Camas Prairie Railroad

The Camas Prairie Railroad is a small n-scale free-lance prototype of the second subdivision and a bit of the first subdivision of the Camas Prairie Railroad (CPRR). We model the month of May in both 1944 and 1954 in alternating years. 1944 is all steam with 1954 as a mix of steam and early diesel power.
The CPRR prototype was a short line jointly owned by the Northern Pacific and Union Pacific Railways that operated in central Idaho. An additional module models the Craig Mountain Railway (CMR), a standard gauge logging railway owned by the Craig Mountain Lumber Company. The CMR has a live interchange with the CPRR on the layout.
Operations uses a sequential trains schedule with two scheduled freights and three scheduled passenger trains. All other freight trains (about six based on need) run as extras. The layout uses a prototype-looking waybill system, no car cards as such, the waybill just specifies car type to make it easier on the eyes. Switch lists can be used but it is up to the crews whether to make them up or not. Traffic on the layout concentrates on logging, grain, and livestock with other traffic depending upon the era. The prototype was a sleepy short line and so we emphasize a fun, laid-back operating session. We prefer to run two-person crews, based on crew availability.

Layout Owner

Rand Boyd

Location

Huntington Beach, CA

Scale

N

Layout Size

13 ft x 10 ft

Mainline Size

20 ft

Era

Transition Era

Crew Complement

3 - 6

Completion

Track: 100%
Scenery: 100%
Electrical: 100%

Control System

Digitrax - Duplex only

Dispatching Method

Sequential

Car Forwarding

Car Cards/Waybills

Pets

None