History
Brief History of the Willow Creek Railroad
(The Willow Creek Railroad is a freelanced model railroad. The following fictional history provides a context for operations on the layout.)
Bucky’s Crossing was established in 1864 by Bucky Stewart as a ferry crossing for horse-drawn wagons. Steward, an innovative businessman, helped establish the town that today bears his name – Bucky’s Crossing. The ferry cut several miles and days off of the wagon route; wagons originally had to travel upstream to ford the Naugatuck River where an island is located, which made the crossing tolerable albeit still dangerous due to the depth and unpredictable flow of the river. The wagon route remained difficult, however; leading from the city of Waverly, over Latah Pass and Summit Ridge, across the South Forks River, through Glacier Valley, to the town of Bucky’s Crossing.
The Willow Creek Railroad was established as a standard-gauge line in 1891, and was built to connect Bucky’s Crossing to Waverly and service the growing industries along the wagon route. The railroad also established rail-car ferry service at Bucky’s Crossing, providing regular service to the river ports of Alta and Concorde, and their respective rail-transportation services.
The Willow Creek Railroad was acquired by the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) in 1915, and designated as the Willow Creek Subdivision. Shortly thereafter, the UPRR completed a connection eastward between the Willow Creek Subdivision and Spokane, a major UPRR transportation hub and interchange point with other Class I railroads throughout the United States.
The current time period is the early 1950s and the Willow Creek Railroad is in the "transition era," operating both steam locomotives and diesel engines. The people of Bucky's Crossing have seized on an innovative idea, relatively unique for this period of time: in addition to its focus as a major rail-car ferry hub, establish Bucky's Crossing as a family-friendly, local tourists' destination. Today, Bucky's Crossing is known for its unique shopping district (arts and crafts, specialty restaurants, fruit and vegetable market, book store, tobacco shop, etc.) and scenic passenger train route to Summit Springs (taking advantage of the natural spring water and mineral hot springs) and the cities of Waverly and Spokane (major commerce centers and transportation hubs). In addition to rail-car ferry service, the Naugatuck River Navigation Company (NRNC), established and owned by the Willow Creek Railroad, runs a passenger ferry on a regularly scheduled basis between Bucky's Crossing and the neighboring river ports of Alta and Concorde.
