Grain loading at Ririe
(Volume 26, No. 2)
PRESIDENTS SOAPBOX
As President, I am very pleased with the acceptance by the membership of the newly revised plan and the progress being made in planning for the Silverbow extension. I confess that the idea of an Idaho Falls-Butte layout has been a long term goal of mine; in fact if I had not had a parallel interest in the Great Northern and the Hill lines, the home layout I once had would have been the Montana Subdivision. The prospect of a change in scenery and a new track plan seems to be intriguing to both the current membership and former members as well. It is widely recognized that we all benefit by adding some variety to our interests. That includes variations of our primary activity of Model Railroading as well. In this instance, the Silverbow extension will add the element of historical representation and should be something that the general public can recognize and appreciate. Even with a good replication, we should be planning to place interpreting signs throughout the layout to explain the dioramas. I observe that even with the representation made of Idaho Falls, very few visitors actually recognize the locale without a word of explanation. In part, because very few of our present day Idaho Falls visitors were here when the railroad station was located at C Street and Yellowstone, and even fewer know that it was the third passenger station in Idaho Falls. Interestingly, the most recognized item on the layout seems to be the pump house near the D Street underpass. A few other recognizable landmarks could easily change that.
We have spent several hours inventorying the rolling stock now on the layout in preparation for implementing the RailOP program we purchased for operations on the current layout. Others have given time and will continue to devote time to this project in order for the group to benefit from its use. While entering the data we found that. despite our best efforts to record ownership of the rolling stock as it was placed on the layout, there are many items for which ownership could not be determined from the records available.
Many of us have been involved with the Club for more than ten years and, in my case, have seen the club progress from the point where the club’s only operating sessions occurred when the modules were put together for Mall shows or on members home layouts and a permanent operational assembly was only a dream to be accomplished. Our temporary residence in the former Country Club Mall may have been the best we’ll ever experience from the standpoint of space and public accessibility. It certainly demonstrated the benefits of public exposure in that our active membership has never been greater, either before or since. We will continue to develop a plan that will improve the accessibility at our current location.
As we move further into the new year, let us be reminded that we all share at least two common challenges. The first challenge has to do with improving our entire operation from the quality of our display to the way we manage our systems and organization. When we are trying to interact with the public sector as we do by leasing public space and looking to that same sector for financial support, we should expect to be able to withstand a level of scrutiny equal to that of any other successful business. This includes the maintenance of both financial and membership records at a certifiable level which are available for audit. The presence of the club computer should help make this goal more attainable. Our website announces that club newsletters are available online, we are working on that project so that the newsletters we have in digital format, will actually be available as stated. In order to accomplish these things, we may be asking for additional assistance from the membership; any volunteers? We can all get more involved by contributing time to some of the ongoing projects. The layout has several vacant industry sites; these long winter nights give us an opportunity to upgrade our skills in building construction. We can all learn to create realistic structures and improve the layout we already have by filling the spaces. There are backdrops to be painted; I challenge you to find that latent artistic talent. You may even surprise yourself. We have had a number of magazines donated to us recently, someone can help by organizing them, filling the blanks in our library and we will then make the extras available for sale. It is apparent that additional shelf space is already needed.
The second challenge deals with personal responsibility. During March of 2001, the club purchased a toolbox and several tools for use by members on layout projects. A quick look in that toolbox reveals very few, if any, of the original tools which we purchased. Courtesy demands that if you have it, return it. If you used it, put it back. If you made a mess, clean it up. Anything less is a discourtesy to the club.
We can all be more accountable and helpful in many ways; our future as an organization depends on it.
