Rolling stock: Centerbeam Flatcar (BN 624216)

My newest acquisition just arrived this week, a Burlington Northern centerbeam flatcar from USA Trains. A centerbeam flatcar is designed to carry finished lumber products. We see a lot of these in the Northwest, hauling lumber when the construction industry is booming, and sitting around empty on sidings when the economy is slow, patiently waiting for better times.

I could not find a picture of the real BN 624216, but based on other cars in this number range it was likely built in the early 1980’s for Burlington Northern by the Thrall Car Manufacturing Company. Here is a photo of BN 624232 taken in western Oregon.

While the real BN 624216 was likely 68 feet long, this model is a shortened version and would be approximately 43 feet long. The ovals cut in the center beam to reduce the car weight are known as “opera windows.”

And here's a photo showing all three pieces of my BN equipment out on a test run. Beautiful!

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Track cleaning

As I mentioned in the last post, my BN locomotive was up and running but the behavior was not ideal -- the power would drop out occasionally, resulting in jerky movement along the track. I took two approaches to solve this problems.

First, I took another look at the trucks. There are four axles on this locomotive and all were operating when power was provided, but I realized neither of the axles on the forward truck were picking up power from the track -- they were relying on power supplied by the rear truck. I disassembled the forward truck and realized that on one side both the wires connecting the axles to the power pickup bus were no longer connected. I stripped the wires and re-soldered them in place -- my high school electronics classes finally were of some use. With that fix, I confirmed that all four axles could independently pick up power. Success!


Next, it was time for some track cleaning. As most of the track I've put in place so far has been previously owned, none of it is in prime condition. The solution was elbow grease and my tool of choice, a Scotch-Brite scouring pad on a six-inch sanding block.


Scrub, scrub, scrub. I started where the locomotive had been having the greatest difficulty pulling power and could see results immediately. After I had made it over the entire length of track, the U25B was running as smoothly as a new locomotive.

Here's a video of the locomotive gliding down the newly scrubbed track.

Update on BN 5406

BN 5406 is up and running. I disassembled the locomotive and found out the problem was nothing more than a loose wire between a switch and the trucks.


Now that's fixed the locomotive is operational, but the movement is somewhat jerky. I think that's a sign I need to clean the tracks. Or wheels. Or both.

Here's a picture of BN 5406 pushing the BN caboose. Aren't they nice together?


And for a bonus picture, here's a picture of BNSF track running through a rather desolate stretch of Badger Canyon which we drove through on Friday. This stretch of track was originally built by the Northern Pacific in 1884 as they started their push from the Columbia up and over the Cascades. The photo location is about 18 track miles from Ainsworth.

Locomotive Power: GE U25B (BN 5406)

This is the locomotive I really want to be using on my railroad but it isn’t working. So until I figure out what needs fixed and how to fix it, it’s just sitting around looking pretty. And it is very pretty.

The GE U25B was manufactured between 1959 and 1966. A total of 478 were produced in that time; 53 of those were built for railroads which would eventually become part of Burlington Northern. This 2500 hp locomotive (hence the '25' in its name) was just over 60 feet long, which means my locomotive in 1:29 scale is about 25 inches.

BN 5406 started life as GN 2506, built for the Great Northern and delivered in April, 1964. Here is a link to the only picture I could find online of GN 2506 (along with sisters 2504 and 2505) taken just two months after delivery, showing its original GN colors. 2506 is the one in the back.

It was renumbered as 5406 in 1970 following the BN merger. Here is a link to a picture after it had been renumbered, but not yet repainted in Cascade Green. It was retired in May, 1981 after less than 20 years of service. This link is to a page that includes a photo of BN 5412, another U25B that is shown in Cascade Green.

Could a locomotive like this have been seen on the PE&A? Possibly. This class of locomotive was definitely used along the BN main lines through eastern Washington hauling long distance trains. By the 1970s, it is feasible a now older locomotive like this may have been found along branch lines like those through the Palouse.

Seven U25Bs are preserved today, only one of which is currently in operating condition, Southern Pacific 3100.

Landscaping and plants

I picked up some bark today and did a little more work on landscaping.


I also found this very cool plant at McLendon's, a type of green santolina called Santolina virens 'Lemon Fizz'. Even the name is awesome. Daric is shown at 1:29 scale for reference.


I've started a few different groundcovers and this is my favorite, a type of club moss called Selaginella kraussiana 'Aurea'.


