Photos of the new layout based on Wiley City will appear as the project progresses. I haven't completely abandoned the original Selah project, but faced with losing the room it is in and wanting to improve it's inherent design flaws had inspired me to start a side-project.

Some photos from around Wiley City, taken in 2007. The small tinber buildings and the brick Gilbert warehouse will be on the next part of the layout to be modelled, still in HO scale but as a small, stand-alone shelf layout.

Photos from the 100th Anniversary Parade & festivities.

Some photos of the YVT's 297 at the Orange Empire Railway Museum, Perris.

How to build a Steeplecab in HO scale, based on dimensions of a 50 tonne loco. I can recommend Joe Strapac's book "Interurban Electric Locos of General Electric" as a good source of prototype information.

Details can be added to suit the loco you're modelling as there are many variations, and the same principles could also be used to model a 60 tonne loco or an articulated Steeplecab with the couplers mounted on the trucks.

All you need is a Cannonball Car shops kit, a Bachmann new type 44 or 70 tonne chassis, AMB truck sideframes, some plastic, and a little time...

Photos of "the next big project" in 1:48 scale....

Some photos of the layout at the Exhibitions it has attended.

I have commissioned a limited number of the roof-mounted silver resistance boxes, as carried by Porto "Italiano" Streetcars, such as the YVT's 1776 and 1976. They are scaled from actual dimensions of the boxes carried by 1776, and once painted look very convincing, better than the scratchbuilt pair currently on my model of 1976. They may fit other trolleys and are an ideal addition to the Tyco HO scale shell.

Contact me via this site for further details.

These are some of my small collection of diesels, all of the prototypes could be seen in Yakima.

This is the current trackplan, more to be added as the layout expands....!!

Some practise with the new toy, a Minolta DiMAGE A200...

298 is seen testing the new overhead wiring in Selah. 30swg (0.32mm) Nickel Silver wire is used with Rich Eaton brass frogs.

Porto 196 is a similar design to Yakima's 1776 and 1976, so we had to see her when in the area last week.

some video captures will be uploaded here as time allows. The first collection was a meet between YVT trolley 1976 and a BNSF grain train.

In real life the UP yard switcher only ran as far as Pine St, however we can bend the rules slightly to allow 1095 to run up to Selah. True to real life, this NW2 doesn't like the YVT's sharp corners and occasionally derails on the layout's 12" radius curves.

I can forgive it's little faults such as this, a it has superb factory sound and DCC, not bad for a price a little higher than a secondhand Kato NW2 and Lenz gold chip. It replaces an Athearn SW1500, brought in error. After all, if I can only use one diesel, it had to be the best available. If only 297 and 298 made bell noises....

An aerial view of the first 2 sections, pasted together from four photographs.

Starting from the top left of the photo, we see the line along 6th Avenue go from the centre of street to the side, in front of the Yakima Pine Products spur. The line then crosses over access to an orchard before curving towards the Naches River Bridge. The line crosses the river, then curves round through the Selah gap, past the rock crusher, into Selah.

On the right we have a loop, with a line curving towards a Switchback into the Fruit Row area. Most of the track here is buried in the street, with either concrete or tarmac fill. The left side of this area is modelled on Fruit row, the right is based on the line next to 1st. St, Selah, even tho the 2 areas are a few blocks apart. This area (& the layout as a whole) was designed for operational reasons, rather than being a 100% accurate representation of one area of the YVT, hence the use of "Modellers Licence"....!

This HO scale layout is designed to fit into the 11' by 6' area, ideally i'd like enough room to model the entire YVT, well, we can hope....

Some recent photos showing progress with the layout, as the Naches River bridge, Rock crusher and Selah areas get the Woodland Scenics treatment.

298 now has working lights, as shown in this attempt at a night time shot...

HO scale MTS Brass Baldwin-Westinghouse B-1, painted in YVT colours and using custom decals available from yakimavalleytrolleys.org

Photos of both new and old railways and trolley lines around Washington State, from June/July 2004.

On a recent trip to the US I managed to see all of the Brill Master units which ran on the YVT from 1930 to 1947. 21 and 22 returned to the Yakima Carbarn in 1989, while 20 is still trapped in a forest near Seattle, with plans to restore it.

Note the differences between car 20 and the restored car 22...!

Note: Source photos are 700Kb files, these have been shrunk to save space. Please e-mail me if you wish to see or use the larger files.

On a recent return to Yakima I re-united HO scale models I had made of 298 and the YVT's Line Car with their larger cousins, and tried to take some shots of them in realistic locations. If only my camera had a useful depth of field...

(298 and the Line Car are scratchbuilt, 297 is a MTS Brass import, the Master unit is by NWSL and the model of Porto trolley 1976 is a repainted Tyco.

BIG BIG BIG thanks again to Ken and Gregory Johnsen for the Decals for 297 and 298. More information for these available at YakimaValleyTrolleys.org

Photographs from my second visit to Yakima, in June/July 2004. YVT's 1976 was in use, the other Porto Car 1776 was in the Carbarn with a compressor fault.

Photos of industries and buildings once served or used by the YVT, and other railway related attractions around Yakima.

Photographs from June/July 2004.