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Plans call for 3,000 railroad ties to be on display in a classroom of the Paradise Center, formerly Paradise Elementary School, as part of a historical railroad exhibit. The classroom is only 640 square feet, but Benita Jo Hanson, chief coordinator of the exhibit, said all of the railroad ties will fit.

That's because the ties are only 1.172 inches long and the railroad exhibit will be of an HO scale. The exhibit will cover different aspects of the railroad in Paradise from around 1907 to 1970, said Hanson, who wrote "Milepost Zero," a history of the railroad in Paradise. It will be part of the Visitor's Center, which will also encompass a history of the town and the schoolhouse, which was built in 1910 and closed its doors in 2013 due to a lack of students. The Paradise Elementary School Preservation Committee, the entity that runs the Paradise Center, wanted to put a railroad display in the building to show the significance the railroad had on the community.

"I think it's important to have this because without the railroad, Paradise wouldn't have been there," said Hanson, whose father Butch McNeeley worked at the tie plant for 20 years. Hanson and her family lived at the railroad's housing project and she was a Paradise Elementary School student from 1952 to 1961. She said railroad carpenters started building one story cottages for workers and two story houses for families in 1907. "It was a way of life for all of us who lived by the whistle. Through the sale of land in the area, the railroad created a wholesale environment for families," she added.

Hanson said they already have several trains from steam and diesel eras for the display, although she's not sure which ones will run and which will be a static part of the setting. A Plains resident recently donated a 1960s HO passenger train of the North Coast Limited, part of the Northern Pacific, which ran through Paradise for more than 60 years. The train includes a passenger car with a vista dome on the roof for passengers to get a 360-degree view.

Plains resident Bill Beck, a model train enthusiast, is working on the donated set. He said one of the engines operates, but needs lubrication. "It looks like it hasn't been run for a long time. I'll have to run it to get the stiffness out of it," said Beck. He's also searching for tiny light bulbs for the passenger cars and a chassis for the second engine, which is only a shell.

"The North Coast Limited was the premier passenger train to run from Seattle to Chicago," said Hanson. Daily service began in 1948. The domed coaches were added in 1954. The Northern Pacific was the only passenger train to make regular stops in Paradise. It ran through town from 1907 to 1970, when it became part of the Burlington Northern, which then transited Paradise until 1987, when Montana Rail Link took over.

Judy Stephens of Paradise and a museum committee member of the Paradise Center, two weeks ago discovered a Northern Pacific engine, a tender, coal cars, oil tenders, and stock cars at a large vendor market in Quartzsite, Arizona. Hanson believes Stephens might have found a steam engine like the one run by the late Plains resident Everett Young, who spent over 40 years on the railroad and held the Wallace Branch run over Lookout Pass servicing the Silver Valley of Idaho as engineer.

The center's train exhibit will be comprised of two custom made 20-plus-foot long tables and a cabinet below with nearly a dozen individual display cases with additional railroad photos and artifacts inside. Rudi Boukal of Thompson Falls has volunteered to make the tables, part of which will be on rollers and could be pulled out for viewing. The display will show the town and railroad from the bridge on the east side of Paradise to just west of town. Hanson said the area between will be slightly condensed due to space limitations. Storyboards will be in place to highlight important dates and events.

Hanson said they're also getting help in the form of grants from the Montana History Foundation and the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association.

Hanson said plans for the exhibit are still being worked on, but she hopes to have a large panoramic photo or painting as a background. Plans are for maps of different eras to be on the wall. Several people in and out of Sanders County are helping with the project. Hanson believes most of the railroad structures for the display will have to be custom made to HO scale. They are scheduling a workshop for volunteers to learn landscape model creation. Hanson said anyone who wants to take part in the workshop is welcome.

"We would especially look to those who had real time experience working or living in Paradise during the time when Paradise was so important to the Northern Pacific Railroad," she said. "We plan to represent the town and the background mountains in some way as a background for the exhibit, but until we get the tables in place and the landscape visible on the tables developed for the track we will not be able to see the possibilities to know exactly what would be best for that portion of the exhibit," said Hanson. The exhibit will show several railroad buildings, such as the tie plant, which was built in 1908 and burned down on Oct. 27, 1987. The tie plant was comprised of several buildings; most were destroyed by the fire. Countless number of people from Plains and Paradise were employed at the tie plant through the years.

A model roundhouse will also be part of the display. The roundhouse is a large semicircular shaped facility with 21 stalls for engines to be worked on or turned around. The roundhouse at Paradise operated from 1907 to 1937, according to Hanson.

"The railroad display is important because without the railroad and its investment, there would have been no Paradise, a name that came about in 1907 when the railroad officially filed its survey," said Hanson. "I think this exhibit is a tribute to all those people who gave of their time and interest to have a life we can look back on fondly and thankfully."