Railfanning

Prior to construction of the Cascade Sub, and arguably not since the last year, I would not have considered myself a railfan. My experiences consisted of occasional stops to see trains at a passenger station or glancing at a rail yard as I zoomed by. However, in the past months, railfanning has become much more of an interest for me and I hope will be influential in my modeling! 

A Union Pacific intermodal train rolls through Vancouver on its way south into Portland.

Travel has allowed significant time for watching trains on Marias Pass in Montana and more recently in Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR. Vancouver's Amtrak station provides an incredibly accessible vantage point to watch both BNSF and Union Pacific Traffic. Both of these railroads have sights of interest throughout the greater Portland area and further south into Oregon. Watching trains here has helped put operations and traffic on the Cascade Sub in the context of the region. I also hope the additional observation and reference trackside will help improve the realism and feel of my scenery elements. 

Weathering

Stepping away from layout construction and scenery has provided the opportunity to make some much needed progress on multiple weathering projects. One of my major goals for the railroad is to have a weathered, modern fleet of cars and locomotives that gives place and purpose to trains running on the line. On one hand this means acquiring rolling stock that makes sense for trains in Oregon and on the other, making sure they are weathered and detailed appropriately. 

TCRR 32118 is a former BNSF paper box now leased by the fictional Tomko-Caffarelli railroad, a line that honors my grandfather and his role in assisting and inspiring my modeling pursuits. This project has been ongoing since January, however the model was recently completed with hand painted graffiti and reflective striping (not pictured). 

The first new project I took on this fall was weathering TBOX 660202, a newer run Athearn RTR boxcar. This model was fantastic to work with and is ubiquitous on manifest trains on the Cascade Sub. This model was mainly weathered with craft and artist's acrylics and weathering powders. I predict many more of these cars will find their way into my weathering shop in the future!

Additionally, I began the process of building a Canadian Pacific/Union Pacific grain train starting with this ScaleTrains.com Operator model. The operator line still provides extremely high quality models at an affordable price. This project is not yet complete as I stalled weathering the detailed and hard to access ends of the car. More to come with this project.

Finally, I have begun working earnestly on weathering two former Cotton Belt boxcars from the Athearn Genesis line. These cars come in Athearn's "Prime for Grime" scheme which includes faded paint and patching. These cars have a long way to go as the prototypes have significant rust and grime throughout the model, however they have been one of the most enjoyable projects I have undertaken in the recent months. I think these two boxcars that I plan to complete similarly will be a great addition that alludes to the Cascade Sub's Southern Pacific heritage. Again, more to come on these models. 

That wraps up the non-layout update for the fall. Certainly a good time for certain projects that otherwise would not be possible given the focus on layout construction. I plan to return to scenery efforts in the coming months as time allows. Stay tuned for future updates!

Layout Tour

Also, here is a layout tour I recently published to YouTube detailing the scenes and scope of the Cascade Sub. 

That is way bigger than I thought!

Always look forward to the updates

Steve

The Vancouver Amtrak station

The Vancouver Amtrak station is hands down the best bang for your buck Railfaning location I've ever been to. 

Enjoyable

Great layout tour.  I was really impressed with the quality of all your work. That's one fine looking layout!  Will eagerly await updates to see more.

Thank you!

I appreciate all the kind words. This hobby is very much a passion of mine and more so than ever I appreciate engagement and support from the modeling community!

The size of the railroad is deceiving to say the least. In photos it seems much more compact, however there is a good bit of mainline tucked into the 12x16 ft. room. I hope that the video provided a little more perspective on how everything fits together. It might seem far fetched, but after operating trains up and down the hill with some consistency earlier this year, I found it takes 15-20 minutes for a train to get from Eugene staging to Klamath Falls staging at prototype speeds.  The "effective" size of the railroad is much larger than it may seem on paper and/ or in photos. 

John

Track Plan

I might have missed it, but do you have a track plan published somewhere?  It would be interesting to see how you fit all of this into a 12x16 room.  That's amazing!

Track Plan

The track plan was done by Bob Sprague of Bob's Track Plans. We went back and forth on a few renditions, however this design with the peninsula allowed for the longest run and essentially expanded the feeling of the size of the room by separating it down the middle. Very little modification has been made to the plan from how it was drawn. 

Here is the link to the plan and others by Bob!

https://www.bobstrackplans.com/single-post/2016/11/26/john-caffarellis-up-in-the-cascades

John

Berea, Ohio

Thanks!

John, I watched your layout tour video again.  Having the track plan alongside of it was helpful.  Thanks for the link.

I understand your goal much better now about replicating tracks through the mountains.  You've pulled that off wonderfully!  I can just picture the trains making their way up and down the grades!  The mountain at Cascade Summit will be quite an impressive scene!

I couldn't help but wonder if you've run trains all the way around on the mainline?  I presume you have by now.  Did you get nervous on those upper decks?  It's a long way down to the floor if the train jumps the track on those splines!  Yikes!

Mainline Balancing Act

The short answer to your question, Paul, is yes, I have run trains up and down the mainline. It was very nerve wracking at first, but manageable.The only casualty occured when I made the mistake of having two bulkhead flats in the middle of a 20-car train and they pulled a neighboring boxcar to the ground. Not bad considering how many trips up and down I made. 

Over the long term the balancing act is not something I want to rely on, especially with operators unfamiliar with the layout or during instances where manned helpers are not available (helper are essential for trains 17-20+ cars). I envision using a combination of landforms, fascia, and even plexi-glass in certain areas to prevent casualties!

John