My previous post lays out the thought process for building a proto-freelanced train specific to my layout. A fictional town and railroad operation necessarily messes with the space-time continuum, which yields both a temptation and opportunities. Guided entirely by the question, what would the railroads do in this unique place, if it were to exist, to capture its lucrative business, the opportunity is to create unique trains with fidelity to their prototypes for realistic operation. Focused on the traffic between 3 fictitious cities on the West Coast - Monte Vista (California), Cascadia (Oregon), somewhere in Washington - this imaginary place has its own mainline divisions, railroads and their trains.
For modeling believable passenger trains of the 1950s, this freelanced operation follows a few guiding rules:
- Passenger trains conform to standard consists, timetables and class (First Class Name Trains, Secondary Trains, Mail & Express trains, for example)
- Each railroad has available equipment from which prototype-correct trans can be consisted
- Interchanges with friendly and rival railroads is a fact of passenger operations, and prototypes provide many examples to follow
- Passenger trains of the middle 1950s were highly competitive, creating colorful variety of equipment and careful coordination of schedule
- Mail and Express, sleepers were the most interchanged equipment on railroads
- Portland provides a near-perfect prototype for modeling how these operations and interchanges would have worked in a major Oregon-based city
- Trackage rights into major cities and their union stations is a given, where many roads shared the same mainline tracks
Using Portland as a guide, 6-8 railroads serving its union station and interchanging is prototypically correct. Those roads: SP, UP, WP/ATSF from Monte Vista; GN, NP, SP&S from Washington are a given. There was another player in the Pacific Northwest who eventually (1970) gained trackage rights into Portland: Milwaukee Road.
The beauty of a fictitious place is that it changes the space-time continuum, speeding up the timeline to where a road such as Milwaukee would have been a player. Since the layout's limited mainlines are governed by trackage rights, there is precedent for all of these roads to operate these tracks into its major hub of Cascadia.
Enter The Milwaukee Road
Until some bad business decisions in the 1970s slid the company into oblivion, Milwaukee Road was the foil to the Hill Lines' virtual monopoly of traffic between St. Paul and Seattle. Milwaukee's Olympian Hiawatha was a premier passenger train connecting these two cities through its scenic Northwest route. Carrying sleeping cars, Milwaukee's trademark PS Super Dome and skytop lounge, this was certainly one of the most beautiful trains ever to grace the trails. The lesser known but still regal 'Columbian' carried older equipment and handled mail and express traffic on this route.
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| Travel brochures from the 1960s take us back to when passenger trains were the luxury liners on land. Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas were world famous for their luxurious domes and skytop lounges. Partner Union Pacific cashed in on the lucrative vacation business with Parks specials, operated in partnership with Milwaukee. The California Zephyr was THE competition in the era of luxury dome travel (©. Reginald J. Twigg Collection) |
Showcasing the color, variety and operation of the trains serving the Pacific Northwest, Milwaukee Road belongs on my layout. Being a major city that is both a destination and a jumping off point for major parks, Cascadia would have a Milwaukee connection, most likely from Spokane. Not having a clear UP or SP route to Washington, as Portland did, Milwaukee fulfills this role for now. Operating via Trackage Rights on the GN and UP (via Oregon and Washington Railway and Navigation Subsidiary), Milwaukee partners with UP to provide this connection to Spokane. Beginning in 1955, UP partnered with Milwaukee for its Cascadia to Spokane passenger service connection.
Accordingly, Milwaukee offered its connection in the form of sections of the Olympian and Columbian. Using Portland to Spokane as a guide, GN+NP partnered on a connecting section of their premier Empire Builder and North Coast Limited. A rainbow train since its inception in 1949, this train, #s 1/2, was called 'the Streamliner' and operated by SP&S. Operated by Milwaukee Road, Cascadia's analogous train to the NP/GN connection is called 'The Olympian.' The Columbian' will operate a section of its St. Paul to Seattle train, as the NP Mainstreeter did.
As a connecting section of the Olympian Hiawatha, the Olympian offers 2-3 sleepers to transfer onto the Hiawatha, a couple of coaches for local passengers, lounge accommodation, but its real moneymaker is the mail and express it carries on the headend. Typically, the Olympian into Cascadia would be 8-10 cars, operating as through service for its premier trains on the St Paul to Seattle route. In operating sessions, staging space constraints will limit me to alternating between the Olympian and Columbian.
Typical Consist for the Olympian to Cascadia
As a turn between Spokane (Washington staging) and Cascadia, the Olympian's consist is made up of equipment pooled with the Olympian Hiawatha. Its route to Cascadia off the electrical grid, the train is pulled by an ABA set of Milwaukee Passenger F-7s.
Consist for November 20, 1956
Car Type and Designation Lading Destination
UP 85' Baggage Express Express Messenger Transfer UP City of Portland
SP HWT 60' Baggage Express Transfer to SP Klamath
MILW Express Baggage Express REA Terminal, Cascadia
UP Box Express Express UP Portland Rose
UP Baggage Locked mail Cascadia Post Office
MILW RPO Post Office/Working Mail Turn Cascadia/Washington
MILW 400 Series Coach Local passengers Turn Cascadia/Washington
MILW 500 Series Coach Local passengers Turn Cascadia/Washington
Coffee Shop Tap Lounge Economy meal service Turn Cascadia/Washington
MILW Lake Series 10-6 Sleeper Through sleeper Transfer to Olympian Hiawatha
MILW River Series 8-6-4 Sleeper Through sleeper Transfer to Olympian Hiawatha
UP Western Star 12-4 Sleeper Through sleeper Transfer to UP City of Portland
Variable based on seasonal demand, the Olympian occasionally is graced with a Skytop Lounge sleeper from the Olympian Hiawatha. More sleepers are added in peak seasons, including the major holidays and summer vacation specials. In peak mail and express seasons, extra sections of the Columbian meet the demand.
In partnership with Union Pacific and Southern Pacific, the Milwaukee connection between Cascadia and Washington produced a variety of colors and cars. After its 'Cities' trains partnership began in November, 1955, Milwaukee Road began painting its cars in UP's Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Gray. In 1956 the Olympian remained part of the Hiawatha family and kept its maroon and brown livery until cars would be shopped and repainted. Starting this year, UP Yellow and Gray painted Milwaukee cars began appearing in the Olympian, making these trains even more colorful and varied.
Not only what the prototype would do in this unique city, which disrupts the space-time continuum of the Pacific Northwest in the 1950s, the Milwaukee Road Olympian and Columbian would bring the Road's distinctive colors and elegance to Cascadia's passenger train parade.
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