The Clearwater Pacific is a modern proto-freelanced HO (1/87) office layout designed with operations in mind. Set in the rugged hills of Western Montana this layout serves it's namesake towns and the local industries located there. The CSLP is imagined as a modern short line with some very eccentric operating practices but it serves the goal of an operational layout the owner enjoys. Welcome aboard the Tamarack Route!
Embedded Files
Layout Premise
Layout Premise
The Clearwater Pacific, corporately known as the Clearwater, Seeley Lake & Pacific, is a Class III short line operating between Edmonds Landing and Seeley Lake, MT in the summer of 2024. Edmonds Landing is railroad east from Clearwater Jct. which appears on the timetables for the Eighth Sub of the Montana division of the former Milwaukee Road. The CSLP interchanges with the BNSF at Clearwater Junction, the former Big Blackfoot still very much a going concern. In the south the Kalispell Southern interchanges with the CSLP, providing service to the customers of the Glacier Rail Park in Kalispell.
The railroad is known for it's older power, heritage liveries, and heritage rail car fleet. The railroad maintains these working pieces of history as a reminder of railroads past and is a excellent way of keeping the living history of rail in America employed and earning revenue.
Traffic volume is light but steady meaning regular trains and plenty of switching action. There is currently a single train a day between Clearwater and Seeley Lake with switching of the Blue Star Rail park in Clearwater and organizing for the interchanges both north and south.
The goal of a railroad in the office has always been operations. To come home after work and enjoy my own little world where the tiny citizens depend on the work we do to keep living their 1/87th size lives. The idea has many parents but Mike and Dan are two of my biggest supporters, having put up with me ramblig on about my dreams and plans for the layout. So it was only fitting that they were the first ever operating session crew. As the layout grows it's been decided the second Sunday of each month will be devoted to operations. I hope to take you a long on the journey.
All Aboard!
James Maxwell, CP Superintendent and CEO
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse