Industries

As indicated in my 24th May 2020 blog post I felt that having a Reefer based industry on the layout instead of a Timber based industry would be easier to operate and more in keeping with a small layout based on a railroad set in 1934. The significance of the year 1934 is that it was before 1937 when the use of “billboard” advertising on freight cars was banned by the Interstate Commerce Commission, and thereafter cars so decorated could no longer be accepted for interchange between roads. It was also a year after prohibition ended in 1933!

Unfortunately I could not find a meat packing industry that had existed in Leadville at any time, so I have had to invoke ‘modellers license’ and move the Mountain Meat Packing company from Craig to Leadville. So I have dropped the Smith Lumber company in favour of the Mountain Meat Packing company. I have also moved Acorn Petroleum Inc. to the shorter siding previously allocated to Smith Lumber company.  Mountain Meat Packing will be represented by the Woodland Scenics “Clyde & Dale’s Barrel Factory” and placed on the long siding. This should allow for quite a few reefers, boxcars and stockcars. I have also removed the Resurrection Ore Mine as there really was no room for that industry and we already have a Hopper based mine at Climax. The new track arrangement is as follows:

Layout Operations

Trains need to be made up on the front 3 tracks and then be sent around the layout for a few laps and then brought into one of the sidings and switched accordingly. The train then makes a few more laps before going into staging and being reconfigured.