Brian Ferris
Port Townsend Southern

The Port Townsend Southern (PTS) is based on a modern version of a historical railroad that existed in Thurston County at the turn of the century. The real PTS ran from Tenino to Olympia and was purchased shortly after 1900 by the Northern Pacific (NP). The NP used much of the PTS right-of-way to build the current Seattle-Portland double track mainline in 1916 between Tenino and Plumb and abandoned the branch into Olympia.

My version supposes that the PTS remained an independent railroad and leases track rights to the main Class 1 Railroads including the Northern Pacific (NP), Union Pacific (UP), and Great Northern (GN). The PTS portion is a bridge line in the middle of the Portland-Seattle NP line. The PTS runs from Wabash to St. Clair. The main classification yard is Chambers Prairie. There are 2 branch lines: one to Union Mills and one to Maytown. The Milwaukee Road has trackage rights over a portion of the line.

The era for the layout is late 1950's, and includes diesel and steam power.

Basic information:
A. Scale: HO
B. DC or DCC: Digitrax DCC
C. Dispatching/control method: TT&TO
D. Car control: Switchlists
E. Mainline: 120' w/ 4 sidings
F. Room size: 15.5' X 26' and staging in adjacent garage
G. Percent sceniced: 90%
H. Handicap accessibility: Two steps up to room
I. Maximum number of guest operators: 8
J. Minimum number of guest operators: 5