The wires were green because they were bare wires (the copper has corroded). Bare wires commonly were used along railroad rights of way, which meant there were a lot of green wires out there!
Chip;
For a different take on 0-6-0T’s, check out bachmann’s spectrum 0-6-0T. Very smooth runner. Little hard to fit a decoder in but doable.
The NWP was set up for telegraphic train order dispatching and it’s route through the Eel River Canyon was mostly inaccessable by any other means so the telegraph poles ran along the right of way. The Canyon walls consisted of loose soil on top of blue clay which was slippery as the devil in winter rain storms so heavy engines couldn’t go there as the roadbed was too soft. All the original NWP ten wheelers were off the roster by the end of World War II except for a couple to cover the overnight passenger runs. Leased SP consolidations and mikes took over until dieselization in 1953-54 so you could use SP engines for variety. Bachman’s 2-8-0 with an oil bunker tender would be right at home in the Canyon, circa 1950. Good luck modeling this road! It’s going to be a challenge!
I already have the MDC’s so I’ll see how they work. I’ve been eyeing the Bachman’s though–heard about the decoder dificulty. I have no clue how the MDC’s will be.
Jim,
I’ll be modeling it in 1917, so it predates the 2-8-0. The NWP bought a bunch of the 4-6-0’s and 4-4-0’s early on and those are off the shelf doable.