I started building my HO scale Siskiyou Pacific in 1987 in what used to be the garage of my house. It loosely represents the Rogue Valley of Oregon circa 1966 with a few liberties taken with what "might have been." The modeled section includes from about the town of Rogue River to the summit of the Siskiyou Mountians. Interchange with the Southern Pacific is accomplished with staging yards representing Eugene and Black Butte. Interchange is also with "what might have been" the Pacific & Eastern Railroad (Rogue Valley Model Railroad Club's railroad).
The main lines of the Siskiyou Pacific and Pacific & Eastern form a loop three scale miles long, on two levels connected by a double helix. Towns along the way (from north to south) include: Gold River (the division point), Rogue Point, Eagle Creek, Glen Creek (on a branch) and Siskiyou.
Control is by tethered walk around throttles built
by the railroad's own shops. Operation is by a card order system.
Up to 5 trains can be operated simultaneously. A full operating session
can keep six people busy for five hours moving 150 cars with two dozen
trains.
Gold
River is the division point on the Siskiyou Pacific receiving as many as
10 trains per day (op session) and sending out another 10 trains.
Definitely NOT the place to learn how to switch. Above is the yard
switch job working on the lead. Just past the Alco S-2's are the
engine facilities and beyond that is a string of reefers waiting to be
loaded with fresh fruit from the orchards of the Rogue Valley.
That's
the Siskiyou Limited pulling out of Gold River. Right behind the
twin E-9's is a hot load of produce from the Rogue Valley bound for California
markets.
The
Rogue Point turn switches reefers at Goal Dill Pickle and Fruit Packing
at Eagle Creek.
A
northound manifest on the main exits a tunnel at Glen Creek Junction as
the caboose of the Glen Creek Turn heads out on the trestle taking it to
Glen Creek. As the "dog's breakfast" power on the manifest attests,
fans of nicely matched power sets are frequently disappointed with the
Siskiyou Pacific's policy of using any diesel in any combination to pull
a train over the road. Train watching along the New York Central
in the 60's introduced me to mixed power, and, quite frankly, I find it
fascinating.
The
same manifest shown above is exiting another tunnel at the bottom of the
helix hidden in the mountain. It's just arriving in Eagle Creek and
will shortly terminate in the yard at Gold River.
The
Glen Creek Logger arrives at Glen Creek from off the "Woods Line"
as a switcher for Glen Creek Lumber stands by on the main to help with
the switching. Glen Creek Lumber, in the background , receives logs
from it's own branch up in the woods as well as from other logging operations
along the Siskiyou Pacific.
The
Glen Creek Lumber switcher spots loads on the log dump track while the
Glen Creek Turn switches tank cars at Rogue Fuels, the local Union 76 distributor.
Links related to modeling the SP Siskiyou Line
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Joe Fugate has done an outstanding job on his site about his HO Siskiyou Line. One of the best model railroad sites on the web. |
Thanks for visiting the Siskiyou Pacific.