The Klutina River Bank Wedding Reception, Pt 1

Hart wedding: The Toast

Ken Kluttz offered a toast to the happy couple in the bar. The party then returned to the riverbank.



Click either image for a larger one.

The Joe & Marla Wedding Reception: The Parking Lot

Joe Hart and Marla Gilman married on Aug 28, 2009 after a long relationship. Both have been previously married. They had their first reception at the Tazlina Community Hall. The second one was held on the banks of the Klutina River on part of the Copper Rail Depot property.

Here are some of the parking lot shots. This is the fullest I have seen this lot as far back as I can remember. Click any image for a much-larger view:


I lined the walkway up to the dike with a 100 foot construction light string so the path would be well-marked and easily navigated once it got dark. This event began at 6 PM.


David Goodlataw and J.T. walk up the dike as they head for the party. Joe provided food and drink, including two kegs of beer--Miller Light and Coors Light.

CRD Saloon Outdoor RR Track Plan Changes

Map showing main level of the ALCANEX/CRNW model train system at the Copper Rail Depot as of the summer of 2008:
This was the layout I had at the beginning of the summer of 2009.

By the end of the season of THIS year--2009--I had added one segment of track, creating East Sleetemute Junction, so I could run a line of track to a point UNDER the existing Cicely model town. This new location is named "Cantwell Railroad Yard & Industrial Area." Cantwell includes several parallel tracks that I use for parking additional train "consists" (a complete train including both the rolling stock and the engine/caboose combination IF a caboose is used).

The Cantwell layout is as shown below:
Many of the consists will be wintering over in this location. The engines, which are battery-powered, will be moved to a heated location for the winter. Some will be in the bar. Others will be moved elsewhere until April of 2010.

View of the Cantwell RR Yard:

Cow & 2 calves at Sutton

While heading into Anchorage this afternoon I made my usual stop at the Hilltop Station just west of Sutton. I did not see the moose cow and her two calves until after I had pulled in, but I was puzzled by all the cars stopped by the road in front of the place. It was hard to get in. Fortunately, I had my trusty camera with me.



These animals were not too shy. I felt I was really taking a chance getting up close enough to get these, but there WERE others who had been closer (by the gas pumps).



Click either photo for a much-larger one.

A great day for a shot of Mt. Drum

After a period of rain and clouds, Mt Drum finally fully revealed itself this afternoon. As I expected, the snow has moved well down the slopes !




This picture was taken this afternoon (08/19/09) from my study window. Great view, is it not?
Click for larger image.

It was a great day today weather-wise. I was busy outside on various projects. Tomorrow (well, today, actually) I head off to ANC to pick up the near-commercial dryer I ordered from Sears. It has already had the LP gas conversion done. The matching washer has been busy at work here ever since I set it up: Lots of linens and bed covers and other bulky laundry to do.

I will be taking my camera, of course !

Rosyln Trip II, Pt 6:Arrival at Cle Elum

View of the approach into the Ellensburg-Cle Elum area:



I stayed at the Cascade Motor Inn, just as I had back in 2007. It is a very clean, spacious place at a reasonable price ($59.00):




After checking in here I had dinner at a nearby cafe and then headed up to Roslyn for my first day of photo shots. Map shows location of Cascade Mountain Inn in Cle Elum and the routes to my two immediate destinations: The restored Milwaukee Road depot in South Cle Elum and the roughly 3 mile route to Roslyn, which is NW of Cle Elum.

Click either image for a larger view.



Here is the

link to the MapQuest map shown above.

The following posts will group the images by place and structure.

The historic Kennecott Mines

I have decided to add a new section to my revised website. Well, not THAT new. This is my own pictorial history of the Kennecott Mines, which has appeared before.



(click the image)

It originally appeared as one of my threads on a large-scale model train forum about two years ago. Now I am making it available to all who wish to see it on my CRD site.

Rosyln Trip II, Pt 5

On my first trip to Roslyn, following this same route, I came across this large, deserted sugar beet mill on the outskirts of Toppenish--a farming community. I wish I had taken shots of this fascinating industrial complex back then. It was gone by the time I made the second trip. I had to find a couple of pictures of it on-line:


My Phase II model railroad includes an railroad yard/industrial area. The plan is to eventually include some kind of complex, hopefully similar to this one. In any case, it is gone now.


Click either image for a larger version.

Rosyln Trip II, Pt 4

This is a continuation of the posts I wrote during or immediately after my trip from Portland, Oregon to Roslyn and Spokane, Washington and return:

Here was the initial route: I followed Highway 84 from Portland to Biggs, following the Oregon side of the Columbia River. Here is a photo I found from the web showing the Biggs crossing to the Washington side:



The route I followed is shown below. This is the Portland-to-Cle Elum/Roslyn segment of the trip. You can click this map for a larger image. If I recall I completed this run in about 4 1/2 hours.

Updates on the model railroad

I have several updates to post on the model railroad. These will include pictures. For those of you who are already in the large-scale hobby, I will leave a few tidbits right here:

Wendell and Ann Hanks, who are a visible part of the on-line LS community visited the CRD about two weeks ago. Wendell wrote a few words about his visit here:
"Alaska: A visit to Ron Simpson's Copper Center Rail Depot Bar".

