings wherever needed for the shipment of the timber products and livestock out of the area. Over the years there were small settlements at a few of these sidings for short periods of time. The sidings were named, for the most part, after local geographical features or railroad officials. The sidings in service in 1946 were, in sequence, Warm River, Gerritt, Pineview, Eccles, Island Park, Trude, and Big Springs. Other siding sites over the years included Guild and Estes. Although sidings including Guild, Estes, Eccles, and Trude were removed before the line was abandoned in 1979, the other sidings were still in place at that time, consisting of a siding track and little else. The facilities at most of these sidings consisted of little more than a booth for a telephone at the siding track.
The Island Park section of the Yellowstone Branch was always closed in the winter due to the heavy, deep snowfalls. There was not enough traffic along the line to justify the expense and effort of keeping it open in the winter months. It was opened every spring by the railroad during their Spring Campaign, the tracks repaired, and the timber products then shipped out on the freight trains. Freight service was provided in the late spring, summer, and through the fall, and in the summer the passenger trains ran through Island Park to and from West Yellowstone. The freight trains also carried passengers on an informal basis.
There were several post offices along the tracks in the Island Park region over the years, giving an indication of where people lived over the years.
WARM RIVER (M.P. 58.2)
Warm River was where the railroad started climbing up into the Island Park region, going up on the west side of the canyon which had been eroded by the Warm River. The station was named after the adjacent Warm River. Warm River had a stock pen, built in 1911, and a 60 foot steel turntable in a concrete pit, built in 1908, and a water tank, built in 1907, all on the west side of the tracks. The stockpen was to the south of the turntable and water tank, and there was also a passing track on the east side of tracks. In 1930 the railroad listed Warm River as having a two pen stockyard with a capacity of 9 head of livestock on the loading deck, and a single, double deck loading chute. The stock- yard was no longer being listed by 1946. There was also a 22' x 24' pump house with a 7' x 7' lean-to, built in 1907. The standard, 50,000 gallon wood water tank, 24' in diameter and 16' high, stood on a wood tower on a concrete foundation. Built in 1907, it received water from a 6' x 6' x 8' concrete well intake. In 1930 the railroad still listed the water tank, noting that it was supplied by a 150 gpm pump from the river. By 1946 this water tank had been removed, since the locomotives were working out of Ashton.
There was a post office at Warm River between the years 1909 and 1924. In the last few years before the line was abandoned there was an old passenger car at Warm River, set off the tracks on a foundation and used by the section crews. It burned down shortly before the line was removed.
Just above Warm River the trains ran through the sole tunnel on the line, at milepost 62.8. The tunnel had an average height of 25 feet and had wooden portals, while the inside of the tunnel was lined with timbers on the ceiling. It was cut through solid rock, grouted, and the wood painted with fire resistant paint. When the line was originally constructed, the tracks skirted around the rock outcropping, but rock falls soon made the construction of a tunnel necessary, since the rock falls would frequently block the line. The 557 foot long tunnel was constructed about 1915. The railroad kept a portable scaffolding on the north end of the tunnel, which could be moved out onto the tracks and used to inspect the tunnel walls and ceiling. For a period of time the tunnel, designated as Number 16, was known as the Gibraltar Tunnel. The tunnel is still open, although deteriorating, and can be easily walked through. It is commonly used by fisherman to reach fishing spots along the Warm River. The concrete building used to store the explosives used to build the tunnel is still standing, although in bad condition and badly vandalized, south of the tunnel, to east of the former roadbed.
There was a siding: at Estes, (M.P. 63), where a short spur track led to a section house.
To be continued .......