THE OFFICIAL WEBPAGE
OF ROBERT D. WEST
Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club
Easily the most well-known model railroad club in Portland, the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club was formed in October 1947. After initially leasing space in the basement of a store on North Williams Avenue, the club purchased a vacant lot and built a 30' x 80' masonry building at 3405 North Montana Avenue in 1948. In this building the club built a 20' x 50' HO-scale layout with a double-track main line, single-track mountain division.
In 1982, the club sold their property to the Kaiser Foundation and built their current building at 2505 North Vancouver Avenue, moving in on January 1, 1983. The exterior of the building is designed to resemble a railroad depot. The interior features a club meeting room with a kitchen, restrooms, work areas, and a 60' x 70' layout room. The club's HO-scale layout consists of over three actual miles of track in the Mainline, Oregon Trunk branch line, Logging Line and multiple yards and sidings, and is designed to replicate actual locations on both the Oregon and Washington sides of the Columbia River Gorge, including Portland Union Station, Portland's Broadway and Steel Bridges, Multnomah Falls, Crown Point, the Deschutes River Canyon and the railroad town of Wishram, Washington. The visitor aisle passes through the middle of the layout, generally representing the Columbia River. The club's layout has been featured as a cover story in Model Railroader magazine.
June 10, 2007
The Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club is typically open to the public on weekends in the month of November, but during the 2007 Portland Rose Festival, the club was open for a weekend as well. I visited the club's layout during this open house on June 10, 2007.
Here
are photos of the outside of the club's building, which is designed to
resemble a railroad depot. The club also has a railroad semaphore signal
and a "wig-wag" magnetic flagman grade crossing signal.
This video shows some of the trains and details on the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club's layout during this visit.
Union
Pacific's experimental coal turbine #80 sits in the Portland engine
terminal next to an early Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 Challenger and a
Southern Pacific rotary snow plow.
Union
Pacific McKeen motorcar M-24 & trailer alongside Union Pacific 4-6-6-4
Challenger #3976 around the turntable in Portland.
This
is the club's model of Portland's Broadway
Bridge, with Portland Heights in the background. Portland's real
Broadway Bridge was originally painted black, but today is painted red.
The club's model of Portland's Union Station is built to exact scale from measurements and blueprints of the actual building. The streetcars are operational and stop at Union Station.
This
is the Portland
Traction Company's carbarn, which is located near the Steel Bridge.
The
club's model of Portland's unique Steel Bridge, the world's only
double-deck bridge with independent vertical lifts ever built, is
accurate and fully operational, just like the real thing. In this
picture, both decks of the Steel
Bridge are in the raised position.
These
two pictures show the club's model of the Steel Bridge in its normal
position with both decks lowered.
The Starship
Enterprise flies through the skies above East Portland.
The
ferry
Wilma J. at the landing near Bingen, Washington.
This
flatbed truck
near Cooks, Washington appears to have recovered an unidentified flying
object.
This
aerial view shows the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge,
including the towns of Lyle, Bingen and Cooks.
Cliffhangers
Union
Pacific 4-6-6-4 Challenger
#3985 emerges from a tunnel near Cooks.
The
Oregon Trunk Line's steel arch bridge crosses the Crooked River Canyon.
A
look under the bridge and down the Crooked River Canyon reveals a view
of the town of Maupin
on the Oregon Trunk Line.
A
number of freight trains are passing through Avery.
This
Center-Flow Covered
Hopper is lettered for the Mount Hood Model Railroad Club, another
HO-scale model railroad club in Portland, Oregon.
This
Center-Flow Covered
Hopper is lettered for the Pasadena Model Railroad Club's Sierra Pacific
Lines.
A
trio of Union Pacific E6s pull into the depot in Wishram, Washington
while firefighters battle a house fire in the foreground. A Union
Pacific Alco S2 switcher and a Rock Island GP40, U30C and wide-vision
caboose are in the yard in the background.
Firefighters
battle a house fire near the depot in Wishram, Washington. A Union
Pacific Alco S2 switcher and a Rock Island GP40, U30C and wide-vision
caboose are in the yard in the background.
An
Amtrak Superliner passenger train powered by P42DCs #28 and #207 passes
Ben's Diner in Wishram, Washington. The circus parade is also passing
the diner. A freight train with a Spokane, Portland & Seattle
wide-vision caboose is in the yard in the background.
The
Amtrak Superliner passenger train is making a station stop at Wishram,
Washington.
The
tugboat
Long Beach is docked near Wishram, Washington, while the Amtrak
Superliner passenger train passes by. In the background, high on a
ridge, a freight train powered by an A-B set of Western Pacific F-units
is visible in Madras on the Oregon Trunk Line.
A
group of Columbia Gorge Lines ice-bunker refrigerator cars are on a
siding in front of a vineyard near Wishram, Washington.
This
view shows the Vista House on top of Crown
Point on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. To the right is a
bridge that bears a resemblance to the Shepperd's Dell Bridge over Young
Creek on the Historic Columbia River Highway.
Here
is a closer look at the Vista
House on top of Crown Point.
Union
Pacific 4-6-6-4 Challenger
#3985 passes through the town of Wyeth with a freight train.
Here
is a closer look at the operational drive-in
theater in the town of Wyeth, which is currently showing a Shrek movie.
This
group of pictures shows Multnomah
Falls complete with the Simon Benson Footbridge and the Multnomah Falls
Lodge.
This
view shows the Logging
Line and trestle behind Hood River.
This
is the Hood River Lumber Company
Mill in Hood River. Examples of Shay, Heisler and Climax geared steam
locomotives are on display in front of the mill.
The
main office building of the Hood
River Lumber Company in Hood River.
A Union
Pacific McKeen Car on a siding near Hood River.
A
number of logging line railroad bridges of different types cross over Goshawful
Gulch at various elevations.
This
closeup shows the kayakers, bears and deer in Goshawful Gulch.
1997
These pictures were taken during the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club's 50th Anniversary celebration in late 1997.
The
club's scale model of Portland's Union Station with the coach yard
beyond.
Multnomah
Falls and the Multnomah Falls Lodge
Here
is a specially painted E8 pulling a Columbia Gorge passenger train near
Hood River.
Here
is the Southern Pacific's Overnight, being pulled by a black
4-8-4 and a black widow GP9.
Also See:
Longview, Kelso & Rainier: Current Layout
Longview, Kelso & Rainier: Old Layout
Corvallis Society of Model Engineers
2007 LK&R Train Show & Swap Meet
2007 Three Rivers Mall Model Train Show
2007 World's Greatest Hobby on Tour
2006 LK&R Train Show & Swap Meet
2006 Great American Train Show
2005 Great American Train Show
2000 Great American Train Show
1998 Great American Train Show
All website content, including graphics and pictures are © Robert D. West unless otherwise noted. Content is not to be used out of the context of this webpage without expressed permission. Any opinions expressed herein are mine and are not necessarily shared by the Milwaukee School of Engineering, or anyone else.
Questions? Comments? Critiques? Corrections? Concerns? Email me at westr@msoe.edu.