Prototype Interest 1 - Choosing a locale

The first area of consideration in  Prototype Interests is Choosing a locale. Tony Koester in the January 1977 Railroad Model Craftsman postulated that the successful layouts of the day were 'miniature railroads'. Those layouts were designed to be:

• A transportation system linking two or more geographical areas.
• It provided a means to ship things - people, products or raw materials. 

Tony's article further discussed that selecting a prototype, a locale and an era provided the modeler with the layout design parameters that would support the vision of the the builder. Geography would govern scenery, identify prototype railroad connections; point to industries that provide revenue for the railroad, and dictate operational practices. Having these parameters already identified, layout design and track planning chores would be simplified for the builder. In order to model the scenery and topography on your layout with realism you need to select a specific geographic location.

My interest in railroads started at a pre-teen in Dayton Ohio. Just across the highway was an occasionally used railroad yard owned by the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) railroad. It was here that I walked the tracks, found my first rusty track spikes, explored the cars, watched the switcher come and go with its short consists and where I occasionally found a cast off switch list or routing card lying along the track. I'd hurry home to the basement and recreate the experience on my own rail yard.

 I got older I persuaded my Dad to drive me to other yards owned by the  Baltimore and Ohio or one of the other 3 other major railroads (Chesapeake and Ohio, Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central) that crisscrossed Dayton. My college days took me to Philadelphia and the Main Line - GG1's and other electrics moving passengers between Washington DC and Philadelphia. I also found the Chicago South Shore and South Bend, a freight and passenger interurban.

My military career took me back and forth to Georgia and North Carolina (Norfolk and Western and Southern), Finding the electrified Piedmont and Northern was great! Washington State brought me the Burlington Northern, Great Northern, Milwaukee Road, Northern Pacific, Spokane Portland and Seattle, and Union Pacific. I spent time reading the histories of the railroads during the week and then driving to and walking along the routes I read about on the weekends.

So when it came time to coming up with a location it made sense to me to focus on the Pacific Northwest, where the bulk of my favorite Class I railroads were located. A 1948 Rand McNally showed lots of potential opportunities.

With the Pacific Northwest established as the region, it was back to the file drawers and books. Having been stationed at Fort Lewis I knew the Seattle - Tacoma  - Olympia Washington area fairly well - and I had enjoyed the majestic scenery in the area. The GN and NP were the big players in the Cascades - MILW to a lesser degree, but there were few branch lines in that region.

The Rand McNally map showed that the Olympic Peninsula however had TWO branch lines that three of the 4 Class I's (NP, MILW, and UP) serviced - Centralia to Hoquiam and Chehelas to South Bend.

Further research turned up a history of the railroads in the Gray Harbors County by Mike Davison and J.A Phillips III. When I looked at topographic maps of the area I saw numerous logging railroads tied in to the branch lines serving Gray's Harbor County - Rayonier Logging Company at Aberdeen, Clemons Logging Company at Melborne, Polson Logging Company at Montesano, Schaefer Bros Logging Company at Brady, and Simpson Logging Company at Sheldon. Plenty of prototype to use for my freelanced railroad!

I was surprised to learn through research that coal mining was found north and east of Seattle. Coal reserves were found south of Tacoma, so with some deft non-scientific maneuvering I added coal mining operations onto the layout. Western Washington - the Olympic Peninsula - Grays Harbor County - I found my locale.

If you are interested in the process, see:

Author: John A. Phillips, III. Title: Tempest in the Timber. URL: www.employees.org/~davison/nprha/harbor.html.


Tony Koester's article in the January 1977, Railroad Model Craftsman, p. 99.

Larry Smith's article in the February 1991, Model Railroading. p.26.




With that experience you would think that I'd be modeling