My Northern Pacific Butte Montana Layout.


Hello,

I didn't read all 24 pages. I am from Butte Montana and was wondering if there was a G Scale club close by or other members here that live in Butte that I can connect with. I am a real beginner into model RR. Thinking of things to do when I retire. I have a really big area to build a G-Scale outdoor model. I did see the picture of the train leaving Butte and heading up Homestake pass. I have been over that very trestle several times. Nice
 
Deucer, I visited your town last year and found Butte to be beautiful and very interesting. However, I know nothing about model railroading in the area. I would suggest getting in touch with Montanan, who has posted here in this thread. His real name is Chet and he lives in Gallatin Gateway, Montana. He may be able to help you out.
 
Just finished reading the chapter on North Dakota which was admitted to the Union on November 2nd, 1889, meaning it was a territory at the time my book was written and the Northern Pacific passed through it. At the time North Dakota was a part of Dakota Territory, that included both North and South Dakota. In 1863 the Montana and Wyoming parts split off and became a part of Idaho territory. North Dakota has three regions, the Red River Valley, the Drift Prairie and the Missouri Plateau. Fargo is the largest city and the Northern Pacific ran right through the middle of Fargo. The author discusses the Coteau Area of North Dakota and this is an area which might now preside to the west of the Missouri Escarpment and includes the Bakken which is in the news of late, as an area producing shale oil, via Fracking. It also encloses Lake Sakakawea named after Sacagawea the person who guided Lewis and Clark on their Journey to the Pacific Ocean. Towns which sprang up from the N.P. passing through: are Fargo, Valley City, Jamestown, Bismarck and Dickenson and many small towns along the route. Interestingly, just to the west of Fargo is an area known locally as The Bonanza Farms. These farms originally were a part of the Northern Pacific's Land Grants, which extended anywhere from 5 to 20 miles either side of the railroad's Right of Way. There is a museum Called Bonanzaville where the Bonanza Farms were located. A part of the Museum is a Railroad Museum that houses various items and the pride and joy of this Museum is an American Standard Locomotive that was owned by the Northern Pacific. It is a Class C-1 4-4-0 locomotive built in New York in 1883, the year the Northern Pacific was completed to the Pacific Coast.
 
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NP2626.

Glad you got to see the town you put a name too with your Model Rail Road. Yes, Butte in interesting alright. Home of the late Evel Knevel and his family, old mines and lots of Montana history made here. Calling Butte beautiful is kind of stretching the imagination but the surrounding area is very beautiful. I will get in touch with Chet this spring at the Livingston open house this spring. Thank you for the information.

D
 
So, I completed the chapter on Montana. Montana became a state on November 8th, 1889, six years after the Northern Pacific was completed to the Pacific Ocean. The Northern Pacific crossed the eastern boarder, between North Dakota and Montana and following the Yellowstone River, passed through the towns of Glendive, Miles City, Billings, then leaving the Yellowstone Valley, went through Livingston, Bozeman, Helena and Missoula and passes out through its' Western Boarder with Idaho. The Butte Shortline, the part of the Northern Pacific that I model, wasn't started until 1888 it breaks away from the Mainline at Logan Montana, to the west of Bozeman and goes to Butte, and connects back up with the Mainline at Garrison, Montana. Montana is a beautiful state and when I was taking Amtrak out to Seattle once, I was sitting in the lounge car looking at the beautiful scenery and heard someone say, while we were passing through Eastern Montana; "What a God forsaken State"! I immediately assumed that the person making the comment had no idea what God intended for our Earth! As far as the Northern Pacific was concerned the Rosebud County of Montana was an very important place. The Rosebud county area, had very large Lignite Coal deposits, which the N.P. used as a fuel supply for its' Steam Locomotives.
 
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The author has combined both Idaho and Washington State together in a chapter. Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3rd 1890 and is the 43rd state. Washington became a State on November 11th, 1889. The author doesn't actually say much about Idaho as the part that the N.P. passed through in Idaho was the northern pan handle part of the state, near Lake Pend Oreille, and the N.P. passed through Sand Point Odaho. When the N.P. made it to Washington, it headed straight towards Spokane. Through Spokane, the line continued to Lind, Ellensburg, and on too Tacoma. There where many branches along the mainline, especially in both ends, Minnesota and Washington. Some of these branches reached all the way up to Canada.
 
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Mark:

Was there any relationships between the Northern Pacific and the Milwaukee Road in Wisconsin where there might of been an interchange of freight or pick up of shipments destined for the west? I know that the Northern Pacific did enter the northwest corner of Wisconsin, but I'm not sure what was the reason for the line to be so far east and then be in a remote part of Wisconsin.

Also, the Milwaukee Road had a heavy present in Montana with its western lines competing with the Northern Pacific.

Thanks.

Greg
 
Greg, The N.P. did run from Duluth/Superior to Ashland Wisconsin, this might have been a part of the Iron Ore lines of the N.P.. The Northern Pacific's connection to Chicago was via the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. So I would guess that the Milwaukee Road would hand off to the CB&Q; or, maybe at Mpls., St. Paul, as the CMSt.P&P certainly had a presence in the Twin Cities. In fact when I was maybe 6-8 years old my Mom and I rode the Milwaukee Roads Hiawatha to Winona Minnesota from Minneapolis. For the most part, since the Milwaukee Road ran all the way to the Pacific, I don't think they would have handed off anything to the N.P.
 
