My First CSP Layout - How I Came to Model the Camas Prairie Railroad

My first CSP layout was featured in the January 2015 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman, and what I’m going to present here is shortened version of that article.  That issue is sold out at White River Productions, so if you have questions about this now-dismantled layout, let me know in the comment section.

The Camas Prairie Railroad and model railroad layouts based on it have been featured in numerous articles in the model railroad and railfan press.  Even though much has been written about the line, and even though I grew up in Grangeville, Idaho, the terminus of the road’s Second Subdivision, I did not originally set out to model it.  Instead, I was focused on modeling a generic or freelanced Burlington Northern secondary mainline with a connecting Union Pacific branch line set in the PNW during late 1980s or early 1990s.  This would allow me to “cherry pick” the operations and traffic that I found interesting.  When my family and I moved into a new house in 1998, I finally had enough space for a small- to medium-sized HO-scale layout, and I began planning.  Having studied layout design for years, I came up with a reasonable track plan that included a mainline loop, a short branch line, and some staging.

As I started construction, I began to have some misgivings about the layout.  Influenced by articles about prototype modeling and my own experiences trackside, I found that I was becoming less comfortable with my freelanced BN/UP concept.  I also realized that building or buying enough rolling stock for unit trains and stack trains that would only pass through the layout as bridge traffic was not how I wanted to spend my time and money.  I began to cast about for a secondary line with the appropriate traffic to serve as a prototype.  I realized that most of what I wanted could be found on the Camas Prairie Railroad.  It had the right combination of agricultural and timber industries, operated with an intriguing mix of rolling stock, and had both the BN and UP presences that I desired.  

Traffic on the CSP had declined in the 1980s, so I decided that a setting in the mid-1970s would best meet my needs.  This era would also provide an interesting mix of new and old freight cars.  I found that I needed more information about the CSP in the 1970s, so I set up an internet discussion group dedicated to the CSP in hopes of reaching out to some CSP authors and modelers.  I was quite surprised by the worldwide response to the group, and I made numerous, valuable contacts and friendships with other modelers, railfans, and professional railroaders.  The knowledge that the members of the group shared was the key in developing both the track plan and the operational plan for the layout. 

The Camas Prairie Railroad was a 260-mile system with several branches, and obviously I could not duplicate the entire railroad in my available 15 x 17 ft. basement room.   I decided that I wanted to focus on a single branch and a base of operations.  The prototype CSP had two operational centers, East Lewiston and Orofino, and four subdivisions.  I chose to model part of the Second Subdivision, the line that ascends the famous Lapwai Canyon and serves the Camas Prairie itself, not because of the fabulous scenery and fantastic wooden trestles, but because of the mix of agricultural and timber industry shippers found there.  

The actual Second Sub served eight towns, but I found that I had space to represent only two.  I chose the two largest towns, Craigmont and Grangeville, Idaho.  These towns had rail-served grain elevators, fertilizer dealers, and sawmills, resulting in an appealing mix of traffic.  In addition, the CSP connected with the Nezperce Railroad at Craigmont, which was still handling grain in 40-ft boxcars during the mid-1970s.  By having these two towns and the Nezperce interchange, I could represent the line’s traffic mix and use realistic freight car blocking in the branch trains.  The choice to model the Second Sub dictated that East Lewiston be my base of operations since the Second Sub trains originated there.  East Lewiston and nearby Lewiston also offered interesting industries, including the Potlatch Forests Inc. (PFI) sawmill and paper mill complex and a complete locomotive terminal.

The best way to capture the essence of the CSP operations in my limited space appeared to be duplicating, as closely as possible, actual track arrangements to produce a “layout design element” for each of several scenes or vignettes.  I was able to include four relatively complete scenes in the layout, but I did not have room for open running between them.  Personal visits confirmed track layouts, and members of the internet group provided track diagrams for places that I couldn’t view up close, like the yard throat at East Lewiston and the Potlatch mill complex. 

I built open grid, sectional benchwork that closely resembles David Barrow’s “domino” system.  I made each unit either 30 x 48 inches or 20 by 48 inches, but I deviated from David’s method by putting legs only on every other domino.  I simply bolted the intermediate sections without legs to those with legs.  I also did not always match the joints in the sub roadbed with the edges of the dominos.   I  made the dominos with 3-inch wide framing pieces cut from ¾-inch ACX plywood and used ½-inch or ¾-inch plywood for the sub roadbed, depending on the distance spanned or what I had on hand at the time.  I used a mixture of Atlas code 83 and Micro Engineering code 55, 70, and 83 flextrack and turnouts.

By making some compromises and focusing on key aspects of the CSP, I was able to develop a workable track plan.  Once the benchwork was completed and the track in place, I began having operating sessions with a few friends.  We found that traffic mix and the prototype track arrangements made the layout realistic and fun to operate.   After operating the layout for a couple of years with some placeholder structures, my wife and I had the opportunity to build-on to our house to create a larger layout space, so in spite of the layout being very successful, I reluctantly decided to dismantle it prior to building any scenery.