Leo Harker
Timetable
Newdale Branch History
Jordan spreader at Idaho Falls
Who among the members can tell us where the stations Mikami, Byrne, Jenson, Hilltop, Walker, Parkinson, and Moody are located? All but the first one mentioned are located on the Rexburg Bench between Ririe and Newdale, Idaho, and Mikami is immediately south of US 26 where it crosses the railroad line near Ririe. All shipping activity at these locations is grain loading in season. Loads shipped out of Newdale consist of both grain and fresh potatoes. At the peak of grain harvest, as many as 30-40 cars will originate daily at Newdale. This railroad segment was originally known as the East Belt branch. A similar branch called the West Belt connected Ucon and Saint Anthony through Coltman, Grant, Barlow, Lewisville, Menan, Edmonds, Egin, Parker, and Pyke, along with a short lived side branch to Annis. Recall that our dinner speaker at last year's show talked some about operating on both these lines. Typically, local trains would work both lines going clockwise, then counter clockwise, on alternate days.
Prior to the Teton Dam failure, the Newdale branch extended north and rejoined the Ashton branch west of Saint Anthony at Belt. Active trainmen have told me that the flood took the line downstream at least a half mile and the track was twisted into coils like we see razor wire coils. I’m sure pieces can still be found in the river if one did some exploring.
These two pictures were taken by a UP trainman before the takeover by EIRR.
At work on the Rexburg bench |
Wedge plow at Iona |
Since winter operations on the Newdale branch are about as severe as anywhere in Eastern Idaho, the following pictures demonstrate what operations are like and may be of interest to you.
Local at Ririe crossing |
Newdale bound |
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I was cruising past the Idaho Falls yard on Wednesday the 30th of January, when I noticed that EIRR was heading up a train with their 2 6-axle engines. Since I had been in Ririe the day before and noticed undisturbed snow on the tracks, I had a hunch that today’s train might be bound for Newdale. I hurried to Ririe and went north where the line crosses the river and begins to climb the bench, since I wanted a picture of the Pegram truss bridges there. There are three Pegram spans there, two of these and a deck section cross the main channel and, two or three hundred yards south, another Pegram span crosses the dry channel. The snow depth being what it is, and me without skis or snowshoes, I had to be content with a shot from 1/4 mile away. I then returned to Ririe and found the two EIRR engines working their way very cautiously across the two intersections (see above picture). The engines were moving forward and backing away allowing trainmen to sweep the loose snow out of the flange-ways to avoid derailing because of the compressed snow. After getting through the intersection, they spotted four of the covered hoppers at the elevator and proceeded toward Newdale. The same caution was taken at all the grade crossings to the north. I again made my way to the north side of the river and in 20 minutes the train cleared the bridge to the flat approaching the initial bench grade (see above picture). There was another delay where the track crossed a road since the county road crew had plowed 3-4 feet of snow onto the track. The plows on the engines would only remove the snow to about 3-4 inches of the rail tops and again the flange-ways were packed solid with snow. Here the snow level also increased in depth to more than a foot on the level. Another mile north is Byrne where several grain tanks occupy the siding. Again, caution dictated a slow crossing since heavy truck traffic had packed several inches of snow into the flange-ways (see above picture). At this point, the line veers away from the road gaining elevation and I was forced to view the train from a distance, the exhaust from the engines indicated that they were laboring a little as they progressed up the grade. Just before they cleared the crest and were out of sight, they stopped and backed down several times before finally clearing the grade. A former UP conductor states that there is a cut there which fills with snow. The grade south from Newdale is three percent at one point and next to a 20 mile per hour curve. This limits southbound train length and my conductor friend recalled that the most he ever pulled out was 47 loads (the UP Roadmaster wanted a 50 car, minimum, train with no additional units) and that was nearly too many for their two units.
When I returned to Ririe, the elevator crews had already begun to load two of the cars. The photo of grain loading at Ririe is located at the beginning (top) of this newsletter. It is part of this story and shows how things are done today. Look closely between the two right most cars and you can see the small front end loader used to move the cars into loading position. Interestingly, the old spouts used for loading boxcars are still visible on the sides of the grain bins.
Leo Harker
Snow at Byrne crossing