Milepost 15 on the BNSF’s Seattle Subdivision is located in Steilacoom, WA where the line runs along the shore of Puget Sound. I spent my formative railfan years there wandering about on the beach watching BN (later BNSF), UP and Amtrak trains rushing north to Tacoma and eventually Seattle, or south to Vancouver and Portland. The action there was (and is) nearly always good, I can remember only one or two instances where I saw nothing at all, but lots of instances where a train came by every half hour.
Steilacoom, WA, Dec. 2005
I didn’t grow up in Steilacoom, but I have family there, so in a way it feels like home. My childhood home was in Port Townsend, WA where the last train ran way before I was cognizant enough to realize there was a railroad nearby. That line was an old Milwaukee branch that ran 50 miles from Port Townsend, west to Port Angeles serving three large paper mills, as well as a few lumber dealers. It was completely isolated from the rest of the US rail network by the Puget Sound and relied upon a small fleet of rail-marine barges to provide interchange traffic. The Milwaukee eventually sold the line to a group of investors in the early 1980’s who operated it as the Seattle & North Coast Railroad. They used three ex-BN F7A’s, two ex-Milwaukee SW1200’s, and an SW1 all painted in a sharp green and yellow scheme. Unfortunately though, the paper industry took a downturn and the railroad, which was barely profitable in the first place, eventually shut down. Today, the roadbed is being turned into a bike trail. A number of classic wooden bridges still exist, but the rest of the infrastructure is slowly crumbling away.
Port Townsend, WA, Aug. 2005
My model railroad endeavors are therefore a mixture of the activity in and around Steilacoom from about 1993-present and the Seattle & North Coast from 1980 until it’s demise in 1984. I choose to follow railroad prototype modeling (rpm) and Proto:87 practices and my focus tends to be on building highly detailed and realistic models, rather than operations or other aspects of the hobby. I hope to someday build an accurate model of Steilacoom, and a more compressed version of the SNCT. Meanwhile I am focusing on building up a fleet of motive power and rolling stock, and doing research.
Though my interests are centered around the Pacific Northwest, I myself am currently trying to be a New Englander. I live in Massachusetts in the Pioneer Valley and these days spend my time trackside on CSX’s Albany Division, primarily within a 50 mile radius of Springfield, MA on the Boston and Berkshire Subdivisions. I also take in NECR operations at Palmer and occasionally Amherst, as well as Pan Am in Deerfield and the Berkshires.
Palmer, MA, July 2007
As the images here can attest, my photography knowledge and equipment are not optimal. Hopefully this will change over time, for now my mad Photoshop skillz will have to take up the slack.
Thanks for visiting, and please contact me with any suggestions or comments.
Chris
