New Engines/GandersTrains.Com

Milwaukee Road Bipolar, Series E2
Othello, Washington to Tacoma, Washington

Historic route over the Cascade Mountains featured this single articulated engine set doing the work of two
steam engines on passenger trains between 1919 and the mid-1950s. Most notably, "The Olympian" passenger service
was advertised with this locomotive for service over Snoqualmie Pass to Cle Elum, Seattle and the last stop, Tacoma.
This is Mike's Train House's premier model of one of five bipolars
made for the Milwaukee Road by General Electric and Alco. It was added to the Ganders layout in April, 2023.
The MTH model matches the prototype colors in 1953 as the Milwaukee locomotive shops rebuilt engine number E-1 and painted it
to match the recently acquired Union Pacific passenger train service. The first rebuilt engine, number E-5
came out of Tacoma shops.

While entirely electric for power, a steam boiler operated in the middle section of the articulated locomotive to provide heat for passenger cars.

Vintage photo from the Northwest Room at the Tacoma Public Library, Marvin D. Boland Collection BOLAND-B2759

Burlington Northern Santa Fe

No. 2081

"The Boeing Switch Engine"

BNSF 2081 was built in 1972 and has spent most of her career as a GP-28 2 as a local engine serving Boeing in Everett to Skykomish and other areas of Western Washington.

Photo at right is 2081 at Index, Wash.,
returning to Everett from Skykomish.
Courtesy of Peyton Boyd of Monroe, WA
and Stevens Pass Railfan.

Originally painted in the Burlington Northern pre-merger green, she now is part of the pumpkin power livery and currently still operates on familiar local routes in Washington State. She was featured on "Microsoft Train Simulator" and remains popular with Railfans. This model by Mike's Train House was originally produced as a QSI protosound unit. Larry has upgraded it to the Protosound 3 Command Control system on his carpet layout. Prototype on the bottom right is the lead engine., photo displayed with permission of North Branch Photography (Ben Stainbrook), Everett.

SP&S GP-9 Freight Diesel
North Bank, Columbia River

Historic route of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway connecting
Northern Pacific tracks and Great Northern routes from Portland, Ore. and Vancouver, Washington
with Pasco-Kennewick and Spokane using the Washington side of the Columbia River.

New to the GandersTrains carpet layout: Spokane, Portland and Seattle (SP&S 150) General Motors Electro-Motive GP-9 locomotive (Circa 1954-59) one of just 36 of this O-Gauge model built by MTH Electric Trains in 2022. Includes diesel smoke unit (pictured.)

SP&S built the first bridge of any kind
across the Columbia River in 1908.

Weyerhaeuser
Shay Steam Logging Locomotive

Invented in 1880 by Ephraim Shay and Lima Locomotive Works

The design of these slow-moving locomotives with a beveled shaft was well-suited for logging with a top speed of about 20 miles per hour.

Weyerhaeuser Shay No. 5 Premier Model by MTH Trains

(20-3193-1) Based on an 1905 Lima 3-truck "Class C" engine still in operation by Cass Scenic Railway in West Virginia. Another Cass engine was built for Eastern Railway and Lumber Co. and operated by S.A. Agnew Lumber Co. (As Shay No. 3) near Centralia, WA. Both are now owned by the state of West Virginia. The Agnew locomotive has been restored for display.

Perhaps similar to Weyerhaeuser No. 2 which operated near Rainier or Vail, WA from 1920-1942; Three trucks, 164,000 Pounds.
There was also a similar one operated near Centralia by Eastern Railway and Lumber Company that is in static storage in Snoqualmie, WA.

Great Northern 0-8-0 Switch Engine
Tacoma

Larry's GN 0-8-0 switcher is an MTH replica of the 1903 Alco locomotive that later worked Tacoma's rail yards.
The prototype was manufactured at the former Brooks Locomotive Works in Dunkirk, New York.

Great Northern S-2 Diesel Switch Engine

Larry's S-2 Switcher is a MTH replica.

Milwaukee Road F-7 4-6-4 Alco Baltic

Hiawatha Trainset, "Hudson-style" locomotive.
Prototype #103 operated from August 1938 to June, 1951. Coal-fired.

Baron Gérard Vuillet, a French railroading expert, once recorded a run between Chicago and Milwaukee where the locomotive reached 125 mph and sustained an average 120 mph for 4.5 miles.

Model built by Mike's Train House (30-1348-1)

The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
(Milwaukee Road)

Great Northern SD45 "Hustle Muscle"

Electro-Motive Diesel. GN 400 was the first turbocharged 20-cylinder engine.

