Columbia & Sykes Railroad

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Columbia & Sykes Railroad All posts are of my model railroad equipment. Stories are fictional and written to fit my perspective of how the equipment was acquired. and Sykes Road.

The Columbia & Sykes railroad was inagurated in August of 2012. I originally purchased the layout from a Craigslist ad in 2010. I did not have a place to actually safely use it. The house I was living in at the time did not have doors big enough to bring it into the house and I did not have a garage. I had a storage area under the house and that is where it lived since access to it was from a single garage sized door. It was cold, damp and musky. We moved into our current house in June of 2012 however, the layout stayed at our previous house until August of that year (it's a long story). My dad built a secure table to set the layout on and we moved the layout from the old house, to our new house. Since it's tradition for a layout to have a name, I started thinking of what I could call mine. My partner suggested the Columbia & Sykes Railroad, since we live on the corner of Columbia Blvd. And there you have it.

When Chicago Northwestern donated this GP9 to the CSRRM, it was a complete mess. It was covered in rust, soot, dirt and ...
10/19/2026

When Chicago Northwestern donated this GP9 to the CSRRM, it was a complete mess. It was covered in rust, soot, dirt and who knows what else.
Through countless hours of volunteer hours, we were able to fully restore this fine piece of American engineering.

Milwaukee Road Bay Window caboose number 992103 was purchased in late August and almost didn't arrive on the museum's pr...
10/19/2026

Milwaukee Road Bay Window caboose number 992103 was purchased in late August and almost didn't arrive on the museum's property.
After the funds were transferred to make the sale complete, the caboose was inadvertently shipped to a different museum however, no one knew which museum it was shipped to.
The seller's agent returned our funds and all was fine.
A few weeks later, the missing caboose turned up at our museum.
All's well that ends well.

American grain plays an important role in feeding the world.This Pullman Standard covered hopper has seen its share of h...
10/19/2026

American grain plays an important role in feeding the world.
This Pullman Standard covered hopper has seen its share of hauling grain to West Coast shipping terminals for our many railroads that call the Columbia & Sykes Railroad home.

This Pullman Standard covered hopper was purchased from Cargill from an online auction site years ago.The site clearly s...
10/19/2026

This Pullman Standard covered hopper was purchased from Cargill from an online auction site years ago.
The site clearly said do not pay until an invoice is sent.
After five days, we had not seen an Invoice. We reached out to the selling company and asked about the invoice. Crickets.
Another week went by and still no invoice. We again reached out to the sellers and inquired. Still no response.
This continued for a month. Finally, the sellers filed a grievance against our museum saying we failed to pay. We got the auction site involved and were able to prove we had been inquiring about the invoice.
The sellers agent finally sent an invoice and we paid it. It arrived a few days later.

This FMC boxcar was purchased by the McCloud River Railroad many years ago. FMC rushed the job and forgot to apply the M...
10/19/2026

This FMC boxcar was purchased by the McCloud River Railroad many years ago. FMC rushed the job and forgot to apply the Mt. Shasta/Bear logo on one side.
McCloud was not amused however, it accepted the car anyway.
When the railroad ceased operating, it donated this car to our museum. We cleaned it up and kept it in its as delivered scheme.

When BNSF started purchasing Trinity Hoppers, it decided to start phasing out is older fleets of ACF Centerflow hoppers....
10/19/2026

When BNSF started purchasing Trinity Hoppers, it decided to start phasing out is older fleets of ACF Centerflow hoppers.
These two cars were donated to the CSRRM in the early 2000s.
They have yet to serve any revenue time.

In late August, our curator went shopping for a new piece of equipment to add to our museum's collection. The used locom...
10/15/2026

In late August, our curator went shopping for a new piece of equipment to add to our museum's collection. The used locomotive market was filled with various offerings.
He found this nice Canadian Pacific SD40-2 for a bargain. And it was located an hour south of the museum.
We called upon the Willamette & Pacific Railroad to deliver it to Hillsboro in one of its locals.
It was placed into our roundhouse where it underwent a full inspection, which it passed with flying colours.
Our next task, down the road, is to find a mate for it, as well as a caboose or two.

The Columbia & Cowlitz Railroad out of Longview, Washington has finally decided to cease its use of cabooses at the end ...
08/06/2026

The Columbia & Cowlitz Railroad out of Longview, Washington has finally decided to cease its use of cabooses at the end of its trains.
The CEO of the CLC knew our museum was interested in their equipment so, he made a call to our curator and asked if we'd be interested in a donation in the form of the railroad's only caboose.
Of course I said yes!
This caboose is going to pair with our Weyerhaeuser, Baldwin S12, to perform switching moves around the mill.

Seaboard Air Line, through a gaggle of mergers, would eventually become a part of CSX Railroad.Before those mergers took...
07/15/2026

Seaboard Air Line, through a gaggle of mergers, would eventually become a part of CSX Railroad.
Before those mergers took place, SAL donated these three, 40' steel boxcars to a museum somewhere back east.
Through a series of negotiations, the CSRRM made a deal with a broker to acquire these three boxcars.
They had been kept in pristine, usable condition. Arrangements were made to have them transferred to Scappoose, Oregon where our museum resided at the time of delivery.
When our museum moved from Scappoose to Hillsboro, Oregon, these cars were placed into storage for safe keeping.

The Toy Train Operating Society held its annual convention in Pasadena, California in 1968.This commemorative caboose wa...
07/15/2026

The Toy Train Operating Society held its annual convention in Pasadena, California in 1968.
This commemorative caboose was painted for the event by Athearn.
When the convention was over, the caboose was placed into storage and forgotten about.
A Southern Pacific crew member was rifling through the storage barn and came across this piece.
The Toy Train Operating Society told SP to sell it and split the proceeds 50/50.
When our museum acquisition dept. saw this, they pounced on it.
It is on display at our museum in Hillsboro, Oregon.

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NE Moda Way
Hillsboro, OR
97124

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