I've put in three dwarf trees so far. The first is a Thuja plicata 'Whipcord'.


This next one is a type of Hinoki Cypress, Chamacyparis obtusa 'Dainty Doll'.


And this last one, which will grow to be tall and very narrow, is a type of hybrid yew called Taxus x media 'Maureen'. The photo only captures about half the tree.

Rolling Stock: BN Caboose 11522

Weather is great today, but I've got a cold and don't have enough energy to work outside. So instead I thought I would clean up my BN caboose and do a some other rolling stock maintenance.

I bought this AristoCraft caboose used; it's clearly seen a lot of use and is in need of some TLC, especially the wheels. The first truck I completely disassembled as I thought it would make it easier for cleaning, but after the pain of putting it back together (those springs are exceedingly difficult to get back into place) I decided to just to pop the wheels out of the second truck for cleaning. I had checked online for advice on cleaning wheels and found all sorts of suggestions, and I ended up doing what I would have done anyway -- an initial cleaning using a mild dish detergent, thorough drying, then a second cleaning using isopropyl alcohol and lots of Q-tips. I can't say they look like new, but they are much cleaner than when I started and, more importantly, are rolling in their trucks much more smoothly now.

One of the four axles is broken and will need replaced, but for now I just used some super glue to hold it together. That should last long long enough for some light use until I get new wheels.


Both ladders were broken, but nothing that a little glue couldn't fix.


I also cleaned the windows and did some general cleaning of the body, but not too much as I do like the look of the dust and grime it's accumulated over the years of use.


All cleaned up (somewhat) and ready to roll...


I could not find any pictures of the original BN 11522 online, so here is a picture of a very similar caboose, BN 11269, that has been preserved by the Oregon Coast Historical Railway in Coos Bay, Ore. BN 11522, given its number, was probably owned by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (SLSF) prior to that railroad's merger into Burlington Northern in 1980.

It's a sunny day on the PE&A

Another sunny day in Seattle. A bit more landscaping is in place, and I'm impressed by how well locked in place the track is. Great job with the ballast!


Another video is below. The videos I've posted have been very low resolution. I haven't yet figured out how to upload videos and maintain high resolution -- that will be a project for another day. And if you're not able to see the videos at all, you may need to try viewing the blog using Google Chrome, as it is hosted by Google.

Gandy dancer

The beautiful weather returned so today's primary task was ballasting the track. This is an extremely tedious and mind numbing task, the tedium of which was relieved by listening to multiples episodes of the Myths and Legends podcast, a really awesome podcast that you should check out if you haven't heard of it before. Click here to visit the website.

This is what it looks like. Yep, that's about it. Pouring ballast over the track, then working it down in between each tie using a stick. I found the flat end of a shim was the perfect size to fit between the ties and the rails. More ballast was needed in some spots, which required going over some sections a couple times. Then sweeping off the excess so that the tops of the ties are exposed. Not unlike a real railroad would have done, but 1/29th the scale, and presumably 1/29th the amount of effort.



Next, I sprayed down the track to wash off the finer material and help it settle into the roadbed. And the tracks then needed to be scrubbed down to remove any remaining residue. Looks pretty good at this point, and I can see some color variation in the quarter minus now.


Finally it was ready for a test run. After hours of tamping, it was very satisfying to see a train rolling down the rails.

Next up was some landscaping. I had picked up a few plants while I was out yesterday, including three dwarf trees and a few types of groundcover.


I'll need a lot more in time to landscape the entire area, but I didn't want to do too much at first as some of these plants will need to move as I continue on with construction.



One more video of the train in action...

Locomotive Power: EMD NW2 (UP 1026)

No progress on track work today, so instead I thought I'd provide some information on one of my locomotives instead.


The EMD NW2 was a very popular switcher locomotive manufactured between 1939 and 1949. A total of 1145 were manufactured; 95 of those were for Union Pacific. The specific locomotive that this model is based on, Union Pacific 1026, was delivered to UP in October, 1941 and was in service for almost 40 years. UP sold 1026 in March, 1981.

Could a locomotive like this have been seen on the PE&A? Not likely. The PE&A did interchange with the UP at Hooper (and cross the UP at Parvin) and UP power would have been seen from time to time on PE&A rails. But it would not have been an NW2 switcher, which was used by UP primarily in its large rail yards in cities like Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles.

