Just got to tidy up the track to the CB&Q 23rd St Shops and turntable. Then onto BUS and turnout wiring.

Use of Kato turnouts together with Peco flex track has made track laying easier and faster.

My layout is really too large for me to seriously expect to get to an operational stage in under 5 years. Currently it is comprised of the following operational sections:

1. South Denver and the Joint Line Loop
2. Denver Union Terminal
3. Denver North Yard
4. The Flatirons
5. Bond
6. Craig Branch
7. Coors Brewery Branch
8. Grand Junction Return Loop

With the exception of Craig Branch and Coors Brewery Branch the track from North Yard to Grand Junction has been laid and the main line wired. The South Denver track has also been laid and wired.

Which brings me to the Denver Union Terminal section which incorporates the East Denver Belt Line, the UP Pulman Shops and the UP Wynkoop Street trackage. All of the passenger tracks to the actual station was laid by my friend Rod Taylor while the layout was in Townsville (QLD) in the years leading up to 2019. However the C&S inter-modal freight yard, the East Denver Belt Line and the UP trackage were still to be laid as of a couple of months ago.

In October 2025 I was seriously ill and spent about three weeks in bed. During that time I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to achieve from my life and my layout. I remembered that my original goal was to duplicate the 1947 passenger timetable as published in the 1981 book by Forrest & Albi “Denver’s Railroads” after which my layout is named.

I consequently decided that I would finish laying the track around the Denver Union Terminal with a view to achieving my original goal. By coincidence I discovered a company called Megapoints Controllers who are British manufacturers of model railway layout control systems.

Megapoints Controllers supply PCB’s (Printed Circuit Boards) to control LEDs, cables and layout controls such as turnouts, turnout position, push buttons, block occupancy DCC accessories and route control. The boards will enable me to set up routes though Denver Union Terminal for the different passenger trains to conform with the 1947 timetable.

As of the time of writing this blog the only major section still to be laid is the UP Pulman Shops and the UP Wynkoop Street trackage. I have even installed the Atlas Turntable for the CB&Q 23rd St Shops.

So I will shortly be onto the BUS wiring together with the wiring required to install the Megapoints Controllers circuit boards.

It is 15+ months since my last Blog update but hopefully I am now back on track.

There were a number of reasons for my apparent lack of action, including:

• My wife being confirmed as having Alzheimer’s disease as well as a number of other life threatening conditions with finally resulted in her heart stopping during a procedure in March this year.
• A short in the trackwork exiting the 7 track Grand Jct. return loop. This was made more complicated than it should have been due to there being 7 tracks. If there had just been the one track troubleshooting would have been so much easier to find the fault.
• Confusion with regard to the wiring of the 7 tracks. Which tracks had been wired and to which Power District.
• Whilst road testing the return loop track looking for the sort it became clear that the trackwork was badly laid and needed relaying. Furthermore one half of the loop had been laid at too tight of a radius and needed extending by some 10 inches. A significant adjustment in N scale.

All and all the above just made it difficult to move forward. And when I did start to relay the 7 tracks it became apparent that the exercise was going to take a long time. Even now with all of the track laid, only one of the tracks is fully wired.

Work completed:

• All 7 tracks that form the return loop have been laid and the alignment is much much better now that the minimum radius has been increased from 16½” to 22½” and the outside radius from 24″ to 31¼”.
• The installation of a new control panel and Power District (PD zero) for just the return loop.
• By redoing the return loop wiring the faulty block that had caused the short quickly became apparent and has now been fixed.

I can now run a locomotive non-stop around the whole layout (except though Denver Union Terminal trackage) without a problem recurring in the same place. In other words I still have track problems but not with the 7 track return loop. The next challenge is to run a 12 car freight train without a problem and then a 6 car passenger train pulled by a 4-6-6-4 Challenger steam locomotive.

Progress since last update:

• Finished laying all of the turnouts on the Denver Union Stockyards section.
• Just got to realign the Kato track and turnouts in Commerce City.
• Then on to Flatirons scenery and kit building.

