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The Treasure State Railway Scenery and structures
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Regular poster 323 posts Montanan Regular poster 323 posts
Montanan

The Treasure State Railway.

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This is a great layout of the late Pete Ellis. The video quality is not the best as the original 8 mm video was played on the TV and than recorded with a camcorder. There is also some distortion as the TV elongated horizontally to fit the video to the screen. 40 foot box cars look like 50 footers and the little consolidation looks lake a lot larger locomotive.

Pete started this layout in 1949 and the video was taken in 1995. This original part of the layout was built in a quanset hut on Pete's ranch in Cascade, MT. For years Pete would work on the layout, tearing out some older parts of the layout he wanted to improve on as he was limited to the space inside the quanset hut which I am guessing was about 60 feet long by maybe 25 feet wide. You would never know what to expect when you visited as some completed areas would be torn out and a gaping hole in the layout would take its place. On the next visit a completely new scene would be in its place. It was like Christmas on each visit.

Finally around 1998 Pete built an addition onto the quanset hut to expand the layout, frustrated by the limited space I imagine. Pete was an NMRA member and has a Master Modelers Award. Pete, like myself, was lucky enough to have visited John Allens Gorre & Daphetid layout which I think really inspired him and you will see in the video. In some areas of the layout the scenery went right to the floor. In the original part of the layout, all of the track and turnouts were scratch build using code 70 rail. Pete did have a thing about trestles and bridges. I can't count how many he built as some may disappear from visit to visit. Most of the structures are built from scratch, along with many of the scenes.

He had quite a number of whimsical scenes that could be found around the layout also. ( John Allen? ) The layout was DC controlled by variacs. Those could wear you out by the end of an operating session as they weren't light, but gave excellent control.

Unfortunately, Pete passed away in 2003, but he willed his layout to the Montana Museum of Railroad History where it is now one of the main attractions. The original part of the layout did not apparently make the move as one wall of the addition had to be removed to move the layout after his death.

Please excuse the poor quality of the video and awful sound, but I would really like to share with everyone this stellar layout. Good scenery doesn't start until about three and a half minutes into the video. The entire part of the layout where the video starts is under construction. Much of the area without scenery in this video were rebuilt at least one time and I do have some more videos of these areas completed. Let me know what you think of it.

 

Logan Valley RR  G0174(2).jpg 

 
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JawBoneRail Active Member 31 posts
JawBoneRail

A blast from the past

Thank you for the great memories!

In the mid-70's I was a young member (16 years old) of the old Great Falls Model Railroad Club. I had an opportunity to visit Pete's layout with some other club members one Saturday. I was awestruck by the size, scenery and detail of his layout. Something that only a young modeler could only dream of. Pete was very gracious and allowed me to run a small train around the layout. He stayed with me as the train proceeded helping me navigate the control panels and switches. Needless to say I was scared that I would crash the train and burn the building down! When we approached the Milwaukee Road crossing, Pete distracted me with some conversation and while my attention was off the train I hit the smash boards at the crossing. The train leaned over just enough to lose electrical contact and stop. I turned and looked to see what the problem was and then back at Pete with this look of disappointment on his face. Oh crap I thought, their going to make me walk all the back home to Great Falls. After what seemed like eternity, Pete and the guys broke out laughing at the look on my face. Later during the visit we were looking at other projects Pete was working on and I fell in love with a small diesel switcher that he had set aside. I don't know if Pete felt bad for scarring me to death, but he sold me that switcher for $2.00. It was an old Lindberg SW1 (advertised as an SW 600). That diesel worked my small 4 x 8 layout until I headed to college. I still have it today and every time I see it I remember that fun day at his layout.

Thank you for posting the video.

Rick

Rick

Website: North Montana Line
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Montanan Regular poster 323 posts
Montanan

Pete layout

Yes Pete was quit the character and an excellent modeler. In the older part of the layout in this video, most of the structures were all scratch built. Although it was over a 150 mile trip up to his ranch, I was able to get up there on a regular basis and was always amazed at what he could get done. When he started his layout, a lot of what we take for granted today was not available back then. Pete was really innovative with some of the things he did.

Here is a photo of a turntable he gave me. When he added the addition to the original layout, he had to tear out a town with an engine facility this turntable had to be removed. He showed up at my house one afternoon with the turntable and asked if I would be interested in it. It is one of his scratch builds, this one made out of brass and powered by of all things, the motor out of an old player piano. Needless to say, I did accept the gift.

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Who knows, I may have been there during your visit as I was up there on a pretty regular basis. In the mid to late 70's and early 80's I used to help the Great Falls Model Railroad Club during state fair by bringing up equipment and running during open house.

 

Logan Valley RR  G0174(2).jpg 

 
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