Construction Update #35 - The First Year In Review

Since the Sn3 RGS First District anniversary is coming up in August, I thought it might be nice to take a tour around the layout and see the first year progress starting at Ridgway and working our way south to Trout Lake.  As I am sure you will notice, I tend to jump around from one project to another.

Note:  If you have viewed the blog from the beginning, you may find this post a bit repetitive.

The Plan

Room Size 22 x 27 feet.

Ridgway 

During the first two weeks of  November 2023, I came up with a new plan for Ridgway.  In the original plan, Ridgway was to be represented by visible staging tracks where the roundhouse, turntable and storage tracks are currently located.  The Old Placerville fuel oil depot and stock pens were going to be where the yard is currently located. 

November 2023 - This is the way Ridgway looked.  At this point I had run out of P-B-L Sn3 flex and it was temporarily out of production.

The current state of Ridgway (July 27, 2024).  By the end of  November 2023 I had managed to get a small batch of flex from a fellow modeler followed by a second purchase at a local swap meet.

Dallas

Not much to say here as development here is only about a week old.  For more info, see my last post, #34.

Old Placerville

Revisions were made to Old Placerville at the same time the decision was made to include Ridgway. (November 2023).  At the time, the wye was removed and a staging track for Montrose was added.  The staging track was eliminated when Dallas was added to the plan (July 2024).

November, 2023 - This is the way Old Placerville looked.  The stock pens were built from two Banta kits before the layout was started.  The Texaco oil depot was built by Bruce Hanley from a Ragg's kit.  If anyone is interested, I have a Ragg's oil depot kit available for sale.

January 27, 2024 - All the track is in and operational.  Scenery has begun to creep around behind the stock pens. .

The Placerville Gas Station and Cafe Bar round out the Old Placerville scene.  They're not  in the right locations due to lack of space but I wanted to include them.  Both were built from McCarville Studios kits.  The assembly of these kits was covered in updates # 25, 26 & 27.

Placerville

Placerville was the first scene that really got developed on the layout.  Most of the structures were built prior to starting the layout in August of 2023.

October 2023 - The north wall.  Placerville was built on 3 modules.  7 of the structures were scratch built, 6 were built from kits.

 

June 2024

 

The 20' long backdrop behind Placerville was created by Dale Krutzer and printed by Dave Wike. 

The Placerville post office was scratch built, the Placerville garage was built with parts left over from the Monster Model Works Placerville store kit.  Both are about 2 inches deep.

 

 

The Placerville depot was built from a Ragg's...To Riches? kit.

Wilson & Vanadium

 

 

Wilson

November 2023 - Both Wilson and Vanadium are being built on modules along the east wall of the room (27 feet)  The RGS had a siding in Wilson but I couldn't find any pictures.  This is what I came up with.  The San Miguel River parallels the tracks on the left.

 

 

 

March 2024 - A spur was added in order to cross the San Miguel River in order to reach a small warehouse. The kit bashed section house and storage shed is based upon the one found at Pagosa Junction on the D&RGW.

 

 

April 2024 - The rock work was carved from pink foam and painted with latex house paint to match the prototype. The backdrop here is a hold over from my old HO layout.  It was made by Trackside Scenery.

 

The small warehouse on the near side of the river was built by Bruce Hanley.

Vanadium

November 2023 - Structures mocked up for the mill complex based upon a photograph.  I don't have nearly enough space to duplicated the prototype so I picked 5 key structures and built mock ups.  No additional work has been done.

Vance Junction

November 2023 - The first test train through Vance Junction.  All of my locomotives are brass imports from P-B-L and equipped with Tsunami2 decoders, TCS current keepers and TCS speakers.

December 2023 - The coal pockets.  The coal pockets at Vance Junction were built by Bruce Hanley.  These and several other fine structures were acquired from Bruce when he removed his layout.  No additional work has been done at Vance Junction but the kits are on hand to finish out this scene.

 

 

November 2023 - The curve between Vance Junction and Trestle 45A.  The minimum radius on the layout is 32", the maximum grade is 2.5%.  Eventually the Telluride Branch will branch off from the south end of Vance Junction, curve around behind the train and drop down to a hidden staging track between Ophir and Vance Junction.

