Photo: Railroad yard at U.S. Steel Duquesne Works, Duquesne, PA (1956)
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The Pacific Coast is very well documented, especially for the years after the GN took over in 1951, by photos and records available at Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive. PNRA published a book on it a few years ago. A few copies are still available and can be purchased through the GN society.
I’ve sifted through several boxes of daily PCRR waybills from the late fifties and the coal seemed to exclusively stay in King County. I recall a lot going to the UW, some going to a large concrete plant along the Duwamish River in Seattle, and I think there may have been some going to the NP at Auburn.
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Tony Thompson
Doug Polinder wrote:Don’t know if it was Maple Valley coal, but when I was at UW in the early 1960s, with an office in Roberts Hall alongside the track to the power plant, an NP switcher would bring a single NP offset hopper of coal, mid-afternoon, about every other day. Tony Thompson tony@...
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Claus Schlund \(HGM\)
Hi Tim and List Members,
Thanks Tim for the excellent image you sent. Some things I found interesting...
* Engine terminal on the right, it looks like the roundhouse may have been added onto over the years, based on the roof construction
* Compound ladder in the yard!
* Platform flat cars at the extreme left side of the image
* Structure with ALBERS billboard lettering in the distance
(grain elevator?)
* What appears to be both railroad and roadway trestles across and above the yard
* Pole storage yard by buildings on left side of image
* And naturally the awesome PACIFIC COAST composite gon
Claus Schlund
On 28-Aug-22 18:51, Tim O'Connor wrote:
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Jeff Helm
Tim
Jeff Helm
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Richard Townsend
Champ did do Pacific Coast decals. HG-126 and OG-126. Champ calls out "red" (BCR) as the car color. Richard Townsend
Lincoln City, OR
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Polinder via groups.io <mikado3399@...> To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io Sent: Sun, Aug 28, 2022 7:55 pm Subject: Re: [RealSTMFC] Photo: Railroad yard at U.S. Steel Duquesne Works, Duquesne, PA (1956) Oh look at that: no Interstate 5, no Alaskan Way, and no Space Needle. Just the Smith Tower, tallest building on the West Coast for some years (42 stories).
Tim, there is at least one very nice picture of PCRR gons in the Yaremko GN book (don't have my copy handy but will by tomorrow night). I believe Champ did decals for these and I will check my 1990 catalog when I get back to Michigan tomorrow night. I believe some of the PCRR coal ended up at the University of Washington powerplant on Lake Washington west of the UW campus (NP branch, now the Burke-Gilman trail). I do not know anything about the BTU or sulfur content of Washington coal, Doug Polinder Seguin TX
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Doug Polinder
Oh look at that: no Interstate 5, no Alaskan Way, and no Space Needle. Just the Smith Tower, tallest building on the West Coast for some years (42 stories).
Tim, there is at least one very nice picture of PCRR gons in the Yaremko GN book (don't have my copy handy but will by tomorrow night). I believe Champ did decals for these and I will check my 1990 catalog when I get back to Michigan tomorrow night. I believe some of the PCRR coal ended up at the University of Washington powerplant on Lake Washington west of the UW campus (NP branch, now the Burke-Gilman trail). I do not know anything about the BTU or sulfur content of Washington coal, Doug Polinder Seguin TX
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I'd love to see photos of Pacific Coast gondolas ! :-) On 8/26/2022 7:41 AM, earlyrail wrote:
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Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts
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Pacific Coast was a shortline built to move locally mined coal. It shared track with the Milwaukee in the Maple Valley and I think it was controlled by the Great Northern. It brought coal into Seattle. The photo shows the PCR yard between the NP and MILW yards, in 1930. On 8/25/2022 3:43 PM, Richard Townsend via groups.io wrote:
--
Tim O'Connor Sterling, Massachusetts
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gtws00
Ken, I have been using Albion Brass wire. It comes in metric and I buy .4mm which is .016
Here is a link to a source that sells here in the states> Many other special shapes and micro tubing. ALBBW04 Albion Alloys Brass Rod - 0.4mm (10pcs) - Sprue Brothers Models LLC George Toman
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Eric Hansmann
Some of these gondola loads might be short hauls between different local mills. US Steel had a few operations in metro Pittsburgh, as did Jones & Laughlin. Low speed local hauls may not have warranted the time and expense of careful blocking.
Eric Hansmann
Murfreesboro, TN
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Love how all the model versions are carefully blocked, but the prototype is apparently just dumped in the gon. Inbound as scrap, perhaps, or did someone decide that a thing that big wasn’t going to get hurt by a little jostling around?
Dave Smith
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Doug Polinder
To add to Todd's comments, the Milwaukee used trackage rights on the PCRR from Maple Valley through Renton (think Boeing and PC&F) to reach Black River Junction and strung catenary. So at one time I believe it was possible to see steam, diesels, and electrics operating on the same (albeit short) stretch of line (just like on the GN main through Stevens Pass when it was still electrified).
