“Port Starboard” Almost Complete

e*Train Issue: Dec 2008 | Posted in: Operating & Layouts

By Mike Stella

I grew up on Puget Sound overlooking the Port of Tacoma. The Milwaukee Road used to load car ferries on the bay for a sea cruise to Port Townsend and Port Angeles.

Pre-container freighters pulled up to various docks and cargo was unloaded and put on TRAINS for Eastern destinations. The Northern Pacific served the Sperry Grain Elevator located just down the hill from my High School. Ore for the copper smelter was always brought in by train. Log trains would pull up and dump their logs into the water for movement to local lumber mills.

A port is a wonderful place to generate hundreds of railroad carloads of every kind and even the smallest Lionel layout should devote a siding or two to create a port. On “Lionel Lines” (The Largest Lionel Railroad on my Block) a port was planned from the onset and at 2 x 10 feet it occupies a space that otherwise might not have been used except to display the over 100 Lionel locomotives that reside under the port area.

“Port Starboard” (a tribute to my Navy days) is actually served by both terminals on my point-to-point railroad. Each terminal has a lead that crosses its own Bascule Bridge to reach the port area. Once inside the port limits, tracks branch off in several directions to serve a number of different industries as well as the docks. The carloads of coal; logs; and grain; as well as flat car loads of products waiting for a gantry crane, give my railroad a reason to exist. Of course, my port is modeled for pre-container cargo and no unions exist on my docks.

The Port of Tacoma was served by FOUR transcontinental railroads. That’s more than Portland, San Francisco, or Los Angeles! On “Lionel Lines”, my port is served by dozens of different lines making it the Largest Port on the Largest Lionel Railroad.

Happy Operating to all, with fond memories of Puget Sound.

Every railroad ought to have a Port to generate business

Two #313 lift bridges are needed to get to “Port Starboard”

A huge coaling elevator and log loader (ala American Flyer) provide more industries

“Port Starboard’s” motto reads: “Our Grain Moves by Train”

A #282 and #282R (they’re different you know) ride above yet to be installed seawall.

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TCA members who shop at Amazon.com can have each of their normal purchases generate a modest payment to TCA! And it won’t cost you anything!

The Train Collectors Association is now a participant with AmazonSmile, which is a special website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com.

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* Note: TCA is not a party to any of your Amazon transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors.

Helping TCA with your ebay purchases when you use PayPal

If you’re an ebay user and have a PayPal account you use to make payments, you can designate a donation for TCA when you’re checking out — any amount, small or large.
If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can pre-designate a percentage of your sales to be donated automatically in your name to TCA as long as the purchaser pays with their PayPal account.

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How to do it:

Click on the image above, or use this link. This will take you to ebay, where you will see the following page (log in to ebay if you are not already):

This offers TCA as an option. Click on the “Add to My Charities” button where indicated with the red arrow. Thereafter, when you make a purchase, at checkout you will be offered the option to make a donation to TCA in any amount of your choosing. Small amounts add up, larger ones are great! It’s always up to you!

The option will appear at the lower part of your checkout page, something like this:

If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can allocate a portion of your sales proceeds to be donated to TCA. Look at the green arrow marked “Optional” above to see how to do it. Details on how ebay calculates the donation may be read here. This is a wonderful way to share the financial benefits of your hobby with the organization that promotes it!

An added benefit to TCA is that these donations are not subject to normal processing fees, so that makes your donation work harder!

* Note. TCA is not a party to any of your eBay transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors. PayPal issues the receipts to you for your donation, not TCA.

“Port Starboard” Almost Complete

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