Searching the internet, I found that there was a proposal to build a railroad park in the area.
"The proposed rail site could end up being a “shovel-ready” solution, either for the existing businesses or new ones. The property would connect to an adjacent spur track running from the mainline in Columbia Falls that is part of a bigger network from Seattle, Wash., to Minneapolis, Minn., and Chicago, Ill".
In addition, looking at train forums, there were other industries in town requiring rail car service. I found this amazing forum posting about rail industries in Kalispel. The scene was set.
Now, how do I incorporate this into the layout. I really need to get a layout drawing. However, the Whitefish town is situated on the peninsular. Heading out to the left, the line swings left and eventually ends up at Columbia Falls directly opposite Whitefish. I initially thought about using one of the dual mainlines as the Branch line drop off. This would however prevent the operation of the passing siding.
Then a light-bulb moment. Just past the siding the line splits with a single mainline heading up the helix to West Glacier. However, the siding line then proceeds under the helix in a return loop. There is sufficient line to park about 6 to 7 rail-cars on the one side of the return loop to simulate a branch-line drop off area. So, what better way to show this than a pictorial: -
We start off below with the Kalispel local waiting in the yard for permission to leave: -
Here our local has been given clearance to leave and is heading East to Columbia Falls on the main line: -
Here the local is entering the siding at Columbia Falls: -
Our local stops here and uncouples the wagons so they can collect the wagons on the interchange track. From there, they then do a run-around in order to push this load onto the same piece of trackage: -
Our train is now picking up the two wagons that were at the exchange and pulls forward in order to now do the run-around: -
After pulling forward, then reversing and pulling forward again onto the mainline, the local is passing the wagons to be set out on the mainline: -
Here the local is passing the wagons that are waiting on the siding: -
The local is now returning to Whitefish after pushing the loads onto the interchange track for the Kalispell branch-line: -
Lastly the Kalispell wagons waiting for the branchline railroad to come pick up the load: -
And, that is how the Kalispell branchline operates on my layout. In a future article, I will go into detail on the Eureka local which runs West out of Whitefish. Stay tuned.