• North Yard Locomotive facilities — All turnouts laid.
• Cargill, Alpine and RG Motorway Industries — All turnouts laid
• Commerce City Industries — Kato turnouts and track partly laid
• Denver Union Stockyards — Two of six turnouts laid

To be actioned in the immediate future:

• Finish laying turnouts at Commerce City and Denver Stockyards
• Ballast track between Big 10 Curve and Crescent Siding
• Install Flatirons scenery
• Start building kits

Due to the size and complexity of the new enlarged Coors Golden branch the sequence of track laying has been changed to the following:

1. North Yard Locomotive facilities
2. Cargill, Alpine and RG Motorway Industries
   • Scenery can now commence for modules 7 & 8 between Utah Jct. and the Moffatt Tunnel East Portal
3. Commerce City Industries
4. Denver Union Stockyards
   • Ballasting and applying of scenic material for the Denver yards & Denver stockyards together with finalising the wiring and the control panels can now commence
5. Craig Branch
   • Scenery can now commence for module 11 between the West Portal and Craig
6. Repair the Joint Line Return Loop & South Denver Module
   • Rewiring of the control panel will be required here
7. Denver Union Station – C&S Trackage
8. UP Industries & small yard
9. Ford Motor & East Denver Belt Line Lead Tracks
   • Ballasting and applying of scenic material for the DUT, Rice yard & industries together with finalising the wiring and the control panels can now commence
10. Coors Golden Branch

Going well. As at 19th November 2023 — Progress is as follows:

1. D&RGW North Yard Classification tracks:
   • Cork laid Completed
   • Track laid Completed
2. North Yard Locomotive facilities:
   • Cork laid Completed
   • Turnouts laid
   • Track laid
   • Kits built
3. Cargill, Alpine and RG Motorway Industries:
   • Cork laid  Completed
   • Track laid
   • Kits built
4. Denver Union Stockyards:
   • Cork laid Completed 
   • Track laid
   • Kits built
5. C&BQ Classification Yard – using Kato #4 turnouts:
   • Cork laid  Completed 
   • Kato turnouts Completed
   • Track laid Completed
6. Commerce City Industries:
   • Cork laid  Use Kato Set-Track
   • Track laid
   • Kits built
7. Grand Junction Loop:
   • Cork laid  Completed
   • Kato 19″ Set-Track Curves Just started to lay
   • Turnouts laid
   • Track laid
8. Craig Branch:
   • Cork laid Completed
   • Track laid
   • Kits built
9. Glenwood Springs Industries:
   • Cork laid  
   • Track laid
   • Kits built
10. Coors Brewery and Golden Branch:
    • Cork laid  
    • Track laid
    • Kits built
11. Ford Motor & East Denver Belt Line Lead Tracks:
    • Cork laid Completed
    • Track laid
12. Repair the Joint Line Return Loop trackage

Action since June 27, 2023:

1. Connected feeder wires for T428 & T429 to PD4 track and control panel
2. Sorted out the G004/G005 track wiring confusion
3. Cut gaps in PD4 white track as necessary
4. Started to test run a train over PD3 & PD4, returning to North Yard over PD2 & PD5 track
   • Need to fix up to 4 or 5 black spots that prevents the train running without human assistance

Immediate Action:

1. Fix electrical black spots on the main line loop of track that prevents the train running without human assistance
2. Update the Denver’s Railroads (DR) website with links to sites with extensive prototype data
3. Change the timeframe on the DR website from 1947-1969 to 1962-1972
4. Make the track laying change as detailed under “Planning Change” below
5. Finish building the South Denver Kits and start building the DUSTY kits
6. Continue gluing rubber panels on garage floor
7. Send Kato drop-in DC locos to Peter Flower for DCC installation

Planning Change:

Based on a number of operational layouts I have been viewing on YouTube of late, in order to start operations earlier than currently planned, I should build the RG North Yard and CBQ 38th Street Yard next.

This would include building the DUSTY Stockyards, Commerce City and the North Yard industries. I have sufficient stock of track, cork and turnouts to complete this task without a significant expense. There are very few operational issues in this build and once complete would enable operations by using the already laid South Denver loop track as DUT and roots south.

Once complete this would enable an Operating Freight and Passenger Layout between Denver North Yard and Grand Junction Loop & Staging Tracks.

Once complete the following urgent actions would be:

1. Install the remaining 6 tracks of the 7 loop tracks at Grand Jct . . .
   • Install BD-20s connecting to the UP/CBQ main line and the 7 staging tracks.
   • Build the Flatirons scenery on the PD5 module.
   • Build the Winter Park/Moffat Tunnel scenery on the PD4 module
2. Lay Craig Branch trackage and wiring and then . . .
   • Build the Craig Branch kits
   • Activate the two PD4 control panels.
3. Activate DUT, South Denver, Joint Line Loop & Staging Tracks
4. Build the Layout Framework for the enlarged Joint Line Loop & Staging Tracks.
5. Relay enlarged Joint Line Loop & Staging Tracks.
6. Lay additional trackage for DUT area.