Introduction

        Ok, This is my first installment of my blog. I'm going to give a little run down of my layout and the prototype.
      I model the Burlington Northern's Nelson Line from Kettle Falls, WA to Salmo, BC. The year that I'm modeling hasn't been decided yet, but I'm looking at 1983-1985. Nelson Line from Kettle Falls to Nelson, BC is almost 100 miles. 100 miles is a lot stuff that I just can't fit into the 13x15 foot space that I have to build the model railroad. So, I chose to model to Salmo, BC which is about 70 miles from Kettle Falls.
     

BN Salmo local departing Kettle Falls/ Paul Leach

Kettle Falls International Railroad Traveling along the Columbia River on the Nelson Line/ Marty Bernard

 

 

            "Why did you, 14 years old, choose to model a railroad prototype that is almost 3000 miles away from where you live" is a question that I get asked a lot. The answer to that is quite a long story. My Dad grew up on a ranch in Snoqualmie, Washington. Along the edge of the large field at one end of the ranch was the Milwaukee Road and later a Burlington Northern branch line that went to a large Weyerhaeuser lumber mill. My Grandparents(my Dad's parents) still live on that same ranch and my family and I go visit up there on the ranch about once a year. The tracks have since been torn up when the lumber mill closed down, but while we're up there my Dad and I bike the railroad bed, look over pictures in books, and look at the old ruins of the town of Cedar Falls up on Snoqualmie Pass where the branch line conected to the Milwaukee Road mainline. Anyway, because of all the interest involved with Washington railroading my Dad and I modeled our second layout loosely on based Snoqualmie Pass and the branch line of the Milwaukee Road. When my Dad and I "finished" that model railroad and my skills improved, I started looking for a new prototype to model. I wanted to model somewhere in Washington just because of my love for the railroads that used to operate there, the amazing scenery, and the very interesting industries that are scattered throughout the state. I looked at Stevens Pass, but I like switching and operations and Stevens Pass doesn't really include any of that. Through all my research I stumbled on the Kettle Falls International Railroad while I was on YouTube searching for a cool video that could link me to a prototype. I started researching more on the Kettle Falls International Railroad I found out the it operates on an old BN branch that went from Kettle Falls to Nelson (now it only operates to Fruitvale which is half way to Nelson). The line was littered with small industries, interesting scenic features, and neat structures. So, that's how I've gotten this far with the help of two great guys that helped me with the prototype research, Mike Bartenstein and John Langlot.

            The layout was started in September of 2012. The layout will take up a 13'x15' space and will be an around the room shelf layout with a pennisula in the middle. Since I'm still in school and will be for a long time, I'm building the layout in sections so I can get more visible progress done in a shorter amount of time. It also slows down the amount of money that's unfortunatly flying out of my wallet. So far, I'm working on the town of Kettle Falls which is on a 16' long shelf. I'm about 80% done with the trackwork which is a mix of flextrack and handlayed track.

I hope you will enjoy this blog.