SP&S
Owner: Ron Johnson
The SP&S (Spokane Portland and Seattle) railroad operated from the early 1900s to the end of the 1970s in the Pacific Northwest – primarily in Southern Washington and Northern Oregon. Great Northern operated with the SP&S across the top of the nation as well as Southern Pacific in Oregon and later Union Pacific. City names include Spokane, Scribner, Pasco in Washington and Portland, Astoria and Hood River in Oregon.
I like this railroad because I grew up in Oregon and remember seeing and hearing the 700 and other lesser steam engine hauling freight and passengers. My great grandfather (died in 1909) and grandfather (died in 1939) both must surely have ridden on the SP&S passenger trains when they lived in North Central Oregon.
I began building my layout in 2006. The HO layout also includes some HOn3 track and several engines. I will have one of the steam engine giving loggers a ride to work in the mountains and hauling logs out of the mountains to the log transfer. The log transfer is made from a HOn3 small scale car with logs aboard and transferred to a HO log car. Then, this car with others move the logs to the log mill in Pasco, WA.
WE are working on a new 25 foot addition to the SP&S. I said, “we”, because Clarence Welte, Marty Hendricks, James DeVoe and Len Cassaro are helping to construct the new addition. NEW PEOPLE ARE INVITED! We are just in the interesting part of the construction. We are designing the operating structure including passenger trains, a log mining / rock / and ore train, freights, fruit expresses, fish runs and more. This is the fun part – the creation of the operating session! Come and help!
The scenery is virtually 100% complete on the old part of the layout.
The layout is not prototype except in a few specific areas. City names and some industries have original names. I am more interested in “living the 1950s” when I was a teenager and finding the smells, the sounds, seeing familiar sights like the panoramic photographs of Oregon surrounding nearly the entire layout and enjoying the fun of operating and building a railroad. I’ve been waiting about 56 years to do this!
The trains are controlled by Digitrax DCC. There are 25 power units. About one fourth of the engines are steam representing the mid to late 1950s and the other three fourths are diesel, of course.
I am “hiring” 8 men experienced in railroading, but novices (like me) are more than welcome.
