Trains

More photos & videos:

• Burr's YouTube channel with many recent videos of the layout
• Burr's blog with photos and progress updates
• The Groups.io site to join for info on future operating sessions
• Camera Car video by Brian Pickering in July 2019 MRH online magazine
• Magazine article photos in January 2008 Railroad Model Craftsman by Paul Scoles
• Our N scale layout upstairs
• Visitors from the 2004 NMRA Convention in Seattle
• The HO track plan
• Video of a train crash and operations on the layout

HO Burrlington Northern Train Layout Photo Tour:

This is Seattle’s Balmer yard at Interbay, with Queen Anne painted on the backdrop, and the car repair shop and RIP tracks in the foreground. David Strombom painted the backdrop with the help of some color xerox copies of some photos of the real place.

Northbound trains pass along Golden Gardens and Carkeek parks on their way along the shore of Puget Sound north towards Everett

The center of the layout is a large ping-pong table sized space surrounded by the mainline along Puget Sound

The visitor’s first view of the layout is the 30 foot long yard at interbay on the right, Ballard in the distance, and Everett on the left.

The left aisleway leads along Everett’s Bayside yard on the right and South Seattle’s Stacey St. yards on the left.

Continuing along the left aisleway brings a crossing of Royal Brougham and the passenger yard on the left, and a forced perspective mountain scene with On30 and HOn3 on the right

looking back up the left aisle is Everett’s Bayside yard above the main workbench. That trestle is an old Campbell kit I built as a teenager in 1967.

In Everett the choice must be made at Delta Wye to proceed either north (left) towards Vancouver BC, or east (right) to climb up towards Stevens Pass on the old GN route. The bridge crosses the Snohomish river here. The amazing rockwork was built by Eric Vannice

after passing the Delta Wye, eastbound trains climb into the mountains and arrive at a reverse loop at Skykomish yard, the eastern end of the line. The trees are all made of barbeque skewers furnace filter, brown paint and green ground foam. There are about 500 of them on the layout so far.

an eastbound mainline train proceeds past Goldbar on the way up to Skykomish, on the opposite side of the peninsula from Everett. A narrow gage line has its terminus here as well.

There's construction taking place near Skyway Luggage in downtown Seattle near Pier 69. To the right of this scene the double track mainline dives between stair treads over the the Stacey St. yards.

This scene of Interbay yard underneath the Drevus St. overpass shows that I am just starting to weather the rolling stock on the layout, with these two gondolas as examples. Wait 'til I get to those cement cars behind them!

At Golden Gardens Park it can be hard for a couple to get any privacy....

Those new Micro-trains log cars certainly look at home on that old trestle!