When we last left our intrepid modeling family, the fictional histories of the two pikes had been completed up to The Great War, and a major change of venue had been decided upon. Now, on with our story.
All work on the fictional histories has come to a halt, and preliminary track planning has been shelved. The new building has completely different proportions, and as such, it promises to give me greater flexibility then the old Ugly Metal Box. I've managed to completely empty the 'new' wooden shed and have started preparing its new, permanent location.
Like the UMB, the new shed will be placed on a foundation made of used railroad ties. In my climate, these creosoted wonders last virtually forever, and they're cheap! They are extremely heavy, and tend to smell a bit when cut, but insects and fungi really don't like them. I'm planning to lay down four layers to create a 28" crawl space beneath the structure, vented to keep moisture at bay. I've tried to come up with a way to make it look a bit more 'railroady', but thus far I've not been successful.
What I have succeeded to do is come up with a more precise date for our fictional pikes. I've been looking into the histories of a number of Class I railroads, and the smaller pikes that fed traffic into their territories. Since we want to model streamlined passenger trains along with early hood diesels and a smattering of heavy steam, the latter half of 50's best fill our needs. Furthermore, I desire to model a few locomotive types that COULD have plied the rails of the Arizona Pacific and the White Water Western. This narrows our timeframe even further.
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ALCO RS type locomotives were popular on many railroads, but their few, overlooked shortcomings became glaringly obvious as their competitor, EMD, began flooding the market with the ubiquitous GP-7 and GP-9 locomotives. Several major railroads of the day, eager to save a few dollars and standardize their fleets, began rebuilding or out-shopping their cranky RS units as they aged. This resulted in the hybrid RS-M units, featuring the electrical systems and prime movers of the GP series, but with the trucks, frames, and some body components of their old ALCO lineage.
Most real-life RS-M rebuild programs occurred in the early 1960's through the early part of the 1970's, but at least one railroad, the MKT, rebuilt their old ALCO's in the late 1950's. Perhaps its a bit of a stretch to include these unique hood units in AP's livery, but I believe that the rough terrain and extreme conditions of the American Southwest could have necessitated an early rebuild program for the sake of reliability and standardization.
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Another locomotive I really like is the much maligned BL-2. Real history indicates that all the buyers for these uniquely beautiful units were confined to the east coast and the mid-west. But what if a persistent EMD salesman convinced the buyers at the Triple W to replace their old steamers, used to switch cars at the mines, with a pair of these wonders of technical and esthetic genius? The Triple W could have easily purchased these locomotives for such a use!
Alas, the Triple W would have soon realized the shortcomings of the BL units, and would have probably augmented them with GP units a few short years later. As they would have ordered units with dynamic brakes, something lacking on the BL locomotives, the orphaned pair would have then been relegated to switching the AP / Triple W transfer yard at St. Johns, a relatively flat location where the BL-2's could successfully work out their final days.
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As for passenger equipment, another determiner of modeling era, we have settled on equipment from the late 1940's through the mid 1950's for the Arizona Pacific, while the Triple W will operate cab units pulling cosmetically altered heavyweight cars. I have considered an articulated, streamlined train on the Triple W as well, primarily in honor of my late father who was a fan of both the Pioneer Zephyr of the CB&Q and several of the 1960's era Japanese articulated streamliners.
In the case of the Pioneer Zephyr, it ran until 1960, so I expect the Triple W's version wouldn't operate much longer itself. This would reflect the precipitous drop in ridership experienced by all major railroads of the era. By modeling shorter passenger trains, we can further reinforce this latter 1950's modeling era.
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Finally, the country was gripped by a severe recession by mid-1957... an economic malaise that wouldn't fully lift until 1960. Railroads began cancelling orders for locomotives, and the few that still had operable steam power, extended their service into 1959 and even early 1960. Lines like the Triple W would have been particularly hard hit, so their steam power in particular, would have had an extended life.
This very same recession would have also kept a few older diesel types in service past their reasonable retirement date. Like the Triple W's BL-2's, such older, non-standard types built by Fairbanks-Morse, ALCO, and others, might very well still be around in limited capacities. Money just wasn't available for many lines to standardize and upgrade their fleets, so these older locomotives, many maligned by their operating crews, were forced to motor on.
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So, what timeframe are we going to model? We've narrowed it down to the year 1958. America is in the grips of the Cold War, Explorer I is launched into orbit, and Edsel debuts while Packard rides off into the sunset. The Yankees win the World Series (again) and the Dodgers, perhaps tired of being overshadowed by the Bronx Bombers, move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Elvis Presley sends his first letters home from the Army using .04 cent stamps, and the postal trucks that deliver these letters operate on .24 cent a gallon gasoline. We plan to further narrow down the timeframe to a season, not because we need to, but because of the challenge of doing so. Many other things will factor into our final decision. Weather and climate is chief among them.
I plan to model Theodore Roosevelt Dam at Roosevelt Lake. It factors into our history, and will make a great focal point on our model railroad. I hope to show it at something less than full capacity so as to model the 'bathtub ring' commonly found on rock formations surrounding reservoirs throughout the region. I also hope to ascertain the severity of the winter of '58-'59. If there was an appreciable amount of snow that winter, and if it fell early, we may wish to show the contrast between the dry Sonoran Desert and the snow covered trees of the Mogollon Rim country.
Then again, if the spring of '58 was unusually wet, and the Rim heavily snow covered, then modeling the severity of the flooding in the Salt River basin might be just as dramatic. If we further add Phoenix to our layout, then orchards full of ripened oranges might be a really nice addition as well.
Then there's mining to consider... was copper still king in Arizona at that time, or was it taking a break in the face of the Uranium Boom? This will affect traffic patterns, particularly for the Triple W, so even this needs to be considered.
We could easily move the date one year in either direction and still achieve our goals, so stay tuned...
Until Later, Happy Model Railroading!