A Capsule History of the Camas Prairie Railroad

Even though much has been written about the Camas Prairie Railroad, not everyone who reads this blog will be familiar with it.  The Camas Prairie Railroad (CSP) was a jointly owned operating company established in 1909 by the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) and Northern Pacific Railway (NP) to provide both parent companies with access to central Idaho without duplicate trackage.  The CSP owned no right of way or trackage, and it had no rolling stock of its own other that some maintenance-of-way equipment.

Lewiston, Idaho, was the last major city in the in the Inland Pacific Northwest to be linked to the national rail network when a Northern Pacific line from Spokane, Washington, finally arrived there in 1898 after having been delayed for five years by the Panic of 1893 and the NP bankruptcy.   By 1900, the NP had used its affiliated Clearwater Short Line (CSL) to build a branch 63 miles up the Clearwater River to Stites, Idaho to stake a claim to the region with an eye towards a secondary mainline over Lolo Pass to Missoula, Montana.  The CSL also built a 12-mile branch along Lapwai Creek toward the Nez Perce Prairie and the Camas Prairie (now typically known collectively as the Camas Prairie) that ended at a narrow point in the canyon aptly named Culdesac, Idaho.  During this time, the Union Pacific Railroad and other companies also eyed the Clearwater River corridor as a way to tap the resources of central Idaho and as route through the Bitterroot Mountains.  This included the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul that was planning its Pacific Extension at the time.  These various interests in the region lead to a series of competing surveys and some skirmishes between survey crews that came to be known as the Clearwater Railroad War.  

As the new century opened, local business interests in Lewiston clamored for an additional railroad line to tap the resources of the prairies and forests to the southeast and for a rail outlet to the west along the Snake River.  Such lines would have to traverse rugged topography, and neither the NP nor the UP was eager bear the full cost of building such lines only to split the traffic if a duplicate line was built by the other company.  However, both felt that they would need to take action to block the entrance of a third railroad in the region.  

By 1905, an agreement had been reached between the top managements of the UP and NP that any line up the Snake River from the west to Lewiston and any line to the Camas Prairie would be a joint operation.   In 1908, a UP-owned company completed a 72-mile line up the Snake River from Riparia, Washington to Lewiston, and NP’s CSL finished the line from Culdesac to Grangeville, Idaho, another 55 miles.  In 1909, these lines were leased to the Camas Prairie Railroad for 999 years.  Each parent railroad supplied half of the rolling stock needed and covered half of the annual operating expenses of the new company.   The NP also built a connecting line between the newly completed Spokane Portland & Seattle line at Snake River Junction, Washington, to the joint line at Riparia to gain a downriver outlet for its Camas Prairie traffic.

In the mid-1920s, Weyerhaeuser timber interests needed a railroad to tap their timber holdings east of Orofino, Idaho, on the CSL.  The NP and UP agreed to extend the joint line concept, and a new railroad was completed to Headquarters, Idaho in 1927.  On January 1, 1928, the new line and the CSL east of Lewiston along the Clearwater River were added to the Camas Prairie lease as the CSP Fourth and First Subdivisions, respectively.  At this time, the Grangeville line became the Second Subdivision, and the downriver line west of Lewiston became the Third Subdivision.  This established an operating pattern on the CSP that lasted for nearly 60 years.  

Along with the new line into the timber holdings, a new, large sawmill was built just east of Lewiston to process the timber harvested. Originally called Clearwater Timber, the company was consolidated with other Weyerhaeuser operations in the region in 1931 to form Potlatch Forests, Incorporated, commonly known as PFI.  In the early 1950s, the Lewiston mill was supplemented by the addition of a plywood mill and a pulp and paper mill.

A major change to CSP operations came in 1981 when NP’s successor, Burlington Northern, stopped through service on their Palouse and Lewiston (P&L) Branch from Spokane in favor of routing all the CSP traffic downriver with the southernmost portion of the P&L between Moscow, Idaho, and the CSP abandoned in 1986.  With traffic dwindling and the Union Pacific in need of cash, the Camas Prairie lines were sold in 1998 to North American RailNet, which operated the lines as Camas Prairie RailNet.  RailNet abandoned the Second Subdivision in 2000 and then sold the rest of the operation to a Watco-affiliated short line, Great Northwest Railroad (GNR), in 2004.  GNR abandoned the Fourth Sub later that year and turned over the operation of the remaining lines east of Lewiston to BG&CM Railroad in 2005.  GNR continues to serve Lewiston and points west.  Most of the Second Sub trackage has been removed, and the remaining Second Sub track along with the First Sub east of Arrow, Idaho, is used for freight car storage at the current time.

If you’re interested in the history of the Camas Prairie Railroad, I highly recommend Garry and Roz Miller’s 320-page book, The Camas Prairie, Idaho’s Panhandle Railroad, published by the Union Pacific Historical Society.  It’s currently available on the UPHS website.