montanan
Whiskey Merchant
Thanks very much for the complement. It took a long time from the original Planning to where it is now.
In the late 70's I had a fairly good size N scale layout, with over 10 scale miles of main line track, plus branch line tracks. Unfortunately back then the quality and performance of N scale locomotives, with some exceptions was extremely poor. I also couldn't find the locomotives I was interested in or the road names. The N scale layout was torn out and plans for the Logan Valley were started. This was in the early 80's. I had a good friend who was interested in HO scale, and in the same era, the transition period. We both were interested in the Northern Pacific and I also had a lot of interest in the Milwaukee Road because when I was a kid, I had relatives working for both railroads, and got to spend countless hours riding in the cabs of steam, diesel and electric locomotives starting when I was about 10. I was hooked.
My friend and I spent a lot of time planning. We were both interested in modeling the area when we live, southwestern Montana, which has a lot of railroad history. Both the Northern Pacific and the Milwaukee Road would be hard to model due to the vast expanse each railroad covered so we decided to freelance. We used USGS amps to figure out where out railroads could actually be and worked from there.
The Logan Valley connected to the NP at Logan, MT and runs south to Gallatin Gateway, where I just happen to live. There it connects to the Milwaukee Road, and my Friends Gallatin Canyon & Western. From Gallatin Gateway, the GC&W runs south to West Yellowstone, MT, where it connects to the Union Pacific. The Logan Valley is a branch/short line that would carry freight from the NP and hand it over to the GC&W to travel south to the UP. In our fictional world, the FCC wouldn't allow the NP to build this route, and being that the GC&W was partially owned by the NP, the Logan Valley would make this route possible. So much for the history.
The Logan Valley construction was started in the mid 80's. At the time I managed to hook up with many suppliers and had dealerships with amny, including Walthers. The lack of hobby shops in our area made this a necessity to continue. My friend had a huge area to wotk with for his railroad. We had a lot of track down for his layout until he unfortunately passed away suddenly. The room for the LV started as a 13x17 foot room. Track was laid but I had the opportunity to expand when a wall was removed and added a 9x13 foot area. Then came destruction and reconstruction.
The additional room is what I have now. I started hand laying code 70 rail. One thing that I really didn't care for in N scale was the over size rail. That is why I chose code 70. I ahd also done a lot of custom painting in O scale for a local collector of brass, so many locomotives and a lot of freight equipment was custom painted for the GC&W and LV. I still have some GC&W equipment, but in my freelance world, the LV bought out the GC&W and just hasn't had time to repaint it. After my friends death, and with the recession that hit in the late 80's, I ended up giving up my dealerships due to not moving enough merchandise. I ahd also been selling to other modelers around the state and due to the recession and a number of job losses, sales went down the drain.
Because of having a solid plan on what I was building, I had quite a lot of what was needed to continue until the mid 90's. Any major construction came to a halt. There was about a 10 year period when the LV was in limbo because the closest hobby shop that stocked what I needed was hundreds of miles away. Finally e-retailers came on line and I was finally able to continue construction.
I also have other hobbies, such as classic car restoration which takes up a lot of my time, plus I am an avid bowler and we do attend various tournaments around to country, so although construction continues, it is at a rather slow pace.
In the late 70's I had a fairly good size N scale layout, with over 10 scale miles of main line track, plus branch line tracks. Unfortunately back then the quality and performance of N scale locomotives, with some exceptions was extremely poor. I also couldn't find the locomotives I was interested in or the road names. The N scale layout was torn out and plans for the Logan Valley were started. This was in the early 80's. I had a good friend who was interested in HO scale, and in the same era, the transition period. We both were interested in the Northern Pacific and I also had a lot of interest in the Milwaukee Road because when I was a kid, I had relatives working for both railroads, and got to spend countless hours riding in the cabs of steam, diesel and electric locomotives starting when I was about 10. I was hooked.
My friend and I spent a lot of time planning. We were both interested in modeling the area when we live, southwestern Montana, which has a lot of railroad history. Both the Northern Pacific and the Milwaukee Road would be hard to model due to the vast expanse each railroad covered so we decided to freelance. We used USGS amps to figure out where out railroads could actually be and worked from there.
The Logan Valley connected to the NP at Logan, MT and runs south to Gallatin Gateway, where I just happen to live. There it connects to the Milwaukee Road, and my Friends Gallatin Canyon & Western. From Gallatin Gateway, the GC&W runs south to West Yellowstone, MT, where it connects to the Union Pacific. The Logan Valley is a branch/short line that would carry freight from the NP and hand it over to the GC&W to travel south to the UP. In our fictional world, the FCC wouldn't allow the NP to build this route, and being that the GC&W was partially owned by the NP, the Logan Valley would make this route possible. So much for the history.
The Logan Valley construction was started in the mid 80's. At the time I managed to hook up with many suppliers and had dealerships with amny, including Walthers. The lack of hobby shops in our area made this a necessity to continue. My friend had a huge area to wotk with for his railroad. We had a lot of track down for his layout until he unfortunately passed away suddenly. The room for the LV started as a 13x17 foot room. Track was laid but I had the opportunity to expand when a wall was removed and added a 9x13 foot area. Then came destruction and reconstruction.
The additional room is what I have now. I started hand laying code 70 rail. One thing that I really didn't care for in N scale was the over size rail. That is why I chose code 70. I ahd also done a lot of custom painting in O scale for a local collector of brass, so many locomotives and a lot of freight equipment was custom painted for the GC&W and LV. I still have some GC&W equipment, but in my freelance world, the LV bought out the GC&W and just hasn't had time to repaint it. After my friends death, and with the recession that hit in the late 80's, I ended up giving up my dealerships due to not moving enough merchandise. I ahd also been selling to other modelers around the state and due to the recession and a number of job losses, sales went down the drain.
Because of having a solid plan on what I was building, I had quite a lot of what was needed to continue until the mid 90's. Any major construction came to a halt. There was about a 10 year period when the LV was in limbo because the closest hobby shop that stocked what I needed was hundreds of miles away. Finally e-retailers came on line and I was finally able to continue construction.
I also have other hobbies, such as classic car restoration which takes up a lot of my time, plus I am an avid bowler and we do attend various tournaments around to country, so although construction continues, it is at a rather slow pace.