I now have the Phase II part of the line in full operation, having completed the basic line this summer. The Phase II line, also known as the

ALCANEX Consolidated Railways System, operates off of battery-powered, mostly diesel-type modern engines, including three AKRR Mac SD-70s, a Burlington E-8, a Burlington F3A-F3B, a Milwaukee Road F7A-B-A unit, an AKRR 40-2, a Great Northern F3A-F3-B, and an AmTrak Genisis Phase III. I also have an Aristo Mikado and an Aristo Great Northern mallet, plus one Shay that are occasionally used in that system. All the diesels except the 40-2 are used to pull a variety of passenger consists, including a "heavyweight" Canadian Pacific, Milwaukee Road and a rare Burlington Northern consist. One even older style passenger line is a mixed line of short narrow gauge-type LGB, Aristocraft and Bachmann cars. The Bachmanns are rare Milwaukee Road and Great Northern.and the Aristocraft are rare Jack Daniels limited-edition cars.

The other passenger coaches are of the new USA-type. These are Northern Pacific, Great Northern, ATSF, and one AKRR (custom). Finally I have some LGB, USA and Aristocraft AmTrak streamline coaches.

Over in the Phase I operation--the original Copper River & Northwestern Railway line--I use two LGB moguls to pull a mixed consist.

Fall is in the air

It appears to me that our long warm-to-hot spell is finally over. The clouds are dominant. Sometimes we get a spattering of precipitation, and temperatures are now ranging from the mid-30s to only the low 60s in the last few days. Since late July we have seen the leaves turning on some of the smaller trees. Last night an unexpected frost hit the Tanana Valley, which is north of the Alaska Range.

I have already started the initial processes of winterization with the shutting down of the hot water in the public/campers' lavatory/showers. That means that the coin-op shower is no longer available for the season. At the end of the month I will shut off the water to the public restrooms and drain the system. Everything else remains on normal track. Rooms continue to be rented one or two at a time most nights.

Almost all of the fishermen in the three campgrounds upriver have left except for the charter fishermen themselves. The campgrounds are now all but deserted.

I am now waiting for signs of the snows advancing down the mountains.

Roslyn Trip II, Pt 3

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Here is a shot I took of a part of "downtown" Roslyn from the top of the slag pile:

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You are actually looking at the back end of the Brick as well as the barber shop behind it, which appeared in at least one episode. See if you can find those below:
Click either image for a larger one:

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Roslyn Trip II, Pt 2

The Northwestern Improvement Company once had all those coal mines around Roslyn similar to this one:

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I did find a part of the concrete base for the above structure. There was even very little of the concrete remaining. The company had been very thorough in removing the old structures.

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Now there are only these enormous "slag piles" that can be seen mostly along the eastern ridge. I walked up one of them. These are actually waste ore dumps. They are still loose, tend to be very steep and quite high and are thus somewhat dangerous.

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Looking down a slag pile in the direction of the coal trail that was once the NP rail bed:

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Looking UP that same slag pile to the top:

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Looking down another pile toward what I think was a concrete hoist house. No sign of the actual adit, however. This is in the woods just to the east of Roslyn.

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Behind this slag pile was yet another high one. In this section of the woods along the ridge they were everywhere:

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Any of these pictures can be clicked onto to view the larger one.

To be continued

On the Scene of NX, Pt 1

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The cast of main characters from NX

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For those of you who were fortunate enough to watch the original Northern Exposure (NX), you were actually seeing scenes shot in Roslyn, Washington. You would have had no way of knowing that Roslyn was actually a coal-mining town with those mines owned and operated by the Northern Pacific Railway under the company name of Northwestern Improvement Company.

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Old NP Ry logo and map

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The only clue you would have had would have been this building with the Northwestern Mining Company name on its face. There never was an explanation for it in any of the episodes. That is because the story line for NX ignored the coal mining and railroad history of Roslyn. In fact the film producers went out of their way to ensure that we saw very little of that heritage in those episodes.

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Here is a 1928 railroad map of Washington State showing the NPRy going through Roslyn. There is also another railroad to its south--the Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul and Pacific, aka the Milwaukee Road, which ran through South Cle Elum:

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Click onto the above map for a much-larger image so you can see the details.
Below is a location map for the various underground coal mines located around Roslyn, Ronald and Cle Elum. You may also click this one to a larger size.

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The NP was a short line out of Cle Elum built to access those coal mines in 1886. The last of those coal mines shut down in 1963. The last use of the NP RR line was in 1986 when the lumber yard in Ronald closed, ending any further use or need for that line forever. Shortly thereafter the tracks were pulled up and the right-of-way became a dedicated historic trail. When I returned to Roslyn after my two year absence I came armed with maps showing the locations of these mines. I wanted to see at least one of them. As it turned out there was very little left to see.
(to be continued).

Completing the Roof Job

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Floyd puts on the finishing touches on the roof in the late afternoon. His work completed, Floyd heads back to Anchorage.

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The building is now ready for summer tourist business.

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With Floyd's job done and Floyd departed, I now come in to clean up the work area and close down the site for the night.

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All the material and tools are secured and the site is locked up for the night.

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It will now be possible to safely park one of the train consists outside the enclosed area on the parallel track in front of the window. Click any image for a larger one.

Installing the New Roof over the Cicely Model

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The carpenter is now ready for the next step: First he installs the OSB underlay.

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Then the tarpaper is laid over the OSB.

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Then the metal roof is installed over the tarpaper. Now the model should be well protected from any potential roof leaks or even condensation. This was a problem with the old roof.

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With the new metal roof in place, the new canopy is installed using much of the corrugated fiberglass which has been removed from the roof. The canopy will protect the south-facing windows from destructive UV rays which are adversely affecting the models inside the structure.

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This was the last step except for the addition of some metal corner pieces.
All of these pictures can be seen in a larger size by clicking on any of them.

Hauling Up the Underlayment

Click any image for a larger one:

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Removing the last of the old corrugated fiberglass roof:

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Hauling up the OSB:

No help required here !

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