The Willamette Model Railroad Club operates the CC&W, a fictional Pacific Northwest regional freight railroad set in 1979. It envisions George Gould gaining control of and extending the Oregon Pacific line over the Santiam Pass to Bend, then south through central Oregon and down to a WP connection at Herlong CA. Gould intended the line to provide competition to the Southern Pacific for servicing the many forest and agricultural industries of Oregon and Northern California, and to provide much needed feeder traffic to his Western Pacific. The CC&W mirrors the frugal nature of its WP parent, and follows many of their practices.
The 400ft HO-scale heavy mainline covers the Albany to Idanha western portion of the CC&W, and has a junction switch onto the 300ft Woodburn rural branch-line. Op sessions consist of a well-developed line-up of local and through trains controlled by a dispatcher who currently uses Track Warrants with ABS signaling to move traffic. There are two mainline and one branch-line yards with their own crews. The club plans to have a CTC option early in 2025 on half the mainline, with control over both dual-control and electric-locked switches. Clock is real-time. The ends of the layout are routed through a large Mole workspace for staging and makeup/breakdown of trains, and is a critical part of operations.
Car cards and waybills govern individual car movements while NCE DCC radio control is used throughout. The Dispatcher occupies an office in an adjacent building, using both phones and radio to engine, train and yard crews. All track is operational, with construction activities now focused on scenery, structures, and signals.
Unfortunately the club is not wheelchair accessible.
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