Click here to see a picture of the real 1026 when it was still in service in 1979.

And if you’re interested, click here for some (very) detailed information on UP’s use of the NW2.

As so many of these were manufactured, it's not surprising that there are several NW2s that have been preserved and are still in operating condition.

Tracks are on the ground

The weather was much nicer today in Seattle than I was expecting due to rain shadowing from the Olympics—what I like to call the "donut hole effect." So construction continued after a trip to pick up some 1/4-minus from the fine people at Burien Bark. This is a finely crushed rock where the particle size is no greater than 1/4 inch. I'll use this for both the roadbed and ballast.


I moved the track from the garage and loosely placed it in position to ensure my measurements were on target. The ground was still a bit uneven in places but that is fine at this point as I'm trying to determine where additional ground work would be needed. After a little shifting around and the alignment looked good, I poured dry sand over the entire length of track to mark the right of way.



The track was then picked up and moved back to the garage. Following the line of sand, I placed the 1/4-minus crushed rock and pounded it down in place using a 8" tamper. This both levels the roadbed and compacts the crushed rock so it binds together.


There was one section of very soft soil where the right-of-way cuts through the iris bed. I know that settling will occur here, so to help reduce settling and support the roadbed I placed a path of bricks. The bricks were then topped with enough crushed rock to bring it up to the level of the roadbed.



At this point I had a nice 8-10" wide roadbed but it was a bit vertically uneven in places. So the next step involved crawling along the track with two boards and a level to even it out as much as possible, grading down high spots and filling in low spots with more crushed rock.



Now the track could come out from the garage again. I won't be doing any soldering as this is a relatively short loop and the alignment is likely temporary. But I still want to ensure that conductivity along the rails is good as I'll be using track power. I made sure I had a good connection between each section and used a conductive paste on each joiner. This was the most tedious task of the day.


That's as far as I made it today. The next step, hopefully tomorrow if the weather is as nice as today, will be ballasting the track!

Site cleared

Sufficient space for the initial loop has been cleared. Rainy weather over the next two days will likely preclude yard work, so I'll take the opportunity to go shopping for aggregate and some other supplies.


The new patio is coming along nicely. It's a bit more even now. I think I may add one more row of bricks, but won't know for sure until I have the outline of the track on the ground so I can see what it will look like.


And speaking of track, I don't have enough track on hand yet to complete my initial 42 foot loop as planned. So I'm experimenting in the garage with layouts using my existing sectional track.

History Snapshot: Ainsworth

This morning we stopped by Ainsworth, Washington. Or, more precisely, we walked across the site that was once known as the town of Ainsworth.

Ainsworth was established as a supply base by the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1879 on the Snake River just upstream from its confluence with the Columbia River. River boats moved supplies up the river from Portland to allow the NP to push the transcontinental railroad eastward from this starting point. On October 2, 1879, the NP began grading northeastward from Ainsworth toward Lake Pend d'Oreille, about 200 miles distant, and then east up the Clark Fork where it would eventually meet up with the Northern Pacific crews building westward from Minnesota in August, 1883.

Ainsworth quickly grew to a population of around 1500, but it completely disappeared a few years later once the NP bridge across the Snake River was completed in 1884. At that point the town's remaining residents picked up and moved, buildings and all, to the town of Pasco about three miles to the Northwest, where the NP was preparing to bridge the Columbia.

Interpretive sign near the townsite of Ainsworth, including a drawing of the original 1884 bridge.

Today, the only remains of Ainsworth are a few building foundations most of which are underwater. Nearby one can find Ainsworth Street, although not where Ainsworth was located. And the railroad junction just north of the bridge is still known as Ainsworth Junction.

The current BNSF bridge at Ainsworth, which has been substantially rebuilt since the original bridge in 1884. This picture is taken from the location of Ainsworth.

So if the Palouse, Elberton & Ainsworth was ostensibly chartered in 1897 (see the backstory), why did I include the name of a town that would no longer have existed by then? Why not a more historically accurate name like the Palouse, Elberton & Pasco? Three reasons for this intentional anachronism:

1. Ainsworth is a much cooler sounding name than Pasco.
2. Like Elberton, Ainsworth is a ghost town that is nothing more than a spot on the map today (more about Elberton in a future blog post).
3. I really liked the reporting mark PEA as it happens to describe one of the common commodities that the railroad would have carried.

Click here for some more information on Ainsworth if you're interested (external link).