Birchwood & St. Croix Railroad models Narrow Gauge railroad from the early 1900's. All of the locomotives are steam engines and all track is Narrow Gauge style. The Shay locomotive on the logging train is a scale model of the Shays used in, and invented specifically for, logging in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The other locomotives are also scale models of Narrow Gauge locomotives with specific histories from that era.
Building of the Birchwood & St. Croix Railroad began in late 2013. As of fall 2015, the layout was maybe about half done. (At least that's what I said in 2015 - in retrospect, probably 1/3 done.) The original plan was to put up a web site after it was all done. But I found so many people interested in observing progress, this web site went online in 2015.
As of late summer 2016, the layout was still not done. But the mountain logging loop did get completed in early August and the logging train ran for the first time for an open house in August 2016.
Track beds and track for the remaining three loops (of the original layout) went down in the summer of 2017. Detail work on the buildings, including wiring LED lighting in many of them, was done over the winter of 2016-2017. The entire original layout was operational for the first time in August 2017. The layout was featured as a tour site for the 2018 National Narrow Gauge Convention drawing visitors from across the US, Canada, and England.
A significant expansion project which began in 2020 was completed by late summer 2022. The track originally looping the perimeter of the original layout was extended to loop around the perimeter of the entire expanded layout. Two new loops were added in the expansion area. A total of six trains now run simultaneously on the six independent loops. A third mountain and several new buildings were also added.
Birchwood & St. Croix is owned by Jim & Joy Hogenson. You may find many more pictures, videos, narrative of build in progress and history, at quietjim.com/trains
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