Rolling stock: Flatcar with stakes (GN 46302)

Another recent purchase was a Great Northern flatcar. The Great Northern main line did not cross the Palouse nor did it build any branch lines to access the area as the Northern Pacific already had it well covered, but GN cars would have been seen on the Palouse given its close relationship with Northern Pacific and its ownership stake in the Spokane, Portland & Seattle.

Did you know that the Rocky Mountain Goat is not a goat but an antelope? GN fans do.

Flatcars are used to haul anything big and bulky that couldn’t easily be managed by other cars. They often have pockets along the side for tie-down chains or stakes to secure the load. For my car I’ve added stakes and loaded it with a few logs headed to the mill.

GN 46302 crossing the drop girder bridge.

In a previous blog post on the town of Palouse I briefly mentioned the Washington, Idaho and Montana Railway. This shortline was constructed to haul logs out of the Idaho mountains to the Potlatch Lumber Mill, and haul finished lumber products from the mill to Palouse where it would interchange with Northern Pacific (and, ostensibly, the Palouse, Elberton & Ainsworth). Logs in, finished lumber out. The WI&M used flatcars similar to this one for hauling raw logs. The Washington, Idaho & Montana Ry. History Preservation Group has an online photo gallery which includes this great picture of flatcars loaded with logs.

Loaded with a few raw logs, headed for the lumber mill.

Below are links to a couple of pictures of GN flatcars in Big Sky Blue, plus a couple of pictures showing flatcars used for hauling logs:

• GN flatcar 65722 is painted blue but it’s hard to tell from all the grime and rust.
• This old GN flatcar is the same shade of blue as mine, but it’s well past it’s useful life and headed to the scrap heap. You can see the reporting mark has been crossed out and “RETIRE” is now painted on the side.
• This image shows flat cars from the Tacoma Eastern Railway fully loaded with logs.
• And this Kinsey photograph shows logs being loaded onto a Great Northern flat car in Skagit County, Wash. in 1906.

Just for fun, a picture of the bearded iris as they're in full bloom now. Yes, they have beards just like Rocky the Great Northern Goat (who is actually an antelope).

Rolling stock: Gondola (CB&Q 41101)

A gondola is a general use car that typically carries bulk loose materials that don’t need protection from the weather. The raised sides prevent bulk materials from shifting and falling out, and provide structural strength as well. 

CB&Q 41101

Detail showing the drop-end panel folded down.

CB&Q 41101 is representative of a mid-century gondola, and would have likely been built around 1955-1965. This example is a drop-end gondola, where the end panels can folded down or removed when it is helpful in loading or unloading cargo. This gondola also came with a cover for use when transporting loads that needed to be protected from the weather. That won’t get much use here as the primary purpose for this gondola will be transporting beverages.

Gondola with the lid on top

In service as it was intended to be, carrying a beverage a thirsty customer.

CB&Q painted their gondolas in bright Burlington Red, also referred to historically as Chinese Red, and many of these red gondolas have survived until recent times which means lots of pictures are available online. Below are external links to a few pictures that show CB&Q gondolas at work:

• Here’s a picture of CB&Q 83287 with the lid on, and has a very close resemblance to mine.
• The gondola in this picture is so beat up and covered in rust that you can barely tell it is CB&Q. In the background are red CB&Q and a green BN boxcars.
• This one has been sidetracked so long that small trees are growing out of the bed. Note the BN piggyback cars in the background.
• Here’s a CB&Q gondola that’s been painted Cascade Green. I like this picture as there are two BN boxcars plus an SP&S boxcar in the background.
• And finally here’s a picture from 1963 showing a CB&Q gondola hauling a load of passengers! Only rail fans would do this without a moment of hesitation.

With the fine weather this weekend, the shop work moved outside as I worked my way through a backlog of bad orders.

Track power

I haven't spent much time running trains in the past month in part due to the weather and in part due to track power issues. While the weather is out of my control, the electrical issues with the track were entirely within my control and I only have myself to blame.

BN 5406 out for run to make sure the track is fully powered again.

A year ago I had assumed that I would be converting my two (at the time) locomotives to radio-controlled battery power, so electrifying the track to provide power was just temporary. With this in mind I didn't give much consideration to providing power along the track and ignored all the advice of many fine garden railroaders who know better than I do. A year later I now have six locomotives, none of which have been converted to battery power yet, so I'm still relying on track power. Which is becoming more unreliable over time as the electrical connections between track segments sometime break due to natural outdoor conditions.

A mostly BN consist. I had a couple more cars on the end including a caboose but it seemed to be too much for this locomotive. Yet another power issue I need to investigate, but this time the problem is with the locomotive, not the track.

In retrospect, I should have assumed I'd always have something that might need track power, and I should have made providing power a greater priority. The solution that many recommend, and I now wish I had done, is to run a power cable underneath the entire length of track, making a connection between the cable and track about every 12–15 feet. With 135 feet of track I should have 9 or 10 power drops. But I only put in two. And today I buried a new cable and added a third power drop so I could at least get trains running again. This likely won't be the last time I have to do this.

Once the power issue was resolved (for now) I had a BN consist up and running to test it out. The neighbors saw the trains running and came over for a few minutes to check them out.

We're moving into late spring and there is something blooming in every corner of the garden. Below are a few pictures to share of some of my favorite standouts this week.

Columbine are scattered across the backyard and are in peak bloom. I've propagated these from seed from a single plant and I'm amazed at the diversity of the blooms that have resulted.

I have two evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum), one of which is about eight feet tall and is a huge draw for bumblebees and Anna's hummingbirds right now. I even saw an Orange-crowned Warbler feeding on it the other day.

I have three varieties of Pacific Coast Iris (Iris tenax) and this one is in full bloom this week. Beautiful. 

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) has a very simple flower but the deep magenta color makes it really pop out in a Northwest sea of green. My salmonberry has never looked more robust than it does this year—perhaps due to all the rain.

A big purple allium is like a fireworks explosion. 

The bearded iris are just getting started. This peach and cream variety is usually the first one to open.