The Farthest North Garden Railway

Great Northern Phase II (GN-Phase II): Cicely

 

  
   
     
   
     
   
 
Great Northern Depot for the mythical Alaskan railroad town of Cicely. (click)
My original choice in railroads for the new Phase II line was the Alaska Railroad and the Great Northern. My decision to use the AKRR is obvious considering the context, but the GN also has numerous tie-ins to my project including one which is found in the historic novel "Legacy of the Chief" which I authored. This book revolves around the CRNW Railway (Phase I). At least one chapter in my book makes reference to the Great Northern and also shows in a historic photo a Great Northern calendar inside the Golden Bar in McCarthy. 		 
   
 

Above:The Golden Bar in McCarthy, Alaska with its Great Northern calendar. (click)

Below: Great Northern advertisement found in the Kennecott ghost town including a Great Northern Empire Builder ad.
 
  ad found in ghost town of Kennecott  
  That was enough for me. I definitely wanted to find a way to integrate that railroad into my system. Besides, there is something very-Alaskan sounding about that name "GREAT Northern." It should have been an Alaskan railroad. After all WE are the GREAT state when it comes to both our land and our people--present and past. Then there is the name "Empire Builder." Does it not fit?

So it was that the first non-Alaskan railroad name to become a part of the Phase II model would be the Great Northern.

  
GN dome car on model with cat
Above: Cat on rails above the Great Northern model train along the Phase II section.
(click for larger image)
Meanwhile I had already been acquiring USA coaches in the Sante Fe road name. My intention at the time was to use these to be repainted in the Alaska Railroad (AKRR) paint scheme. The Santa Fe were the first ones available to me and they were already set with plain aluminum sides--no paint. However, as I began acquiring these coaches I found myself unwilling to alter such great-looking pieces. So I set these aside for future use, realizing that these coaches would be running under their original flag name.

The original Phase II plans called for a generic town. I was unable to come up with anything that really appealed to me until someone suggested I use the setting of Cicely from the 1990s television series "Northern Exposure."

  NX intro  
After spending some time on the internet viewing what was available about that show and its filming location, I decided that mythical Cicely Alaska would be a near-ideal setting around which to revolve my Phase II model. I now had a new research project on my hands. Ultimately this would require that I actually visit the original filming site of Roslyn, WA, in my search for accuracy and credibility in what was really nothing more than a mythical town.
Meanwhile I collected whatever information I could, including street maps, area maps and one film-shooting location map which was particularly useful.
significant filming sites in Roslyn, WA
NX filming sites in and around Roslyn, Washington
The main filming area was Pennsylvania Avenue between First and Second Streets. 1N is Dr. Joel's office; 2N is The Brick Tavern; 10N is Roslyn's Cafe; 8N (yellow) is Ruth Ann's General Store, which was across the street from the Brick.  13N is the Northwestern Improvement Company building.  That was the location for KBHR with "Chris in the Morning."  17N, 18N and 19N are the residences for Maggie, Ed and Maurice. They are actually up on the hill to the east. Of those, I will be reproducing my version of Maurice Minnifield's log home for this coming summer season.
 
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