Howard Garner wrote: "Caption is not correct. Bainbridge Island never had rail service." The Pacific Creosote plant on Bainbridge Island, just like many sawmills around Puget Sound, had rail service p

Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive uses Epson scanners, primarily the V800 and V850. I particularly like that the the associated computer software lets you tweak the scan parameters based on your prev

With a keg that size, you think it would go flat before it was all used!

Regarding toothpicks, I specifically remember there used to be a Diamond Toothpick factory just south of the intersection of Union and Center Street in Tacoma, right next to Nalley's. So toothpicks an

Having worked in California oil production in the 70s and early 80s, and having some familiarity with other parties besides the companies I worked for, the other respondents have it correct - Conoco d

I realize the post was primarily about the boxcars in front of the flour mills. But for those who are also interested in the mills themselves, the Tacoma Grain Co. mill, later the Centennial Mill, had

I am aware that the Northern Pacific had a Lidgerwood at their Auburn, WA engine facility, but I am not sure I could find a picture of it in our current lockdown situation. Chuck Soule

It's not uncommon to see mothballed flattops in Tacoma Tideflats air photos from the 40s, 50s, and maybe even into the 60s. They were escort carriers built by the shipbuilding company at the tip of th

It's not uncommon to see mothballed flattops in Tacoma Tideflats air photos from the 40s, 50s, and maybe even into the 60s. They were escort carriers built by the shipbuilding company at the tip of th

Tacoma's Hooker facility was actually built in the 1920s, before the Bonneville Power Administration era, because Tacoma had a very aggressive public utility dept. that built several dams for power su

The "A" on the stock yard building in the background suggests the photo is cropped from a NP Joint Facilities Book. The date of 8-28 in the lower right corner is consistent with the period the books w

Them Monad does go back to the 1890s as an NP symbol. What changed through time was the extra tags like Yellowstone Park Line, which was in being used in the 1930s. There is an NP PR brochure at the N

There is a magazine store in North Vancouver called McNews that carries a good selection of American and British model and prototype RR magazines. I always stop in when I am in BC (6 or 7 times a year

There are some photos of log cars in the portion of the Walt Ainsworth NP Locations collection at the NPRHA website. It is a little difficult to find the link, and more difficult to filter, but here i

Mike - the problem with this approach is that unless Matthew sets his profile to make his email address visible to members of the group, it does not appear possible to respond directly to him. I don't

One of my earliest railroad-related memories is seeing Rio Grande gondolas in Tacoma bound for the Asarco smelter. They were a major source of copper ore to the smelter from US sources (the smelter al

Regarding the MDC diner in the ad, I have not done a comparison to drawings, but it appears to be very close the the Northern Pacific diner from the initial North Coast Limited in 1900. In comparing t

The NPRHA site is a fabulous resource, but it is difficult to search, and you often need to have a pretty good idea what you are looking for in order to find specific information. For example, you can

Again, this post is not quite about selection of tank car models, but more about what brands are relevant on trains for Raymond, WA circa 1953. I poked around a little bit, and there was definitely a

Brian - While Raymond was a prosperous community when logging was in its prime, it wasn't terribly large, so I don't know how many gas stations you would find even though it was on US 101. However, ba