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The last state/territory that the Northern Pacific ran trough and built a line through was Oregon. Oregon became a state on Fbruary 14th, 1859, and was the 33rd state admitted to the union. However, Oregon had an autonomous government set-up in 1843, even before it became a territory in 1848. Much of this organizational momentum came from the fact that Portland (the largest city in the state) was settled and became an attractive place to live early in Oregon's history. The Northern Pacific's tracks where laid to Portland Oregon heading southwards from Tacoma. Oregon had farming, mining and logging industries supplying the Northern Pacific Railroad with freight revenue. From the Eastern border of Montana, these where the type of industries that supplied the Northern Pacific with revenue, along with passenger traffic.

Later, in 1905, the Spokane Portland and Seattle Railroad was chartered by James J Hill and was a joint effort of both the Northern Pacific and Great Northern, both owned by Mr. Hill by this time. It was an effort to connect his two lines.

Since this is the end of discussing the States and Territories the Northern Pacific ran through, I'm unsure what the book will discuss next, however it appears there are another 75 to 100 pages left in the book and I will do my best to describe what the book discusses!
 
The Chapter last night dealt with the Western Sea Ports that the Northern Pacific ran too. Portland Oregon and Seattle/Tacoma Washington. What each terminal was a producer of: all of them produced small grains, Portand's second largest shipment was canned salmon, something like 300,000 cases per year and a case was 24 cans each. Both where great exporters of Lumber, shipping to Oriental ports via steam and sailing ships. It talked about the difficulty for ships getting to Portland, on the Columbia River due to the sand bar at the Mouth of the river. This is the place where the U.S. Coast Guard trains it's Coast Gaurdsmen/women how to handle rough seas!
 
Last night I read a short chapter on the Seattle/Tacoma area. Seattle was settled in 1851 by the Denny Party and at the time that the Northern Pacific Arrived had around 3,000 people already. Tacoma was a sawmill town with a small population to the south of Seattle about 32 miles., Tacoma was chosen to be the Western terminal of the Northern Pacific as late as 1882 and the railroad arrived in 1883. So, Tacoma was essentially created by the Northern Pacific. Interestingly, as the book was completed in 1883, the local area was named after the mountain in the area called Takhoma; or, Tahoma and is now called Mount Rainier. Tacoma has a deep water port allowing ships of all sizes to dock there. The Northern Pacific's main marshaling yard near Tacoma is the Auburn Yard just to the Northeast of Tacoma about 7 miles. With many of the older terminals for all railroads it can be seen where the engine terminal was, during the steam era. Auburn is no different, the roundhouse tracks can be seen at the northern end of Auburn Yard on Google Earth.
 
With the discussion on the Seattle/Tacoma locations in the chapter above, I will end my review of the Book "History of the Northern Pacific Railroad" written in 1883by Eugene Smalley. The book is continuing to discuss the building of the railroad, between Minnesota and Washington Territory in a little more detail and I have pretty much covered that topic previously. So with this post, I will end this book review. I did find the book to be fun to read and informative for those with an interest in the Northern Pacific Railway.

I'm not certain when I will start the next topic in this thread on my layout; however, it should be shortly. I'm going to Kit-Bash At Curren"s Gambol Waite and Hope Freight House. I have Art's book "Kit-Bashing HO Model Railroad Structures" and have found many of the structures he has kit- bashed in this book to be fun to build and very interesting structures for my railroad. I believe the photo below shows the TYCO; or, Model Power Kit used in the Kit-Bash of the model I will build. It takes two of these kits to build the Gambol Waite & Hope building I will be building. This kit has been manufactured by a few different Manufacturers,

GWH1.JPG
 
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Here is the book that it is likely needed to Kit-Bash the Gambol Waite & Hope building I will be starting soon. It is out of publication and might be found for sale on Ebay. I have found a few of these books for sale at Ebay as of today, 1/31/2019!.

HOMRS.jpg


Here is the Structure I will Kit-Bash. The two models I have are the TYCO kits which are the wood Board and Batten structure. Another kit of this structure was kitted as a Brick structure. The Kit-Bash that Art Curren explains is the wood structure. I would guess that the Brick structure could be kit bashed into a similar building, also! I have found a couple of these kits available at Ebay, also.

GWH2 (Small).jpg
 
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Thanks for the very informative review of the book. While I haven't commented much along the way, I have read every post. You did a fine job of summarizing it. Thanks again.
 
What Willie said!
Is the very first pic the kit or a finished kit=bash? Post 492?

Shirley,
The first picture shows the Freight House as the manufacturer intended it to be built. In this photo, you can see that it is a three story building with a dormer on the roof. the Kit-Bashed building is actually a four story building with an attachment that is shed roofed. I may add the dormer to one of the roofs; but, don't know which one, at this time!
 



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