Phase One Reset !!!
Recording the progress of building the Denver’s RailRoads N Scale layout
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Phase One Reset !!!
Phase 1 of the layout started out life as the DC controlled Argentine Central Railway running Atlas Shays of the same roadname. Unfortunately it is too hard to install a DCC decoder in an Atlas Shay so I looked around for an alternative railroad to base phase 1 on. Having purchased two Model Power 2-6-0s and 4-4-0s with DCC and sound in CB&Q with “Burlington Route” logos on the tenders, modeling the Colorado & Southern (C&S) seemed a good idea. My first thought was to switch to the Golden and Ralston Railroad which ran out of Golden from 1877 to 1898. Go to http://denversrailroads.com/GRR.htm for more details of that line. However there was very little information available about that line or its track-age so I decided instead to model the Clear Creek Railroad, a C&S narrow gauge line that ran from Golden to Black Hawk and Idaho Springs until 1941. Thanks to the extensive writing of Harry Brunk in the Narrow Gauge and Short-Line Gazette and others there is a lot of information available about the Clear Creek Railroad, including the Black Hawk track arrangements.
Before I made the change I gave a lot of thought to the Denver’s RailRoads layout and discovered that the D&RGW Aspen Branch continued as a standard gauge line until 1991. However after a lot of track planning I came to the conclusion that the track arrangement did not fit the track that was already planned as part of the original Argentine Central layout. Furthermore I had the four Model Power steam locomotives in the “Burlington Route” roadname and a lot of 1930 era reefers, boxcars, tank cars and stock cars that I really wanted to run.
Consequently I have gone back to the Clear Creek RailRoad (CCRR) layout, running to Black Hawk and Idaho Springs. I have now laid all of the track, including the short branch line from Golden to Idaho Springs and the much longer branch line with a 3-4% grade to Black Hawk. This arrangement will allow me to either run the CCRR as a stand alone C&S 1930s steam only layout or as a branch of the “modern” 1950-60s C&S, ignoring the little fact that the line was removed in 1941. In both cases the Coors Brewery will be a center piece of the railroad, either with billboard Reefers and boxcars or with 40′ piggyback trailers and covered hoppers.
Phase V Benchwork Completed
All of the benchwork for Phase V is now complete. Below is Gorge Canyon, (between Kremmling and Bond) where the foam scenery supports will be installed ahead of the trackwork, so as to minimise the mess that will be created during construction of the 200-300 (15″ to 22½”) foot mountain side above the Canyon. The actual canyon walls were 1000 feet high. That is 75″ in N Scale which while doable would be out of proportion with the rest of the layout. The Colorado river will be modelled on the lower part of the benchwork.
Below is the baseboard for the town of Craig in Colorado. The Craig branch from Bond is still an active coal branch on the Denver & Rio Grande Western.
Below is the foam base for the Aspen branch line from Glenwood Springs. This branch line was built by the Denver & Rio Grande Western in order to tap silver mines in the area around Aspen and was completed in 1887. The line saw significant business in its first few years, but as the silver boom tapered off, traffic along the line declined. Ultimately, the portion of the line south from Woody Creek to its end at Aspen was abandoned in 1968 and the rest of the line in 1995. As Denver’s Railroads is set in the period 1947-1963 for Passenger traffic and 1968-1969 for freight traffic the Aspen branch was still an active railroad, with passengers, coal, cattle, sheep, poultry, petroleum, perishables and explosives (dynamite) being the main commodities carried.
Track Laying for Phase III has began
Here is Rod laying the first of the Phase III track at the East throat of the Denver Union Terminal. The second of the two Scissors Crossovers (the other is at the Western throat) is installed and testing of the frog juicers to determine correct polarity will commence shortly.
Wiring for Phase II almost complete
The wiring for Phase I was completed sometime ago but now the wiring for Phase II is almost complete. Here is John hard at work soldering feeder wires to module 5, the Denver Yard Wye and return loop for the Phase I/II trackage.
Golden Spike for Phases I & II hammered home
The Golden Spike for Phases I & II was hammered home on Friday night, linking all of the track work into a large oval. Once the wiring is complete we will be able to run trains up to 100 cars in length.
Phase 1 and Phase 2 of Denver’ RailRoads is almost connected!
Rod and John came over on Saturday and we got a lot done. Rod is half way through laying the cork for phase 3 and John got a fair way through wiring the BUS on module 7 of phase 2.
I finished laying the cork for the connection from phases 1 & 2 to the Moffat Tunnel in phase 5. This means that I can now lay the track which connects phases 1 & 2.
Once that is done – and the BUS wiring for modules 6 & 7 is complete – we will be able to run LONG trains all the way from the Grand Junction return loop to the wye/loop at Denver yard.
Phase 2 Trackwork Finished!
At last we have finished laying all of the trackwork for Phase 2 of the Denver’s RailRoads layout. This trackwork comprises mainly of the composite DENVER YARD comprising of the D&RGW North Yard, the CB&Q 38th St Yard, UP’s 36th St Yard and UP’s Pullman Yard & Shops.
In addition to the two mainline tracks there are 3 arrival tracks, for (1) Rio Grande/Rock Island, (2) Burlington/C&S/Santa Fe and (3) Union Pacific, 2 departure tracks and 8 classification tracks. The oval shown in the first photograph below is in fact the right leg of the Wye at Denver Union Station, used to back east/west passenger trains into the station. Only southbound trains could run straight through.
The oval does however have the advantage to providing a continuous run for trains on display. Once the phase 2 tracks have been connected to the phase 1 return loop tracks (and the phase 2 tracks have been wired into the DCC BUS) it will be possible to run quite long trains (even up up to 100 40′ cars) on the layout
Phase 4 will start soon
As Phase 2 nears completion work will soon commence on Phase 4 — Denver’s Industries and Track-side Installations. These include:
- Denver Union Stockyards
- Colorado Petroleum
- Globe Smelter
- Cherokee Power Plant
- Koppers Inc. Plant
- Alpine Lumber Co
- Cargill Grain Elevator
- RG Motorway
- Holcim Cement
- Hadley Ford
- UP & Rock Island Locomotive facilities
- CB&Q 23rd St Shops
- C&S Rice Yard
- C&S Intermodal Yard
- UP Wynkoop St Industrial Branch
- D&RGW Burnham Shops
Phase 3 is looking good
Rod, who is currently on holiday for a couple of weeks, has completed the painstaking job of drawing the Denver Union Terminal tracks onto the sub-baseboard and has commenced the laying of the Cork roadbed.
Phase 1 Update
Track laying to Golden yard and the Coors yard is complete. However track laying of the Clear Creek Branches from Golden to Idaho Springs and Black Hawk has been postponed pending the completion of the track laying for Phase 2 (UP and CB&Q Main Line and Denver’s Yards) and Phase 5 (the Main Line from the Moffat Tunnel to Glenwood Springs).
