The Bear Creek and South Jackson railroad

Version 3

November 2003 - Yep. I did it. I moved. Version II of the BC&SJ met the dumpster in late 2002 (but I managed to save the Mill City area). I've a nice new basement to build trains in, and the Bear Creek and South Jackson is rising again (and is presented in Model Railroad Planning 2004).

I started planning the new layout in December 2002 and started construction in December 2003. The new space is about 1100 square feet (and now that I'm building it alternates between looking huge and simply intimidating).

The trackplan is here.

Some BCSJ III op session pictures are here.

9/8/22 - Progree along Crabtree creek between Junction City and Browning

7/16/22 - Zip texturing west Junction City and Browning

6/3/22 - Abner Hill - up to June 3, 2022

4/7/22 - State of the BC&SJ April 22, 2022

10/30/21 - Updated Junction City Scenery.

3/22/21 - Test siting buildings and track in Abner.

2/5/20 - South Jackson yard ballasting.

1/10/20 - Finished scenery starts to appear in Junction City.

1/6/20 - Roads and paving start to appear in South Jackson.

1/4/20 - More backdrop painting at the East end of Junction City.

12/30/19 - New backdrop painting started at the East end of Junction City.

12/21/19 - The Lower Bear Creek scene is nearing completion. Citizens celebrate!

09/15/19 - New scenery push - Hillmovers construction finally gets moving again in the lower Bear Creek and Moomaw Dairy farm area.

06/14/14 - Lower Bear Creek construction progress - a history of construction in this area of the layout from basic benchwork to bridges and tunnels and roughed in scenery.

05/20/17 - With a little help from my friends - structures train friends have made for the BC&SJ.

06/14/14 - The peninsula backdrop - a walk down the aisle.

11/23/12 - Bear Creek construction debris panorama - the current state of the layout

11/16/12 - The Bear Creek in black and white - more BC&SJ photo archives!

11/9/12 - Baynes Valley scenery updates from the BC&SJ photo archives!

11/5/12 - Oakhill Jun-Oct 2010 from the BC&SJ photo archives!

6/10/10 - Historic Photos of Oakhill!

10/4/2 - Shooting Hot Trains, Vol.1 - Alco Mania!

9/5/09 - Black Widow E units on the Bear Creek!

7/3/09 - Updated scenery (and Alcos) in Oakhill!

4/22/09 - Bear Creek updates - with some night time photography!

4/6/09 - Mill Bend scenery gets a boost!

3/28/09 - More new scenery work!

3/8/09 - More Deschutes Jct. area scenery work!

2/13/09 - Scenery starts in earnest in Baynes Valley and Canyon Creek!

1/25/09 - Scenery starts in earnest in Baynes Valley and Canyon Creek!

11/10/08 - BC&SJ VIDEO is the Movie Monday feature on the Model-Railroad-Hobbyist.com website!
Featuring the new yellow jacket paint scheme on BC&SJ RS-2s!

8/9/08 - BC&SJ gets a new diesel paint scheme!

7/26/08 - Panoramic view of the entire railroad!

7/7/08 - Peninsula Construction Begins!

6/13/08 - Bear Creek late afternoon pictures.

3/22/08 - Oakhill photo March madness.

1/2/08 - New scenery along upper Bear Creek.

12/7/07 - Winston Link style photography?

11/8/07 - New scenery appears around the east portal of Tunnel 3.

10/20/07 - Some "historical" b&w photos of the Oakhill area.

9/24/07 - More pictures of the Oakhill area, the new backdrop, and bridge over the BC&SJ namesake creek.

9/17/07 - The BC&SJ railroad's bridge crews and the friendly giants at Hillmovers construction have finally made some serious progress on terra forming the valley where Bear Creek flows. A brand spanking new bridge is being installed over upper Bear Creek and they finally managed to find someone that can paint a passable (albeit not great) backdrop. Things are finally starting to look up between Oakhill and (temporary) Salem (staging).

Hillmovers has finally started moving on the final scenery in Oakhill. There's much work left to be done but the results so far are looking promising. Although not strictly a scenic item the new vertical displacement scenery is working well for allowing access to the Oakhill wye tail track (when up) and lookin' good (when down).

Hillmovers has been experimenting with the scenery at Oakhill. They shot a test video to see how it was going to look and we managed to sneak a copy out of their back door without 'em noticing.

New layout lighting! The valences and 25 watt incandescents are gone. In their place are a plethora of dual 48" T8 wrap fixtures.

The aftermath of the October op session. Still not much scenery I'm afraid. Hopefully that will change in the near future.

The first revenue train arrives on the brand new tracks in Redland. It's been over a year since the last one. Maybe the local economy will improve now? You can read all about it in the South Jackson Gazette.

Construction as of August 31, 2006. The attention of Hillmovers Construction and the BC&SJ track crews has been directed to town of Redland on the Deschutes branchline. Citizens there were relieved the railroad hadn't just forgotten about them since the sky is falling incident in 2005.

It's not done yet, but there's a fair amount to see. Checkout the continuing progress on the lower deck.

Construction as of April 24, 2006. After the op session in June '05 I was working on scenery for the line from Mill Bend to Oakhill. It's not done yet, but there's a fair amount to see. Checkout the continuing progress along Roberts Creek.

Construction as of Oct 23, 2005. Scenery base along Roberts Creek just east of Oakhill.

Construction as of March 12, 2005. Oakhill gets it's final trackwork, views of the found-track yard at South Jackson, and more...