This layout would be virtual in the layout simulator Rolling Line. I first was spurred to thinking about such an idea after making a Milwaukee Road livery for the stock Vl80 locomotive recently added to the game a while back. In all honesty I’m a novice in terms of Rolling Line and real-life modelling so this is more of a long-term project of mine. Ideally, I’m thinking of making the layout as close to 1-1 as I can get but to learn the ropes I’ll start with dioramas of a few select spots on the route when i get the hang of blender and the game.
The layout would be set in the mid to late 90s covering part of the Pacific Coast Extension mainline from a little east of Ellensburg, WA up to Marengo Junction where it would follow UP and then BNSF tracks into downtown Spokane. Potential spurs I have thought of might be to the Army’s Yakima Training Center in the mountains or to the farms and vineyards of the Columbia Basin.
In this world the Electrification System on the extension was modernized and expanded in the 60s and the Milwaukee survived by a shoestring budget. The same lack of funds that would force the railroad to purchase Former Soviet VL80s for new power would provide an interesting opportunity for the state government. In 1981 the Empire Builder’s Seattle route would be shifted north, cutting off access to Ellensburg and the Greater Yakima Valley. The people of Kittitas County would lobby the state government and eventually state funds would be earmarked for a new transportation project.
The Olympian Hiawatha name would be revived for a new train following a truncated version of the original route. The service would run from Tacoma to Spokane via Seattle, and Ellensburg. Frequency of trains between Seattle and Tacoma would increase with service renewed to Auburn, Renton, Ellensburg, South Cle Elum, and Othello. Milwaukee Road electric locomotives would be rented from the company for motive power, providing another revenue stream to the company. Paying for the rents would be State Funds. State money would also finance electrification on the Seattle and Spokane ends of the route as well as renovations and refurbishment of the old Milwaukee Road Stations. The Inaugural train of Amtrak’s Olympian Hiawatha would carry the company’s own dignitaries along with representatives of the State Government, the Milwaukee, newly Formed Burlington Northern Santa Fe, and Union Pacific.
Seattleites and Easterners alike would benefit, a fact that allowed the Olympian Bill to pass the legislature handily. Amtrak would receive yet more funding and publicity in the state of Washington. The Milwaukee too would gain public notability, in addition to much needed money from the rental agreements. For its enthusiastic cooperation with the state, the road would receive a considerable tax break on a good section of its line, as well as for its rented-out locomotives. Union Pacific and BNSF would benefit from a smaller tax bonus for the electrified connecting line into Spokane.