The "contraption" that's been in progress for over a month is drawing to a close. It's not quite complete, but close. A friend said he wanted his DNA on my layout, so he built the cylinders, crosshead and valve gear out of some junk he had and sent it to me. Of course I had to make something to incorporate it. So here it is. It's supposed to be a stationary industrial steam engine. Originally, I was going to be the power source for a 75' long incline railway that took supplies from the railhead up to the mine. But it's too big. So I don't know where it will go. Maybe next to the roundhouse. Maybe it will power an overhead crane and have it lifting a boiler off of a steam locomotive that needs heavy repairs. Paul Moore
It's been just about a year since this layout was started. Progress has slowed a little, but it's still moving forward. The latest work has been on the "north" end of the railroad: getting the stream ready for water; trees on the mountain; preparing the area the cattle pen will be in; etc.
Got the stream nearly done over the weekend. There will be lots more details: scree / talus; a canoe or two; some people on inner tubes; etc. paul
Looks really nice. Just realized you are in Colorado Springs. Wish my uncle, Doyle Williams, could've met up with you. He lived out his retirement years in Colorado Springs. He was a Frisco fan.
Really good scenery, Paul - enjoying watching this come together. Thanks for sharing and keep the updates coming,
Thanks, Chris. My wife has helped tons because my color vision is terrible. It's been fun so far. The mainline is nearly done, so a train will go all the way around soon. Paul
The abandoned head tower at the mine is just about complete. Today I finished the ore bucket. It's nothing but the bottom cut off of a CO2 cartridge; holes drilled in the sides for attaching the hanger; hanger is made by bending a piece of brass rod. The "cable" is some thread supplied by my wife. The hook was a Tichy hook from the parts box. Real cables through the eye of a real hook have sort of a wrapped crimp fitting to hold the hook on the cable. I don't know the exact terminology. I took a piece of short wiring insulation, slit one side open, wrapped it a round the cable that was bent up through the eye of the hook, and super glued it in place.
The SLSF obviously never went to Colorado Springs. The Mopac came into Puebl0 from the East and then up to Colo Springs. The Rock Island came into Colorado from the East at Limon, where the Rocky Mtn Rocket was split in two, part going to Colorado Springs and the rest going to Denver. If the Frisco had come to Colorado Springs, I figure it would have come in from the East along highway 24 into the downtown depot and yard. It could have shared trackage with the UP from Ellsworth, KS, and then split off and gone into Colorado Springs. It could also have used the Mopac from south of Ellsworth and split off to the north East of Colorado Springs somewhere around Ordway or even east of there. There's a tiny unincorporated hole-in-the-wall east of Colorado Springs named Bovina along highway 24. As a result, my country depot is named Bovina, and is across the tracks from what will be my stock pens. A few photos attached. The stone viaduct bridge behind and above the depot is a temporary bridge that I made out of foam. It will eventually be replaced with a timber trestle. Paul
Hi Keith, My thoughts exactly, and why I chose the location and story for the fictitious Frisco using that route into Colorado Springs. Thanks!! Paul
The stock pens are done; the band stand in the city park is finished and has live music playing; and today my wife ran the first train around the layout. The back side needs a guard rail (will eventually have a painted back drop that will be about 3' high) to prevent a derailment from dumping a locomotive or car several feet down onto a stone fireplace hearth. So I was the guard rail and she ran the first train. The sheep came with a strange looking shepherd. Maybe a europeon. He was just too weird for a western USA layout. I repainted him, filed off his staff, and turned him into the pastor of the local church. The cowboy and cowgirl were modern in their original outfits. They had plastic Equestrian helmets instead of cowboy hats. I filed off the brim of the helmet, filed the sides and top to give them a shape more like a cowboy hat, and made brims and glued them on and painted them. Our two dogs at home are two Australian Shepherds. They are both older--one's 14 and the other is nearly 15. The 14 year old one used to compete in obedience, rally, herd sheep and cattle, and do agility. As a result, I turned two of the HO scale dogs into Aussies and painted them the best I could to represent our dogs doing the herding. A few photos of the completed stock pen and band stand. Paul
Nearly completed the cemetery just south of the church today. One of the parishioners gave the pastor his retired Model T, which is parked north of the church. The front fence is just leaning up against the other three sides of the fence. I don't like the extra posts and the double gate--too busy looking. It may be time to scratch build an archway entryway for the cemetery with no gates. A shot of the recently completed overhead crane is also attached. It was covered in a question post in the structures area, but here's one shot just for kicks. Paul
Just a few photos of some detail work that has been added to the Bonanza & Western Railroad. The soft metal operator on the dozer was supposed to go on the Farmall tractor at the farm, but his gut is too big?? Good planning by the model manufacturer, huh?! Happy Thanksgiving, Paul Moore
'Hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. We did. A little progress has been made on the Bonanza & Western. Lately I've been in the mood to do smaller projects. I built a couple of soft metal kits (road grader and motorcar) week before last. The operator came in a Farmall tractor model, but he wouldn't fit in the tractor!! The grader and motor car need to be weathered, but other than that, they're done. Yesterday I started a motorcar shed. The model is actually a handcar shed, but handcars were mostly gone by the '40's. It has been modified from the plans a little. The real railroads didn't much care for windows in the trackside structures because it made burglary and theft easier. At least that's what I've been told. On this motorcar shed kit you have "the opportunity" to build all of the interior framing. Not much point in doing that unless you can see it. It also has a set of shelves, a potbellied stove, etc. So my shed will have the door open and have two extra windows. Hopefully, that will let in enough light so you can see the interior. I'm painting the inside a light gray and the exterior a light mustard color (Poly S TTX yellow). A friend who happens to be the most knowledgeable person I know regarding Japanese brass models also owns a machine shop. He designed a modeling tool years ago called the Calibre Cutter. Fortunately, I have one. It makes cutting repetitive lengths of stripwood much faster and easier. They're not available any more, but if you do lots of scratch building or build craftsman kits and find one of these cutters for sale online, buy it. Have a great week, Paul Moore
Between Christmas and looking at property in West Central Texas, yesterday was the first day I've worked on the layout in nearly a month. A revelation hit me yesterday. It's probably a blessing in disguise that I have a small layout. Between the level of detail I want and the glacially slow pace at which I work, nothing larger than my 6 X 12 would ever be completed!! Made a tiny bit of progress on the handcar shed yesterday evening. Got the foundation and part of the floor done, and installed the rails and ties. It's difficult to believe that something this small can take this long!!