The "Oregon Coast Railroad" by Roger Rasmussen
~ Introduction ~
On this railroad, the focus is Tillamook, Oregon and the surrounding areas, sometime between 1975 and 1995. The salt air and geologically unstable mountains play havoc with existing (and now defunct) rail lines. On the north coast, the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad (POTB - now the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad), a former Southern Pacific branch route, is the primary inspiration. However, as I personally reside on the southern part of the Oregon coast, I am also influenced by the Coos Bay Rail Line (CBRL), which is yet another former SP coastal branch line.
The HO-scale layout plan seeks to capture a portion of the Tillamook Branch stretching from southern Tillamook, near the blimp hangar and industrial area, to an area on the west side of the coastal range, known as Batterson Siding. This carries us through several areas located along the Oregon coastline, as well as the inland country along the Nehalem River. I will attempt to make representations of the coastal towns of Tillamook, Garibaldi, Wheeler, and the Mohler area. At the end of the layout, there is a fictitious tunnel I use to represent the Salmonberry Creek region. In reality this leads us nowhere (into the wall). Thus, this is essentially a point-to-point switching layout.
At this point, about 80% of the forest scenery is complete. At present, I am working to complete the estuary, structures, roads etc. All is done in HO scale (1/87) except for the most western end of the Nehalem estuary / river mouth area, fading away into the distance at a scale of approximately 1/1000. In reality there is a 3 foot distance used for this area that has no rails. The dredger in the distance is less than two inches long.
I love to share information and techniques, so please email me with any questions (or concerns!). -Rog
The HO-scale layout plan seeks to capture a portion of the Tillamook Branch stretching from southern Tillamook, near the blimp hangar and industrial area, to an area on the west side of the coastal range, known as Batterson Siding. This carries us through several areas located along the Oregon coastline, as well as the inland country along the Nehalem River. I will attempt to make representations of the coastal towns of Tillamook, Garibaldi, Wheeler, and the Mohler area. At the end of the layout, there is a fictitious tunnel I use to represent the Salmonberry Creek region. In reality this leads us nowhere (into the wall). Thus, this is essentially a point-to-point switching layout.
At this point, about 80% of the forest scenery is complete. At present, I am working to complete the estuary, structures, roads etc. All is done in HO scale (1/87) except for the most western end of the Nehalem estuary / river mouth area, fading away into the distance at a scale of approximately 1/1000. In reality there is a 3 foot distance used for this area that has no rails. The dredger in the distance is less than two inches long.
I love to share information and techniques, so please email me with any questions (or concerns!). -Rog
12/20/21: Tillamook County Creamery Association Feed Facility, circa 2000
I went back to work on the TCCA Cooperative facility. I added the cage ladders and the decking (crow's nests?). The tiny neo-d magnets are holding all the tubings in place. I tried for weeks to do this sans magnets, and failed miserably. I learned about the magnets from the HO steel foundry guys. Ask me how to do this stuff and I will share everything. It's all designed in FreeCAD and 3D printed at home.
The REAL TCCA Grain Co-op circa 2000. Rails enter the covered area on the far right.
|
|
|
Switching Video! Caution, loud bells and horns!
Video Footage: North of Tillamook, Ore., the GP9 101 pulls forward to connect to a short stretch of mixed freight located on the Batterson siding. She then heads west into town. Don't worry - that cow doesn't move cause she's fixatin' on a squirrel that ran underground. Later on, 101 arrives at a point south of Bayview, and must choose between the (former) Tillamook spur, or going on due southward.
I wouldn't go in there. Yes I would.
Anybody got some gas for the chainsaw? This is ridiculous!
The only space the Citrus Bros (Highway Auto Wrecking) were willing to allocate for the commercial firewood outfit was this tiny spot in-between the rails. It is essentially on RR property and these dudes are working as hard as they can to get the situation under control. There are logs on the street and stacks too close to RR tracks. Apparently the saws aren't working or they forgot the gas or something. Nobody cuts like that anymore! Or do they? Dig those red socks! -R
Learn how to make your own logs with extra bark detail...click Here
Scenery Progress 09/27/21
Batterson Siding
W. Batterson
|
Mohler area
|
Nehalem Estuary
|
You would think a tree guy would have his trees on his layout by now. Nope! But I have made some headway recently. Still some area to fill in on the "Batterson Siding / Salmonberry" area. Note that clearcut lookin' patch just over the top of the Yreka Western car. That will be forested. Someday. Not too far away. I hope. Eh!
Tillamook Grain Co-op nears completion. This is a 3-D printed model with some additional surfacing.
The tide...is still TOTALLY out! Water...please! Water! (Psst....can you find the grocery cart?)
The estuary scene is coming along, but is still thirsty!
Port of Tillamook Bay caboose 1140 headed into town.
