Colorado Midland Railway Engineering Report

[CRL]

White glue and alcohol might be a contributor. If you accidentally used Elmer’s School Glue, especially so since that stuff is highly washable. Regular Elmer’s White Glue is a little less so. Most rocks I’ve seen added to scenic water mediums are placed loose during the pour. The dried latex paint is not water soluble, so that’s not the issue.

You might just have a simple incompatibility issue between the poured material and the water soluble glue.

[davefoxx]

I don’t know where the bubbles are or even the type of river or stream modeled, but can you hide the bubbles with “white water” rapids?  A little touch up with some paint or some Woodland Scenics special effects medium?

Boy am I glad I saw your post, though.  I need to start my lake, and it has a foam base.  I guess I’ll have to lay down some Masonite first. 

DFF

[Dave V]

So, yeah...  Resurrecting this thread.

Back in October 2017, I took the CM to our local train show that happens several times a year...the TECO (Train Expo Colorado) show.  Shortly afterward I joined SlimRail, the modular HOn3/On3 club that is one of the anchor groups for TECO.  We usually bring both our layouts (HOn3 and On3) to TECO and so once I was in the club, I worked with the club and club layout.

The TECO organizers have requested that I bring the Midland back.

So, since the RGS is in a fine state of semi-completion and since my SlimRail module (as yet unshared to TRW) is moving along at a frozen snail's pace, I feel like a rehab of the Midland would be fun.  So, these are pics I took back in August after a modest scenery refresh:











So...  In order to make this thing show-worth again I still have work to do.  To wit:

1)  Electrical work...more feeders and check for cold solder joints.  Word to the wise...don't use sectional track.  Ever.  Even if you solder all the joints.  I regret it.
2)  Replace a kink on the Basalt approach to Hop Gulch Bridge.
3)  Repair/replace the branch switch (Atlas #7...the frog is powered but not powered for some reason...will have to dig up the toggle and check).
4)  Fix a track centerline clearance issue at Basalt (you can see it clearly in the photos!)
5)  More scenery refinements.  I feel like my RGS looks a lot more like Colorado than the Midland layout, so it's time to apply lessons learned.

I also just bought another Athearn old time 2-8-0, some 3D printed Western style wagons/stage coaches, some 3D printed 1880s people, and a few more small structures for Aspen.  I'd like to also add a hotel structure behind the Basalt depot to represent the CMRy's railroad hotel that sat next to the real thing.

After working with Blackstone engines that weigh several pounds, getting back into N will be strange and not especially easy, but I think I'm up to it.  stay tuned for details!

[wm3798]

Glad to see this layout again.  I keep eyeballing those Athearn steamers and thinking impure thoughts...

Lee

[dcarrell8]

Where did you come up with the Beautiful Colorado Midland Logo centered on the fascia?  I might be looking!

[Dave V]

Found it on eBay!

[Dave V]

And THEN I think about what I could do with the CMRy on a hollow core door... 

[Hawghead]

Dave,

Isn't the CMRy already bigger than a HCD?

Scott

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Glad to see this layout again.  I keep eyeballing those Athearn steamers and thinking impure thoughts...

Lee

Haha, just wait till you run on the DC&S! I'm sad I'm gonna miss this session.

But back on topic, go Dr. Hotballz! Super excited to see this gem getting some attention.

[Dave V]

Dave,

Isn't the CMRy already bigger than a HCD?

Scott

No sir.  It’s only 30” x 60,” or 2.5 x 5 feet.

[Dave V]

My first N scale locomotive purchase is a very long time!

I've forgotten just how tiny these little gems are.  I actually have a few of them, and they usually run great.  My wiring and track on the CMRy isn't awesome so I have much tuning to do.



So tiny...  They look as if they could fit inside the boiler of an HOn3 C-19 2-8-0.



So here she is on the Midland.  FWIW--given that the CMRy was a stepchild of the AT&SF system for much of its life, I could easily leave it painted for the Santa Fe and it'd be prototypical.  But...I enjoy decaling so there's a good chance she'll end up in some variation of Colorado Midland livery.

I keep eyeballing those Athearn steamers and thinking impure thoughts...

Lee

Do it!  They're amazing little machines.  I recommend the Athearn retread over the MDC original for a number of reasons.  They seem to run better, they have an LED headlight (that you can see from space), they have a better looking tender (there's a water hatch on the cistern versus the odd coal-only MDC version), and they come with knuckle couplers.  Having changed out Crapidos for knuckles on one of the MDC engines, it's not something I would recommend for fun.

That said, they're not perfect.  The pilot coupler sticks out about half a mile.  The cab looks too small.  And the tender, though better than the MDC tender, still looks odd because of the necessity of containing the motor.  But I'm not looking for perfection...which is a good thing since they really bear little resemblance to a Colorado Midland class 136.

Maybe someday I would look into using 3D printing to make them look a bit more prototypical.  But for now, just looking to please crowds!

[Hawghead]

No sir.  It’s only 30” x 60,” or 2.5 x 5 feet.

Wow, it looks so much bigger than that in the pictures.  I'd love to see you do a new HCD version.

Scott

[Dave V]

Wow, it looks so much bigger than that in the pictures.  I'd love to see you do a new HCD version.

Scott

Tempting!  But...ultimately unlikely.  If I did an HCD version it would be super model-railroady too, with some sort of over-under thing.  Just 'cause. 

It's nice having my proto itch scratched by the RGS, so the Midland can be more of a fantasy layout.

[Hawghead]

Dave,

I was just perusing the rest of this thread (wasn't around when you did it originally) and was thinking if you did an HCD version you'd have room to do that elevated coaling tower 

Scott

[Chris333]

If you ever get published with this layout use that masterpiece of a trackplan I drew up 

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=34849.msg405755#msg405755