Colorado Midland Railway Engineering Report

[C855B]

I'll be interested in watching you pull off the autumn colors as you describe, too.

Aspens. Yellow. Done. [GD&R!  ]

[Dave V]

Aspens. Yellow. Done. [GD&R!  ]

GD&R?

Going for this general look:



One could easily think the yellow here is overdone if one has not had the sublime pleasure of witnessing firsthand the brief but beautiful autumn in Colorado's high country.  It really does look like this!

Just from hiking this fall:

[C855B]

GD&R?

Grinning, ducking and running. Same sort of thing as "LOL". What, did you think it was a military acronym you hadn't heard before?

Anyway, I was mostly kidding. Mostly. I am a little surprised by the orange hues in that middle pic. Nice.

[Dave V]

Grinning, ducking and running. Same sort of thing as "LOL". What, did you think it was a military acronym you hadn't heard before?

Not at all!  I thought it was a model railroad I hadn't heard of before...   

[OldEastRR]

Not at all!  I thought it was a model railroad I hadn't heard of before...   

What, you never heard of John Allen's planned next layout after the G&D? "the Gorre, Dephetid & Rotting"?

[OldEastRR]

Later I used Neo-Lube to tint both the coupler and the shortened trip pin.

Actually, I may try some Neolube in those pickup axle pockets.  Then I get lube plus conductivity.

NEOLUBE!
Fixes noisy squeaks,
Makes metal finish antiques,
And turnout points it sleeks!

NEOLUBE! Buy it in the convenient 2-oz. bottle from

MagliALCO Erecting Shops, Portland, OR.

[John]

what I notice in the hiking pictures vs the layout example .. there is a lot more green in your pix . and way too much orange on the layout .. I think you need to find the balance between the two .    will be fun to watch you pull this off

[Dave V]

what I notice in the hiking pictures vs the layout example .. there is a lot more green in your pix . and way too much orange on the layout .. I think you need to find the balance between the two .    will be fun to watch you pull this off

True enough...  Aspen are only that pure yellow briefly and usually not the entire grove at once. 

The interesting thing about aspen is that they grow in groves with a common root system.  I've found myself on trails where I come into a field of aspen as far as the eye can see.

[Dave V]

Had some ideas regarding bridges...



For reference, the Monroe Models trestle:

http://www.monroemodels.us/9008.htm

The Bar Mills lowboy (I'd have to kitbash it for a curve):

http://www.barmillsmodels.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=88&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=999&vmcchk=1&Itemid=999

The Micro Engineering (short 15") trestle:

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Micro-Engineering-N-200-Tall-Steel-Viaduct-Standa-p/mec-75-518.htm

And lastly, the Heljan/Walthers plastic "timber" trestle kit:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/hlj/hlj666.htm

[timgill]

The Bar Mills lowboy (I'd have to kitbash it for a curve):

http://www.barmillsmodels.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=88&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=999&vmcchk=1&Itemid=999

Instead of the Bar Mills kit, I'd recommend this small curved trestle spot as an opportunity to scratchbuild one out of scale dimensional basswood. It's a project that's not too difficult, $cheap$, and fun to build.

Scratchbuilding ALL the bridges might be a daunting prospect, but just picking one of the smaller ones, like this one, could provide a fun modeling opportunity.

[Chris333]

Wonder if there is a way to modify the steel trestle so instead of towers there are just steel bents. So it looks more spindley. Maybe even reduce the height of the girders so the whole thing is less mainline looking. 

[Dave V]

Wonder if there is a way to modify the steel trestle so instead of towers there are just steel bents. So it looks more spindley. Maybe even reduce the height of the girders so the whole thing is less mainline looking. 

I was thinking the same thing...  Just doing bents.

That said, I don't know if the Midland did that.  They all seem to have towers.



The HOn3 one has just bents (like Cascade Creek and Lobato trestles on the Cumbres & Toltec):

[Dave V]

Baby steps... I haven't found any decals for Colorado Midland in N scale, so I've been piecing them together one letter at a time. I've finished the fireman's side, number plate, and tender end wall. The shine and decal film will disappear with Testors Dullcote. #34 was one of the Midland's Baldwins that survived until the end of operations.



My inspiration is this common scheme from the first decade of the 20th century:

http://www.brasstrains.com/Classic/Product/Detail/058942/HO-Brass-Model-Train-MEW-CM-Colorado-Midland-2-8-0-Steam-49-Pro-Custom

http://www.brasstrains.com/Classic/Product/Detail/056907/HO-Brass-Hallmark-Models-Colorado-Midland-Pikes-Peak-2-8-0-301-Class175-Custom-Green

Here she is in 1918 awaiting the cutting torch:

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0600/cm34.jpg

Obviously I'm going full foobie here!

[Chris333]

The silver bridge in your photo is what I was think of, but I don't know much about the real CM. I guess the Georgetown loop trestle is towers, but they are much thinner looking.  Also I've never owned the BarMills bridge, but the Blair Line short trestle comes with many different radius curve drawings to build on.
http://www.blairline.com/bridges/

[Dave V]

Maybe I'll go with the Blair Line one then.

EDIT:  So single bents would look like this:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=457037&nseq=17

Cascade Trestle on the Cumbres & Toltec.  I do think it would help the bridge not to overwhelm the layout.

Another option would be to do one full tower and one bent, kind of a mix...