Recently, a memorial operating session was run in honor of Jim Richards, who sadly, all too soon, passed away this year. Jim published several articles in Model Railroader including hand built movable frog turnouts, scratchbuilt bridges, and buildings. Jim's layout was designed by John Armstrong. It was Jim's wish to have people over, build, enjoy, and run the layout. Visiting and operating this layout has been a highlight in my life. And so, in honor of Jim, I present to you a photo tour of the Athabaska Railroad.The Athabaska Railroad connects Edmonton to Vancouver, represented by staging. It passes through two major towns Grande Riviere and Prince Arthur climbing over the Canadian Rockies along the way. The tour will proceed from Edmonton to Vancouver, east to west.
Edmonton Left Vancouver Right Staging by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Edmonton Staging West Bound by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Border Siding Right Stafford Paper Left by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Stafford Paper Grande Riviere East by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Grande Riviere by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Grande Riviere Station and Athabaska RR Headquarters by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Grande Riviere Engine House by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Grande Riviere West by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Athabaska River Bridge
Biting Mule by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Snowshoe Spiral Tunnels by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Glacier by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Black Bear Bridge by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Chinook by Eric Miller, on Flickr
North Prince Arthur by Eric Miller, on Flickr
N Prince Arthur by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Charlotte River Bridge
Prince Arthur by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Prince Arthur West by Eric Miller, on Flickr
Vancouver Staging Eastbound by Eric Miller, on Flickr
So sad to see this magnificant layout not quite completed, what is to become of this great system in the future?? I noticed the names of the Cities actually do not exist and also the names he spelled ATHABASKA with a "K" instead of a "C"
Wow!!
What a beautiful layout even though it is not finished! The Pacific coast backdrops are very evocative. The mountains are extraordinary! I find them to be very inspiring in that I have mountains in my plan but I was having a hard time imagining the profiles.
Please pass on our condolences to his family.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Yes, its a fictional layout other than Vancouver and Edmonton. Its very well built and operates superbly. Jim painted the backdrops. I think he hand built most of the switches. One of Jim's friends did a lot of work putting the operations plans together and there were a few others that were helping with track and scenery. There's talk of continuing to work on and run the layout, which would be great, and was something Jim wanted.
Thanks for the sentiments I will pass those on.
Eric,
Magificent layout, sorry to hear of this loss in our community. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
What started as a love of Thomas the Tank Engine has grown into this... a passion for all things railroading!
YouTube: FJX2000 Productions
Insta: hayden_trains_n_fjs
Impressive and beautiful even though unfinished. Thanks for showing.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
FJX200: That is correct there was a water leak in the house. Some of the guys that live closer got the rolling stock and models rescued as best as possible. I live a couple hours away and so, its about an all day deal for me to get up there unfortunately. It got real humid in there and the guys did what they could to dry it out. I'm told there was some issues with the contractors and getting things fixed. If I remember correctly, they had to cut into the backdrop at Prince Arthur. I think the layout itself is ok. We are hoping this summer to get it back up and running. Hopefully the electronics are ok.
And for reminiscing, here is a video a friend of mine did. More progress was made on the layout since this video. Near the end, we go over Jim's famous Black Bear Bridge.
https://youtu.be/30efpe04s-4
And then here's my flicker photo album with a few more short videos at the end.
https://flic.kr/s/aHskL5fcLr
The layout is a John Armstrong design with Jim's modifications. Jim had several MRR articles. His bridgework is outstanding. All the bridges you see are scratch built. His turnouts were amazing. Movable frogs. (I guess I said this already)
Eric
-E-C-Mills We are hoping this summer to get it back up and running. Hopefully the electronics are ok.
We are hoping this summer to get it back up and running. Hopefully the electronics are ok.
Hey Eric,
Thanks for the post. Great video and photos. I luckily live just under an hour away and would love to get over there and help this summer if I can to get it up and running. I've been doing a bunch of work to finish our own club layout but Van in my club helped quite a bit in getting Jim's layout operations a lot more organized and I'm sure would be involved.
Lastspikemike: I'm rather embarrassed, it is the Stoney Creek Bridge. I don't know where I got Black Bear from? I will blame my head being full of too many technical details that I work with. My go to excuse LOL. I would not doubt that Jim modelled that lift bridge from the prototype you mention.
FJX2000: I tried to PM you but it does not seem to work. I'm wondering if you are talking about the McElmo Western Railroad club. Are you on Van's Athabaska email list? If you would like to get on our Silver San Juan Division NMRA email list, (for Athabaska stuff and other online and area events) please do. (Unless you already are?) Feel free to contact me through here:
http://www.silversanjuan.org/