Cascadia 2.0 Notebook: The Most Spectacular Depot to Model

If one is modeling passenger trains and their operations, the two most important things to model on a layout are the Union Station and mainline in that order.  My biggest complaint about the Union Station on my current layout is that it is boring.  Although it operates very well and proved that passenger train switching can work and be fun, it is visually plain - a 28' x 3' plywood prairie of track. It has a long list of missed opportunities that I am committed to fixing on the new layout.  

So, what is the ultimate passenger depot, and how would it wow visitors and operators?

Spokane, WA, is the answer.

Arial view of the Spokane passenger depot complex, looking east around 1970.  At left, on an island, is the the GN-SP&S depot with its trademark tower.  Across the channel to its right is the joint UP-Milwaukee Road depot with hipped roof and elevated tracks.  The complex straddles dramatic river terrain, which it shares with the hydro-electric power plant. 

What makes Spokane worth modeling?

Several factors make the old Spokane depot complex worth modeling.  The first is that it is situated as an important junction of all of the railroads and passenger trains I model as Cascadia.  Second, the terrain is dramatic, and the railroads' adaptation to it forced unique depot designs.  Third, it captures for me the essential aesthetic of Pacific Northwest railroading I have always wanted to model.  Finally, adapting a depot to this site adds layers of interest for modelers and operators, including both its relation to the river and an underside that can be a bustle of railroad activity in itself: the network of loading bays and fleets of vehicles needed to serve the mail, express and passenger terminals.  This latter feature allows the modeling of the busy automobile interface with trains safely out of the way of train operations.  Pictures tell the story.

Mid-century view of the UP-Milwaukee depot's platforms and tracks, also showing the GN/SP&S depot island connected by a network of street bridges illustrates the dramatic space of a depot being forced to adapt to its challenging terrain.  Every structure is unique, some at water level, others elevated.  

Contemporary photo of the Spokane River cutting through Downtown Spokane with a network of dams, tunnels and the generator structures of Washington Water and Power.  This river needs to be modeled bank-to-bank to keep its visual power.  Putting it in the center of a peninsula is the way to achieve this objective.

Cascadia as prototype-grounded freelance modeling

Though defined elsewhere in this blog series, my term 'prototype-grounded freelance' is especially relevant here.  Prototype-grounded freelancing is taking the principles, practices, rules and operation of prototype railroads as a guide for modeling a freelanced place and time.  It allows the modeler to invent a place and adapt real prototype railroading to that place.  At the root of this approach is the question: 'how would my prototype railroad s handle this place in the era I'm modeling?' It forces the modeler to remain faithful to the prototype and mapping it onto a freelanced space and time.  It can use as many elements of a prototype place and time as it wants but interprets them to fit a fictional place.

Modelers are familiar with 'proto-freelancing,' which is starting with a prototype railroad place and operation and adapting it to the constraints of available space.  Proto-freelancing is an interpretive process with the aim of remaining faithful to the specific prototype being modeled.  Most prototype railroad models are proto-freelanced because they simply cannot replicate the prototype exactly in the available modeling space.  Creative license is in how to fill in gaps forced by adapting a prototype to a novel space.  A master of this approach to modeling is Lance Mindheim, whose work is well documented on his blog: https://lancemindheim.com/model-railroad-blog/ 

Cascadia 2.0 is a freelanced operation that draws its inspiration primarily from Spokane.  The prototype's two large stations would overwhelm a space and create operations overkill. Plus there are operational aspects of major railroads in the Pacific Northwest that I wish to keep in the Cascadia world.  These include Portland's interchange between Southern Pacific (where Portland was its northern terminus), Northern Pacific, Great Northern and SP&S.  Union Pacific used Portland as a major terminus with coach yard and many interesting trains.  Plus there were many locals.  Yet Spokane was a major switching point for GN's Empire Builder and Combined Western Star/Fast Mail. It served Milwaukee Road's Olympian Hiawatha and was a hub for many forgotten Union Pacific trains, such as the Wallace Local and 'The Spokane.' I want to combine the best of all of these prototype trains in one place for practical purposes, making prototype-grounded freelancing the way to go.

Freelancing the place itself creates unique modeling opportunities, specifically focused around modeling the river and island terrain as a visually dramatic feature that stands on its own merits.  Putting the river in the center of the peninsula allows it to be modeled fully in 'dead space' that keeps it safe for super-detailing while protecting it from the arms and hands of operators.  Here is a rough plan for Cascadia's new depot complex:

Rough plan of Downtown Cascadia in Cascadia 2.0 includes the Union Station and freight switching straddling the Cascadia River with its hydro-electric plant and cascading waterfalls.  It freelances the prototype by combining the elements of both of its depots into a single depot complex.  The coach yard pictured here will be relocated into staging.  This peninsula will be the main super-modeled place on the layout, the rest of the mainline and any other operations adapted to shelf-style modeling that is easy to construct and add convincing scenery. 

Keeping it simple and making it count

My first layout taught many valuable lessons for railroad modeling, chief among them is the high cost of doing too much.  That cost is everywhere - in money, in time, in mission creep and in aesthetic chaos.  When I started my inspiration was George Sellios' Franklin and South Manchester, which I had the good fortune to see in person in 2024.  I loved the saturation of space with beautifully modeled, super-detailed structure-filled scenes that tell stories.  

But learning operations and scenery changed my mind about many things in model railroading, and it gave me a new set of guiding principles for my next layout.  These principles are worth listing:

• Keep it simple: Pick the highest-value concept and focus on making it successful.  Wanting everything only leads to a mess of mission creep.
• Brutally prioritize 'done': Focus construction, trackwork, scenery and details on what can be finished quickly.  Don't junk up a scene with lots of structures, details and track that distract from having a simple, finished scene.
• Shelves speed everything up: From benchwork construction to scene modeling, shelves are shallow, light, and easy to put up and finish out.  
• Trains are the stars: Where the trains go and what they do should dictate the creation of scenes.  Everything else is distraction.
• The one thing: Passenger trains are my passion, so the layout should focus on the two things they need - a Union Station and a mainline.  Everything else is only if it fits this concept and doesn't distract from it.  

Cascadia 2.0 will be a large layout built with a long mainline for viewing passenger (and freight) trains properly, together with a city, Downtown Cascadia, limited to one peninsula - all to keep modeling and construction simple and faster to complete.  Spokane is the perfect inspiration for all of it with an interesting operation and spectacular scenery to guide me.