Colorado Midland Railway Engineering Report

[GaryHinshaw]

Visible.  Very nice - love the tunnels!  And oh how I wish the Tennessee Pass line were still open (or any number of CO lines).

[C855B]

Thanks for the effort with the photos. Gives me a better appreciation for CO railroading... and a better understanding why the transcontinental lines went around.

[wcfn100]

Too funny, I just drove by the depot in Buena Vista yesterday and was going to ask if you knew about it and the caboose. 

Jason

[Dave V]

A new acquisition for the Colorado Midland:



Weathered with chalks and acrylic washes.

[Dave V]

Also built a D&RGW-style coal shed from a Wolf Models kit.

[Chris333]

Perhaps you can add a piece of black construction paper to the inside of that stockcar.   

Actually have the same car...

[Dave V]

Started assembling the truss bridge for the tail track at Aspen.  It's an RSLaser kit.

Perhaps you can add a piece of black construction paper to the inside of that stockcar.   

LOL

[Missaberoad]

Started assembling the truss bridge for the tail track at Aspen.  It's an RSLaser kit

Nice! Thats going to look sweet when its done!

[OldEastRR]

Don't know if it's ironic or funny ... Now that, after years of SPFs' waiting and hoping, there's a K4, GG1, M1a, Broadway Limited, Centipede, K7 stock car, X58 boxcar and a whole flood of Pennsy prototypes to fill up a Pennsy layout -- Dave switches efforts to big scale narrow guage and a minor western railroad. Did his SPF foam finally fizzle away?
I also abandoned modeling the Pennsy (Union Station, Chicago, passenger operations), but because my fun was trying to make prototypical PRR trains from the very few prototypical cars available in the '90s. My BL's  only prototypical cars were the ATSF sleeper (KATO, had to buy a set of four), the Atlas 10-6 and flat-end obs. Otherwise it was kitbashing and brass sides on ConCor cars. When the KATO train came out -- along with the P-85s and 18-bedrooms from CCS -- the fun was gone. No thrill in just buying RTR all the cars and locos you need to make up trains.
So I switched to the New Haven a few years back -- at the time, it having a poorer selection of N prototypical varnish than the Pennsy once had. Plus I could save some PRR stuff to run on it. Oh boy, a great pick -- who the hell would ever make that oddball unique passenger equipment the NH had?
And then fate struck again.....in the guise of Rapido and MTL. Maybe if I picked a southern railroad ...

[Dave V]

Don't know if it's ironic or funny ... Now that, after years of SPFs' waiting and hoping, there's a K4, GG1, M1a, Broadway Limited, Centipede, K7 stock car, X58 boxcar and a whole flood of Pennsy prototypes to fill up a Pennsy layout -- Dave switches efforts to big scale narrow guage and a minor western railroad. Did his SPF foam finally fizzle away?

Wut?

I'm still very much modeling Pennsy.  The Juniata Division is alive and well.  Recently added a new toolshed and some new rolling stock.  However, I've always had a fetish for all things Colorado railroading and getting orders to Colorado Springs pushed me over the edge to finally model it.

More often than not, while I'm working on the Midland I have M1s and K4s drilling the JD's mains.

[OldEastRR]

But is the JD "done"? I hate using that word for layouts, even tho it's supposed to signify the layout is successfully completed. People who have a successful marriage don't say, "Well, my marriage is done." I have discovered important lessons (sometimes multiple ones) about layout building halfway through  every one of the 9+ layouts I built or helped build. Which necessitated starting a new layout based on improved information. Right now it's DCC that changed the game for me. Oh, the joys of hardwiring decoders ...NOT.

[Chris333]

[Dave V]

But is the JD "done"? I hate using that word for layouts, even tho it's supposed to signify the layout is successfully completed. People who have a successful marriage don't say, "Well, my marriage is done." I have discovered important lessons (sometimes multiple ones) about layout building halfway through  every one of the 9+ layouts I built or helped build. Which necessitated starting a new layout based on improved information. Right now it's DCC that changed the game for me. Oh, the joys of hardwiring decoders ...NOT.

At the moment I'm not doing major work on the JD until I get to the basic scenery stage on the Midland.  That's a choice I made and one I have every right to make.  I still have multiple ideas of what I would like to do with the JD...it's just that I don't have time to do both layouts at once.  Besides, it's nice to go down to my train room and have one layout be essentially done (even if temporarily so).  It's good for visitors and good for keeping me focused.

I'm at 8 layouts BTW...  3 HO, 4 N, and 1 G.

[OldEastRR]

I'm not getting down on you or the JD. Nobody can judge how far somebody else can go on their layout; I was just wondering if you felt you had reached the full potential of the JD, pending a decision on whether you'll have space to expand it or not. But some people do reach a saturation point with their layouts, finished or not. There was a point there where you did a major rebuild of the PRR layout. So I meant nothing bad when I asked if you had "finished" the layout since you are now putting your time toward building new ones.

[Dave V]

I'm not getting down on you or the JD. Nobody can judge how far somebody else can go on their layout; I was just wondering if you felt you had reached the full potential of the JD, pending a decision on whether you'll have space to expand it or not. But some people do reach a saturation point with their layouts, finished or not. There was a point there where you did a major rebuild of the PRR layout. So I meant nothing bad when I asked if you had "finished" the layout since you are now putting your time toward building new ones.

To be honest, I've found that having other things going on in the train room is healthy for the JD.  While on the one hand it has certainly postponed a major rebuild, working on the Colorado Midland puts me in the train room more frequently than I otherwise would be.  So the JD gets a lot more "play time" than if it were my only train activity.  Hopefully that makes sense.

Also, having multiple outlets makes the hobby more enjoyable to me in general.  So, say I was just back East visiting family in Lancaster and I'm in a hardcore Pennsy mood, I have an outlet!  OTOH, say I just drove back from skiing and I'm following the Midland roadbed on US24, I have an outlet!  There are probably three or four more layouts I would love to build if I had unlimited time, space, and money, but having the three I have now has really helped keep me from stagnating.

With specific regard to the JD, in a lot of ways, yes, it's "finished."  There are practical limits to what I can do with it going forward.  Most ideas to improve it require such major revisions as to suggest completely starting over.  It was always only ever a display layout, designed for roundy-rounding and nothing more.  Most of my attempts to make it more than that were a failure.  Then again, I'm a railfan rather than an operator and usually end up watching the trains drill circles while drooling like a simpleton...and I'm OK with that.

"Hi, I'me Dave, and I'm a roundy-rounder."

So now my main druthers for the JD involve a longer run and easier access to staging.  I love watching other folks work a functioning yard, but I've never been very good at that.

The Colorado Midland is also a show layout.  Like the JD before it, its future should (hopefully) involve traveling to train shows.  It's a local road so it should play well enough, assuming I can do a reasonable job with Western scenery.