Scenery work done on the HO "Oregon Coast Railroad". This is late fall in the coastal range of Oregon, USA. The Port of Tillamook Bay (old SP coast route) climbs its way up & over (before the washout in '07).
|
|
4/11/21: Returned New machine, bought this one wholesale...saved a lot $$
Nothing wrong with it either. It works fine. OK..it leaks a little oil. OK...maybe a lot of oil. So what. Quit your bitchin, load that gon and get it out of here. -rr
4/1/21: The Blues Are Out
101, sold by POTB at a discount to Citrus Bros. metal recyclers, has been stamped and put to use. I'd be nice to see her a little shined up, but not much chance of that happening.
"Dispatch, we have a problem".... I'm confident you can spot the issue. What's the most probable cause? Worse, what's the solution? This is the sort of thing that lands you in the penalty box for the whole session!
Yes, guilty as charged, I ran backwards through the misaligned switch. I was distracted by a flashing rear loco light, the cause of which is currently unknown, possibly has to do with cramming too many wires into to little space. Note on the top photo the rear part of the shell has separated. So I have some work to do here. Just as well...I have to go back in there anyway to add a washer around one of the Ernst Gear axles. The ditch lights work. It is tricky business getting that shell on. This is battery-op Stanton S-CAB.
I use the letter "U" to identify where the uncoupling magnets are. I use 1/3 magnets. They are challenging targets indeed. I should have used 1/2 magnets. Full length magnets do seem to cause spontaneous uncoupling issues in the places where I have them.
The blue signal (actually supposed to be a derail but here used to identify a derailed car) is just a wire soldered to an upside down cut rail joiner.
Yes, guilty as charged, I ran backwards through the misaligned switch. I was distracted by a flashing rear loco light, the cause of which is currently unknown, possibly has to do with cramming too many wires into to little space. Note on the top photo the rear part of the shell has separated. So I have some work to do here. Just as well...I have to go back in there anyway to add a washer around one of the Ernst Gear axles. The ditch lights work. It is tricky business getting that shell on. This is battery-op Stanton S-CAB.
I use the letter "U" to identify where the uncoupling magnets are. I use 1/3 magnets. They are challenging targets indeed. I should have used 1/2 magnets. Full length magnets do seem to cause spontaneous uncoupling issues in the places where I have them.
The blue signal (actually supposed to be a derail but here used to identify a derailed car) is just a wire soldered to an upside down cut rail joiner.
3/1/21: "Citrus" has a new machine!
Yesterday I visited Highway Auto Wrecking just south of town. I was looking for fenders for a '55 Merc and I heard this fellow just got a new Cat and was going to bust up one. I met up with him and when I said I had a buddy who wanted one of those fenders in good shape he gave me a nod. But the next day I showed up to pick it up and here he's got everything in the pen! Yikes!
Working on developing some barbed-wire fencing here.
The main fence posts are just (24ga?)galvanized wire that I straighten by tugging on it while holding one end in a vice. For the barbed wire retainers (name?) I just tapped on short segments of the wire to flatten on one end. I soldered this without tinning first, but I did use liquid flux. Standard 60/40 electrical solder, Kester. For the barbwire, his is 38 ga (0.1mm) copper magnet wire, which had an "enamel" coating. Very difficult to remove the polyurethane coating. Once done, it can be tinned and tiny "dots" of solder become the "barbs". Fence fabric: Grey tulle. Attachment: canopy cement. The first few fences were brass wired completely tinned out. I believe I learned that CA does not stick to solder well. That's when I learned it is possible to easily solder galvanized wire. I'd like to find some thin 0.05" galvanized sheeting! I'm pretty sure CA will stick to the galvanized wire. Canopy works well though. I learned that on Tony Thompson's site.
A few photos we took to make a Father's Day card.
IMaking corrugated metal siding in order to model these Brock grain bins as seen I what I now presume is the pelleting operation in Tillamook. There are plenty of cows in Tillamook working hard for the dairy industry there. On a (now historic) siding, I found this operation that was once served by rail. Using FreeCAD, I developed a jig to help me emboss aluminum sheet I obtain from pie tins ($1.50 for two at Dollar General). The jig consists of a roller and a track with corrugations that interstice. A later development, the tray or well (seen on the left) holds the flat portion of the tool (right) and helps to guide the roller. I've been printing this with PLA which is the most basic printing material (essentially corn starch) and is not very durable, but when it wears out I just print another one. I can get about 30-40 pieces of 7" x 3/4" material corrugated before the tool is shot. I have a TON of work yet to do on this (time consuming) structure! So many details on this one....
There are many estuaries along the Oregon Coast. Both the Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad and the Coos Bay Rail Line have tracks right along the edges of the sloughs. Here I made some artificial "mud" which I poured for this (currently somewhat dry) estuary scene. The little strips of paper are just there to help me plan what is going where; trees, structures, etc. Just add water? This is the muddy business of railroading on the coast!
That's it for now. I'll try to get a few pictures more up later!