Doug Polinder wishing in South Texas that we got as much rain as Dallas did a few days ago
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Jeff Helm
Those high side Pacific Coast gons with the billboard lettering really stand out. After the GN purchased the line, they transferred some old GN gons to replace even older worn out coal hauling gons. One of theses still exists at a railroad museum near Seattle. I have a couple of posts on my blog about that gon and the PCRR history.
-- Cheers Jeff Helm
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earlyrail
Pacific Coast gons were around in numbers in the mid 60's. I have several photos from my Navy days ion the Seattle area. Merged in the the BN merger. Howard Garner
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Steve Stull
On a side note, I noticed an ad in that same listing for an N scale 1962 Turbo Encabulator. Also available in HO. Sorry, I can't help it, being an Engineer, things like that are too funny to pass up. For any who may not know what a Turbo Encabulator is, look it up on youtube. Enjoy. ;) Steve Stull winslow 7076
On Thursday, August 25, 2022 at 03:49:58 PM AKDT, Claus Schlund \(HGM\) <claus@...> wrote:
Hi Richard and List Members,
If you model in the correct scale, you can buy the Gordon Odegard crankshaft as a laser cut kit today...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/354233870343
Claus Schlund
On 25-Aug-22 15:49, Richard Townsend
via groups.io wrote:
And
as for the gondola with the large crankshaft, I guess that means
the 4-truck Wabash flatcar was not available (modelers of a
certain age will remember Gordon Odegard's scratchbuilding
"Dollar Model Project" from MR, later reprinted in Kalmbach's
"Easy to Build Model Railroad Freight Cars.")
Richard Townsend
Lincoln City, OR
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Andy Carlson
A little additional thoughts on the WA state std gauge Pacific Coast Railroad (Not "railway). The simularity with the name of the California Central Coast 3' narrow gauge line of "Pacific Coast Railway" is not coincidence. The Pacific Coast steamship Lines owned both RRs for a long time, going back into and before the turn of the century. The WA PCRR shops even built some equipment for the narrow gauge line. The ownership of the standard gauge line became GN's after the end and scrapping of the PCRY narrow gauge line in the early 1940s. -Andy Carlson Ojai CA
On Thursday, August 25, 2022 at 06:46:55 PM PDT, Todd Sullivan via groups.io <sullivant41@...> wrote:
Richard, The Pacific Coast Railroad (different from the 3' n.g. PC Rys of Calif and Wash) was a steam powered short line just south of Seattle that hauled coal from a few mines in the western slopes of the Cascades. The PCRR was owned by the GN, which took it over operationally when the PCRR began to fail. There are a number of photos in Warren Wing's 3 volumes of "A Northwest Rail Pictorial". I think the operation wrapped up in the mid to late 1950s, and I do recall seeing at least one PCRR coal gondola in Portland after I arrived there in the summer of 1957. Todd Sullivan High and dry north of Dallas TX
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Todd Sullivan
Richard,
The Pacific Coast Railroad (different from the 3' n.g. PC Rys of Calif and Wash) was a steam powered short line just south of Seattle that hauled coal from a few mines in the western slopes of the Cascades. The PCRR was owned by the GN, which took it over operationally when the PCRR began to fail. There are a number of photos in Warren Wing's 3 volumes of "A Northwest Rail Pictorial". I think the operation wrapped up in the mid to late 1950s, and I do recall seeing at least one PCRR coal gondola in Portland after I arrived there in the summer of 1957. Todd Sullivan High and dry north of Dallas TX
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John
There are not one, but two versions of this crankshaft available in HO. There is the AMB Laserkit version already mentioned and this one, from Bitter Creek Models. https://bittercreekmodels.com/page5.html#FREIGHTCARLOADS
The Bitter Creek version is actually closer to the prototype. John Bopp Farmington Hills MI Modeling the Nineteen Aughts
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Claus Schlund \(HGM\)
Who would have thunk?!?
Claus Schlund
On 25-Aug-22 19:53, Bruce Smith wrote:
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Claus,
You can get it HO scale too 😉
Regards,
Bruce Smith
Auburn, AL
From: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> on behalf of Claus Schlund \(HGM\) <claus@...>
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2022 6:49 PM To: main@RealSTMFC.groups.io <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io> Subject: [EXT] Re: [RealSTMFC] Photo: Railroad yard at U.S. Steel Duquesne Works, Duquesne, PA (1956)
Hi Richard and List Members,
If you model in the correct scale, you can buy the Gordon Odegard crankshaft as a laser cut kit today...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/354233870343
Claus Schlund
On 25-Aug-22 15:49, Richard Townsend via groups.io wrote:
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