In a recent "Weekend Photo Fun", Andre suggested that I put up a thread on my HO railroad, the Spokane Southern. Well, that sounds like fun, so here we go.
System Schematic
Below is a system schematic of the railroad, its connections with the outside world, and the portion that I actually model. Some of the layout specifics are also listed. I handed out this info sheet during the April NMRA Dupage Division tour.
Spokane Southern History
In 1904, a famous trust busting case called the "Northern Securities Co. v. United States (1904) was heard by the Supreme Court, which voted 5 to 4 to dissolve the Northern Securities Co. You can read the specifics about this court case here at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...Co._v._United_States
However, the "Trust Buster", Theodore Roosevelt, did not think that this went far enough. There was concern within the Roosevelt administration about two items. The empire of James J. Hill and the financial house of J.P Morgan had become way too powerful, and even though the Northern Securities Co. was dissolved, it was felt that this did not go far enough to reign them in. There was also a large amount of concern that if railroad building west of Chicago was left unchecked, severe overbuilding, and weakened financial performance of the western railroads would result, which was becoming the case east of Chicago.
Therefore, various governmental agencies, notably the Department of Justice, the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Securities and Exchange (which was formed after the financial panic of 1907) started in 1908 to "strongarm" western railroads to form alliances that offered single line service from Chicago westward.
Out of this movement resulted in the following alliances:
- Great Northern utilized Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy to reach Chicago.
- Northern Pacific utilized the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific to reach Chicago.
- Both roads had to channel 10% of their Minneapolis / St. Paul traffic minimum to the Chicago and North Western. The Milwaukee Road and the C&NW were "encouraged" to rationalize their trackage in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and in any other area it made sense to make both companies stronger.
The Milwaukee Road, as the CMStP&P became known, had its eyes of future expansion westward to the pacific coast. However, the Roosevelt administration, with the support of Congress, wanted to forstall the development of a third railroad in the Pacific Northwest. So, as part of the alliance forged between the Northern Pacific and the Milwaukee Road, the Milwaukee road built their line only as far west as Terry, MT. This allowed for interchange of Milwaukee traffic in the Twin Cities, as well as in Terry. The Milwaukee Road got a share of the long haul traffic that they interchanged in Terry in return for conveying the property acquired in the Pacific Northwest to the Northern Pacific.
This arrangement peaked the interest of James Hill, who was not happy about this arrangement, and felt that the resulting line across Montana, Idaho, and Washington to Puget Sound would enrich the fortunes of his chief competitor. There were, however, synergies that could be mutually beneficial for both the Great Northern, and Northern Pacific, and out of this cooperation, the Spokane Southern was born.
The Milwaukee Road right of way, which was acquired but not built out, was transferred to a jointly held company, the Spokane Southern Railroad Co.
The Spokane Southern ended up running the bulk of the Northern Pacific traffic that went through to the Puget Sound area, allowing for a shorter route that bypassed Spokane for freight moves, and kept the railroad from having to "go southwest, and turn right" to get to Puget Sound. Northern Pacific road power is utilized on all these trains, in addition to Northern Pacific waycars.
The Great Northern received the Northern Pacific route through Sandpoint ID, and a preferred routing into Spokane from the east. The Great Northern received exclusive rights to freight traffic south from Craig CO to South Spokane, WA. From there, any traffic heading westward was bid on for the haulage to the west, with some of the traffic going across the GN, and some going across the Spokane Southern to tie in to the NP at Cle Elum.
In addition, in order for the Union Pacific to get something out of all this, since Harriman didn't want to be left out, the line north from the UPRR main in Wyoming to Twin Falls ID, and Butte, MT was also conveyed to the Spokane Southern, as was the UPRR's share of the Spokane International in return for an equity stake in the Spokane Southern.
In order for the Rio Grande to get something out of all of this, as they were the outlier that could perish in this consolidation, a line was built south by the Spokane Southern to Craig, CO, where it tied into the D&RGW.
Provided I have not bored the participants to tears with my revisionist history, my next installment will start delving into the relationship of the Spokane Southern and the Alberta Pacific, who interchange a lot of traffic at Osoyoos BC, Canada and Oroville WA, USA due to the Western Canada Trade and Development Act of 1932.
In addition, I'll give more details on the motive power and equipment that runs across the Spokane Southern.
All this just to justify running Great Northern and Northern Pacific motive power and cabooses on the same railroad, without having to repaint them. 
Regards,
Jerry
