Building the Wallace Branch - New Series

[derznovich]

Hi everyone, I just wanted briefly introduce a new build series I’ve been posting, which is now up to episode 4.

I’m modeling the Coeur d’Alene Branch of the Northern Pacific, known as the Wallace Branch. The route covers some of the same territory as the famed Drexel-Avery Route, which overlaps around 50%. However, this route uses HD terrain and all new scenery and train car assets. It includes a short segment of Milwaukee, but the focus is on the NP and also the Union Pacific, which both served the Wallace mining district, which at its heyday supplied much of the nation’s lead, silver and zinc. For rail fans of the mid-century, the area was also noted for the town of Burke, where the two railroads ran directly up the Main Street and through the lobby of the town’s largest hotel, the Tiger Hotel. The route closed in 1980 and the tracks were removed for the construction of I-90 around that time. However, the depot and most of the town of Wallace were preserved.

I wanted to capture the rich history of that region, but also create a route for operations, with lots of industries to serve and some internal supply chains. I haven’t reached the operating phase yet, so we shall see how that goes.

You can find the series on YT, just search for Trainz - Wallace Branch. I’d welcome any feedback or suggestions since I’m a total newbie at YT and this is also my first route. I will post some screenshots here later. -Anders

 

[Forester1]

A great location to choose! I am looking forward to following your progress.

 

[derznovich]

Latest episode of Building the Wallace Branch, tackling some industry to service:

 

[derznovich]

In today's episode of Building the Wallace Branch, I manage to take the little town of Mullan from start to finish. (Plus, a little minor asset creation to fill a need.)

 

[derznovich]

Today's episode of Building the Wallace Branch tackles the mighty Morning Mine, just on the outskirts of Mullan, Idaho. The mine was a major producer of lead and zinc, and the high zinc content of its ore led to the construction of a nearby zinc plant outside of Kellogg, creating a major new source of revenue for the mine and the railroads that served it.

 

[EMDE5]

Hello. You've talked with me on discord (I'm Liam Reynolds). Been watching since episode 2. Its a wonderful route so far and I can see that this might be released in the future (maybe or maybe not).


Regards,
Liam Reynolds (EMDE5)

 

[derznovich]

Thanks, Liam! Yes, I'm enjoying the series now that it's got momentum. As for releasing, I have followed some threads here about how difficult it is to eliminate missing dependencies. It's in HD terrain, with almost 600 baseboards, which may also limit who can access it. On the other hand, for many watching, there may be little point in watching the full series if they know it won't be released. So, I will see what I can do.

 

[Forester1]

Amazing techniques on that mine!

 

[derznovich]

Today's episode of Building the Wallace Branch looks at another mining complex just outside the town of Mullan, Idaho: the Gold Hunter.

This old wooden mining structure reminds me of the rickety cliffside mine "Furlow's Folly," created by the great Malcolm Furlow for the Jerome & Southwestern tabletop HO-scale layout built by John Olson, as documented in the book, "Builidng An HO Model Railroad with Personality."

It's also right by the tracks, so there is no way to omit this one, though the structure was long gone by the time the route ceased operation. The location is now occupied by the Hecla-owned Lucky Friday mine, meaning that of all the mines in the region, this is the only one still operating, albeit with much more modern structures and equipment.

Next week, we'll be leaving Mullan and visiting a small but beautiful old building near Lookout Pass: the Hale Hatchery in Pottsville.

 

[derznovich]

Coming next week: Hale Hatchery, making our first actual delivery on the route!

 

[EMDE5]

Wonderful! Can't wait

 

[derznovich]

This episode is a short and sweet one!

 

[derznovich]

A big sprawling episode, covering three whole towns along the route, plus a couple of mini industries.

 

[derznovich]

For those of you who enjoyed the latest episode, but wondered how Saltese looks from the Milwaukee side, here's a sample.

In the above, an unrealistically short Milwaukee train is heading up to St. Paul Pass, headed by a Little Joe (created by TUME) and backed up by two SD40-2s of my own creation. The boxcars are all my reskins. The bay-window caboose is my own work as well. In the background, two NP GP9s idle after dropping off some steel coil at Saltese's fictional pipe industry. Catenaries are all from TUME's route.

 

[derznovich]

In today's episode of Building the Wallace Branch, we take a look at the historic downtown of Wallace, home to an intersection known as the Center of the Universe. Of course, this designation only dates back to the 1990s, so it's an anachronism for this layout, but the buildings all date back to the late 1800s ... in fact, these Italianate and Neoclassical buildings are some of the oldest buildings in the town, reflecting Wallace's prosperity and ambition during its mining heyday.

 

[derznovich]

Some people I'm working on for the 1880s scenes for the Wallace Branch. (One person created by MSGSapper on far left for comparison.) All are in process of uploading to DLS.

In case you are wondering about the train:

Director Michael Cimino chose Wallace, Idaho, as the filming location for the Casper, Wyo., scenes of the film 'Heaven's Gate,' which was set during the Johnson County War of the 1880s/1890s. The Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley RR (FEMV) had just connected to Casper at around the time of the events of the film. For this reason, locomotives and rolling stock used in the film all showed FEMV colors and lettering.

 

[derznovich]

Heading down Lookout Pass on the NP Wallace Branch, at the Dorsey Trestle.

 

[derznovich]

The latest episode of Building the Wallace Branch is part 2 of a 5-episode mini-series on creating the downtown area for Wallace, which is at the heart of the route and likely to get more attention than any other spot on the map. Again, while this type of episode takes us a bit out of the way of Trainz, I think including some small samples of the asset creation for the route gives a more well-rounded perspective on what makes this route unique. So I hope you have a look -- it's a shorter episode for this series, I promise!

 

[derznovich]

Close Encounters of the GP9 kind.

In 1977 on the Wallace Branch, we are not alone.