Colorado Midland Railway Engineering Report

[Dave V]

If you're in Colorado Springs on the weekend of 28-29 October this year you can see the Colorado Midland in person!  I plan on showing the layout at the fall TECO (Train Expo Colorado) train show at Chapel Hills Mall Event Center on Briargate Blvd that weekend!

http://tecoshow.org/index.htm

[Dave V]

Nothing like a train show to inspire progress!  Finished the mine dump for the Smuggler Silver Mine:

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Also finished the Aspen depot at long last.  I've also been populating the layout.

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[OldEastRR]

Any thought to putting wagon wheel ruts and potholes in those dirt streets? Then even if you don't have any wagons or horse teams on the layout, people still get the feeling there are some somewhere nearby.

[Dave V]

Any thought to putting wagon wheel ruts and potholes in those dirt streets? Then even if you don't have any wagons or horse teams on the layout, people still get the feeling there are some somewhere nearby.

Funny you mentioned that.  I did it after taking the photos while the ground cover is still wet. That's easier said than done because the Scenic Express dirt likes to "flake" while wet so it was a lot of minor patching as I worked.  But there are visible wheel ruts now.

[Lemosteam]

Dave are you thinking of adding some sort of material removal scenic elements at the mine dump?  That might make for an interesting scene.  Otherwise that dirt pile is going to overtake the land its on in mere weeks. 

[Dave V]

Dave are you thinking of adding some sort of material removal scenic elements at the mine dump?  That might make for an interesting scene.  Otherwise that dirt pile is going to overtake the land its on in mere weeks. 

Yeah, it's a little small.  Also, when it dries I'll be dusting it with yellow weathering powder to look like mine tailings.

[Dave V]

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[seusscaboose]

road up to town needs wagon ruts
 

[Dave V]

road up to town needs wagon ruts
 

It has them.

[eric220]

Needs a helix...

<ducks and runs for cover>

[Point353]

Needs a helix...
<ducks and runs for cover>

The system map for your Penn-Pacific system includes trackage from Bakersfield to Mojave CA.
http://www.pennsylvania-railroad.com/system_map.pdf
Were the surveyors able to find a route that didn't require a helix, such as the one at Tehachapi loop.

[mcjaco]

Need that turnout opened up. 

Maybe a wagon next to it too. 

[Dave V]

Need that turnout opened up. 

Maybe a wagon next to it too.

He's in the hole for the Aspen local coming in from Basalt.  That's why his headlight is covered.  Of course he's fouling the switch...  Railroading in 1905 was a deadly business!

 

[seusscaboose]

Dave,
you strung wire on the Juniata

Is that in the plans on the CM?

[eric220]

The system map for your Penn-Pacific system includes trackage from Bakersfield to Mojave CA.
http://www.pennsylvania-railroad.com/system_map.pdf
Were the surveyors able to find a route that didn't require a helix, such as the one at Tehachapi loop.

Not to encourage thread drift (we never do that around here) but that IS Tehachapi. Following the SPSF failure, the PRR tried to buy the SP, but ran into similar regulatory issues. They wound up selling off redundant mileage to the Rio Grande, but they kept some of the north/south route.