Columbia & Sykes Railroad

Columbia & Sykes Railroad The Columbia & Sykes Railroad is my freelanced HO scale model railroad. It's 4x8 in size and has two levels with rocks, mountains, and tunnels. 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 sing

le 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.

The Columbia & Sykes Railroad acquired this Pullman Standard covered hopper around 2011 at a used equipment gathering. I...
01/23/2026

The Columbia & Sykes Railroad acquired this Pullman Standard covered hopper around 2011 at a used equipment gathering. It was painted in Burlington Northern's Cascade Green color at the time of purchase.
The volunteers at our museum thought it would be fun to honor the BN by repainting the car into Great Northern Big Sky Blue as a way to honor the heritage of the car.
Our legal department reached out to BN and acquired a license to do just that.
Isn't it pretty?

Union Pacific was set to take delivery of both of these Pullman Standard covered hoppers when it realized Pullman made a...
01/23/2026

Union Pacific was set to take delivery of both of these Pullman Standard covered hoppers when it realized Pullman made a mistake when applying the stenciling. It left off the "C" in the word "Pacific".
UP declined to take possession of the cars and sent them back to Pullman, who refused to correct the issue.
Pullman started to dismantle one of the cars, but realized it could probably recoup some of the money it lost, by putting these up for auction.
Our curator saw them (two different listings in two different years) and decided to enter the winning bids.
Our in-house shop never got around to reassembling the bottom car. It has not yet been decided if we ever will.

This pair of Chessie System GP35s had been acquired by a friend in Brush Prairie, Washington, directly from Chessie back...
01/23/2026

This pair of Chessie System GP35s had been acquired by a friend in Brush Prairie, Washington, directly from Chessie back in the mid 1990s.
Around 2006, our curator was visiting this friend, when he decided to donate the pair to the CSRRM as he felt our railroad would get better use out of them than he would.
One of these units has a prime mover and the other lacks a prime mover, so it was made into a slug, with the powered unit being a 'mother unit", providing power to the slug's traction motors.
Our museum has had this pair out polishing the rails a few times in the past however, they have been awaiting a new assignment for quite some time. Soon.

Southern Pacific SD40T-2 No 8526 was donated to the CSRRM after a catastrophic engine failure, when the turbo exploded, ...
01/23/2026

Southern Pacific SD40T-2 No 8526 was donated to the CSRRM after a catastrophic engine failure, when the turbo exploded, while assisting a train over Donner Pass, in California.
The locomotive was still wearing its Kodachrome paint scheme from the failed merger with Santa Fe, which our museum decided should remain on this unit.
After our museum took possession of the dead unit, it was put into our in-house shop, where it underwent a complete overhaul.
This old Tunnel Motor runs beautifully now.

This pair of former Burlington Northern GP50 Phase II locomotives used to work transfer jobs between Pacso, Washington a...
01/23/2026

This pair of former Burlington Northern GP50 Phase II locomotives used to work transfer jobs between Pacso, Washington and Spokane, Washington.
These units lasted well into the BNSF era however, BNSF decided to retire the pair and put them up for auction around 1999.
The Columbia & Sykes Railroad entered the successful bid and took ownership of the pair.
Our Legal Department worked with BNSF to obtain a license to repaint the duo back into their former colors of Cascade Green and Black.
Our railroad put them to work, moving cargo over Stevens Pass, where they can still be found to this day.

This former Santa Fe GP9 had been donated to a railroad museum somewhere in Kansas, many years ago. That museum let this...
01/23/2026

This former Santa Fe GP9 had been donated to a railroad museum somewhere in Kansas, many years ago. That museum let this unit sit for so long that it was covered in rust. The museum lacked the funds to restore it to its former glory.
The museum took the unit to a used equipment gathering in Longview, Washington several years ago, where our VP of acquisitions found and rescued it.
Upon arriving at the CSRRM, it was put into our roundhouse and underwent a lengthy restoration.

Burlington Northern was kind enough to donate this FMC Covered Hopper to the CSRRM shortly after the merger with Santa F...
01/23/2026

Burlington Northern was kind enough to donate this FMC Covered Hopper to the CSRRM shortly after the merger with Santa Fe.
BN noted, transportation of America's grain from the Midwest the the Western ports of Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle play a vital part in feeding the world. BN executives knew the Columbia & Sykes Railroad needed additional grain hoppers to help move that grain.
This car has played a vital part in keeping our railroad alive and will continue to do so for many years.

This Burlington Northern centerbeam flat car has recently been loaded with raw, fresh cut lumber from a mill in Burney, ...
01/23/2026

This Burlington Northern centerbeam flat car has recently been loaded with raw, fresh cut lumber from a mill in Burney, California.
it will be picked up by the McCloud Railway and transferred to the Union Pacific interchange in Mt. Shasta City, California, where it will then be interchanged with the Central Oregon & Pacific in Black Butte, California.
After a trip over the Siskiyou line, this centerbeam will make its way to Roseburg, Oregon, where it will be unloaded at Roseburg Forest Products for finishing.

Chicago & Northwestern GP35 No 827 has come to work on the CSRR, thanks to a generous donation from Union Pacific.When U...
01/23/2026

Chicago & Northwestern GP35 No 827 has come to work on the CSRR, thanks to a generous donation from Union Pacific.
When UP acquired CNW, it did a lot of housekeeping, ridding itself of older, unwanted motive power.
This old Geep will perform branch line service for our railroad, servicing our grain elevators, lumber yards, and oil distribution facilities.

The Galveston Wharves Railroad was a short line railroad based in Galveston, Texas, serving the Port of Galveston.These ...
01/22/2026

The Galveston Wharves Railroad was a short line railroad based in Galveston, Texas, serving the Port of Galveston.
These boxcars represent the railroad as it was before Genesee & Wyoming purchased the railroad in 1987.
Before the G&W buyout, Galveston Wharves donated these three boxcars to our museum for preservation.

During the 1970s through the mid 1990s, these old Southern Pacific and Cotton Belt 50' Double Door boxcars could be foun...
01/22/2026

During the 1970s through the mid 1990s, these old Southern Pacific and Cotton Belt 50' Double Door boxcars could be found all over the SP system throughout Oregon.
These cars mostly carried Oregon lumber to awaiting markets in the south.
Following the acquisition of SP into the Union Pacific empire, these cars were found lying dormant on SP's Siskiyou line, awaiting disposition.
The Vice President of Acquisitions for our museum reached out to Union Pacific to inquire about a possible donation of the old equipment.
Union Pacific offered to donate half of the cars and sell the other half. The CSRR had to arrange for transportation of the cars.
We reached out to the crews of our subsidiary, Willamette & Pacific, who then arranged to obtain permission to use UP trackage so the cars could be collected.
Upon arriving in Portland, all of the boxcars were sent to Gunderson, Inc. to be serviced.

This old fossil was found in a private owners front yard back in 2005.This caboose was built sometime in the late 1950s ...
01/22/2026

This old fossil was found in a private owners front yard back in 2005.
This caboose was built sometime in the late 1950s to early 1960s.
The previous owner took meticulous care of it. Upon his passing, his heirs decided it was an eyesore and wanted to be rid of it.
Our curator saw an ad online about this caboose and reached out to the heirs. A price was negotiated and our museum arranged transport to the museum.
Our in-house shop needed to perform light maintenance on the way car however, it's in terrific shape.

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NE Sawyer Street
Scappoose, OR
97056

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