Waterville & Washington Railroad

I jumped around to another project. I have started the Waterville train order signal. I really need to figure out how to properly tin my soldering iron. I'm not satisfied with my soldering on this project. The prototype signal was originally in Blue Rapids, but when the railroad closed that depot in 1977, they moved the signal to Waterville. I'm happy I have extra tubing as I'll probably try building the signal again.

I've been asked about my track plan and I'm following the prototype as closely as possible. I'm modeling the towns of Blue Rapids, Waterville, Barnes, and Greenleaf, Kansas. I'm starting with Waterville as I'm hoping to have it complete so the I am able to show it to Milford Godsey who was the Waterville station agent and it is my hometown. These are from the 1977 Mopac spotting code book.

Roof frame Test fit on depot Roof complete - ready for shingles and chimney

Updated progress view looking down the tracks to the west. The depot is to the immediate right with the Blue Valley Elevator adjacent to the covered hopper. The tape measure on the left will be the large COOP fertilizer Quonset hut. Prototype view of the Waterville depot circa 1950s. I model 1979 so my depot will be painted white and have the old Blue Rapids train order signal in front of the depot. View of my depot progress. I haven't done a lot to it in a year. The tool shed will be replaced with one from Lake Junction Models. The bottles on the right side will be the location of the town fuel dealership. Prototype view and model view of the Blue Valley Elevator. View looking down the rails to the west and my modeling of the same scene. Where the glue bottle is located will be the location of the large cement grain elevator.

I'm using a waffle style design for my module construction. My modules are Free-mo compatible so I can take them to shows and use them with others. Compare my progress with the aerial picture of Waterville. This picture was taken a couple weeks ago.

Waterville, Ks, circa 1977-80. This gives a great view of what I'm modeling on my layout. COOP complex

I'm a Missouri Pacific fan and a history buff. The Mopac ran through my home town of Waterville, Kansas. The line was originally built as one of the Transcontinental lines named the Atchison and Pike's Peak Railroad, but later changed its' name to the Central Branch of the Union Pacific. After the realization that the line would not be transcontinental, the hope of the line was to meet up with the proposed line from the Kansas Pacific to the Union Pacific transcontinental line in Nebraska. That line was not built. Jay Gould controlled the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific and purchased the Central Branch and then quickly leased the line to the Missouri Pacific, another Jay Gould line. The Missouri Pacific formally merged the line in to the Missouri Pacific system in 1909. The line was part of the Mopac until the merger with the Union Pacific in 1982. Various line abandonments followed and then the line was leased to the KYLE Railroad. The KYLE operated the line unti...