Model built by Mike's Train House (2003)

Great Northern 400, Later Burlington Northern 6430

1934, The Original Streamliner:

The first streamliner, MTH Rail King model Video M10000 with 1940 photo of M10002
taken at Celilo Falls, Oregon

The "M10000 was the classic Union Pacific aluminum streamliner introduced in 1934 as the passenger train of the future by President Averell Harriman. The M10002, a later version, was used in service between Portland and Seattle in 1942. This model was produced by Mike's Train House for the RailKing line. The model comes equipped with Protosounds 2.

North Coast Limited
Northern Pacific F-3 Passenger Diesel
Seattle to Chicago via Stampede Pass
Historic route proposed for future Amtrak service between Seattle-Ellensburg-Yakima-Pasco-Spokane

NP North Coast Limited

The Northern Pacific Northwest routes are part of the Ganders Family History. Larry's great grandfather, JJ Ganders, came to Washington Territory in 1884 on a Northern Pacific (Oregon Railway & Navigation Co.) train at what is now Arlington, Oregon (now the Union Pacific track). He took a ferry across the Columbia to the Washington side and backpacked to the trading post at Bickleton. That Columbia Gorge route with a ferry at Kalama was a NP predecessor to the North Coast Limited route through Stampede Pass that began construction, also in 1884, with a route north of Bickleton from Seattle through what is now Mabton that served Yakima, Pasco, and Spokane before continuing on to Chicago.

Multiple Empire Builders

Double Daylight

Featured Locomotives

The Western Star:
Great Northern FT Diesel

This model train by MTH sports the classic Great Northern colors that marked such passenger trains as the Empire Builder and the Western Star.

The favorite in my collection:
SP&S Challenger 910

Originally ordered by the Union Pacific Railroad, the prototype of this "Challenger" steam engine model (above) was first pressed into service in 1936. It was distinctive in its 4-6-6-4 wheel arrangement (two sets of three drive wheels on each side of the engine) It handled unprecedented loads at 50 percent faster speeds than previous engines. Union Pacific's order to Alco for more locomotives was interrupted by the War Production Board for World War II. The board allowed production of the locomotives but insisted that they be delivered to other roads like the "Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway." I saw the original SP&S No. 910 engine in Wishram, WA along the Columbia River when I was a boy in the late 1950s and a Wishram photo of that same engine is below (Note the six drive wheels and the 910 number.) The "Rail King" model, by Mike's Train House surprisingly of the same exact 910 prototype, is shown above pulling into the village siding on Larry's attic layout. Below the 910 is a July 2006 photo of a Burlington Northern westbound freighter holding at Wishram.

Feeling Blue In The 1970s

Great Northern had a blue paint scheme in the final years before merger into Burlington Northern. Here's a Mike's Train House Rail King model of the Great Northern in blue. The engine at left is modeled after the turbocharged GP-20, a common sight in the Pacific Northwest that was built by General Motor's Electromotive Division (EMD.) The prototype was last built in 1962 but operated through the 1970s.

There's even a blue caboose. The engine at left is Larry's SW1500 switcher, also in blue GN colors.

Old Toy Trains

Lionel Lines 2046 Hudson

This toy engine, previously owned by Karl Boehmke of Pullman, WA, survived flood damage. Made at the Lionel factory in the USA, this 65-year-old toy has been running with the original whistle tender and smoke unit. Lionel modeled its post-war toy train after a real Santa Fe 4-6-4 Hudson engine that was developed in the late 1920s for carrying more passenger cars. There were a number of builders of the Hudson that were initially designed for the New York Central Railroad (named for the river.) The Santa Fe Railroad version was probably built by Baldwin. Until the Hudson, trains were limited to about 12 passenger cars. There are operational Hudsons today, including in Sonoma, CA. The fact that the toy engine has a silver stamped 2046 number on the side is what identifies it as produced by Lionel in 1950. Other versions followed in 1951-3 but none had the silver number. It was an early toy engine that offered Lionel's patented "Magnetraction," That means traction on metal Lionel track was assisted by a magnetic pull from the wheels. The 2046 is shown above in a December, 2011 photo running around Larry's office.

The 2046 still has its original smoke unit
and it also has a whistle tender.

Christmas Train

A Lionel G-Gauge "Ornament Express" and LGB loco serves as the Ganders Christmas train.

For Larry's Pics of Prototype Trains, Click HERE

To return to Ganderstrains.Com home page:
https://ganderstrains.com/

Brassier Trains, Saginaw, 2019

Bob Brasseur, Brasseur Electric Trains
Saginaw, Michigan - 2019 (Now Retired)

Site Updated June 18, 2024