I recently came upon documents in the Lewis County museum, in Chehalis, WA, of a survey conducted by Charles A. White, Assistant Engineer for the Northern Pacific Ry, in 1878, of a route from Yakima, Washington across White Pass, (named by him) and down the Cowlitz river. This surveyed route was not completed by the Northern Pacific, in favor of what is now Stampede pass, but was planned to be completed by the Cowlitz, Chehalis & Cascade prior to its abandonment in 1954. My HO gauge Pacific Cascade Ry now follows that Charles A. White surveyed route. I have documented what I have found about the 1878 survey on my web site at: http://home.comcast.net/~pacific.cascade.ry/PCRy.htm . If anyone can supply me with further Northern Pacific documents of the 1878 surveys, I would be very grateful.
Brigg, you just described the route of my O scale standard gauge line under construction.in Tacoma… I used the 1928 map of railroads issued by the State of Washington which traces the route very clearly. . If you ever go up to White Pass and look into the canyon, you’ll see why they didn’t build this route (besides missing the population centers of Puget Sound). That canyon is an impossible dead end without a long tunnel. Switchbacks wouldn’t have helped acording to my untrained eye. Good luck with your layout. Jim here.
Jim,
Thanks for the lead to the Washington1928 railroad map. I was able to locate and print the map in .djvu format from the Secretary of State’s web pages at:
http://www.sos.wa.gov/history/maps_view.aspx?m=21&i=SL_railroadmapWA_1928.djvu .
I’m now going to try to get a full sized paper copy. If you know of a source I would be very grateful for the information.
I have posted the full 1928 Washington railroad map and specifically the proposed and surveyed route of the CC&C which I suggest became my Pacific Cascade Ry. You can see both at:
http://home.comcast.net/~pacific.cascade.ry/CCandC.htm
Jim, I would love to come and see your layout and compare notes on the CC&C right-of-way.
I will be in Tacoma on July 17th to see the old NP train station and then follow the Stampede Pass route from Auburn to Yakima and back across the White Pass CC&C route to Chehalis.