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Ophir

November 2023 - The first train crosses the future location of Brige 45A prior to arriving at Ophir.  All the components are built for the bridge and are ready to install.

And around the Ophir Loop.  No additional work has been done at Ophir.

June 2024 - Basic hard shell around Ophir siding.  The Aspen Grove, shown in the next photo is located in the cut just beyond the siding.

The "Cut" between Ophir & Matterhorn

 June 2024 - The rock here was gathered on Blewett Pass in the Cascade Mountains.

Matterhorn

June 2024 - The B Hanley Mining Co temporarily set it it's future location.

July 2024 - B Hanley Mining Company

 

The Montezuma Lumber Spur at Matterhorn

 

June 2024 - Matterhorn Siding.  Terrain was built up using pink foam profiles, cardboard webbing, red rosin paper, plaster cloth and Sculptamold.  Basic ground cover is paving sand from Home Depot.

 

July 2024 - RGS #42 at Matterhorn Siding.  The ballast is Highball HO "Cinders".

The Temporary Reverse Loop at Trout Lake

July 2024 - The reverse loop at Trout Lake will eventually be removed and the mainline will cross in front of the entry door on a lift/swing out, pass through the snow sheds at Lizard Head and enter the Rico staging yard on a shelf above Ridgway yard.

Progress to date is detailed in posts 1-34.  Your comments, suggestions & questions are welcome. sdepolo@outlook.com

Construction Update #34 - The Dilemma, Dallas and Structures that need a New Home

The Dilemma

July 22, 2024 

 

The actual distance between Ridgway and Placerville is about 26 miles and includes a nearly two thousand foot climb up and over Dallas Divide.  On the layout, I have about 36" between the south end of Ridgway yard and the oil depot and stock pens at Placerville.  And, the 36 inches included a junction (turnout) that led to the Montrose staging track behind the scenery at Old Placerville.

 

Here is the area in question.  In addition, this is the only section of the layout that lacks a backdrop.  The south end of the Ridgway yard is on the left, old Placerville is on the right.  Note that when this photo was taken, the junction that previously led to Montrose (staging) has been removed.  I decided to use a track in the Ridgway yard to stage Montrose traffic.

 

Dallas

July 23, 2024

The now extinct town of Dallas was located about 3 miles north of Ridgway.  Founded in 1880, it was originally a stage stop on a toll road between Montrose and Ouray.  The D&RGW arrived in 1887 and the town was incorporated in 1889.  By 1890, the town of Ridgway became the prominent town in the area and by 1899, with the closing of the post office, Dallas had all but disappeared. 

Main Street, Dallas, CO

 

Since I didn't have the room to replicate the town of Ridgway, I decided use some modeler's license to revive Dallas and incorporate it into the layout using the limited space between the Ridgway yard and Old Placerville.  To that end, I started laying out the town with some buildings I had sitting around.  The layout included a spur and warehouse.

The Milling Company

July 24, 2024

Using a bit of modeler's license, I think a better alternative is shown in the following photos.  The structure, that was included in the wharf scene on my old Sn3 Alaska Pacific, was originally located on Paul Scoles' Pelican Bay Railway & Navigation Company. 

                                                                                                                          Sn2 Modeler Photo

Here it is sitting in "Dallas".  I think the complex lends itself to a conversion from a fish canning operation into a a wood products milling operation.

The pink foam sheet in the background represents a view block that separates Dallas from Old Placerville.  The plan here is to wrap the backdrop around the back and right side of the structure with the mainline passing through the backdrop obscured by a cut and/or trees.

 

Raw materials are received at the loading dock on the near side of the complex.

Finished products are shipped on the inner track.

A Depot for Dallas

July 25, 2024

Here's another one of those cool little structure I got from Bruce Hanley.  It fits nicely into the limited amount of space between the mainline and the future backdrop.  It does need a new sign.

Structures in need of a new Home

The first three structures were built for my short lived Sn3 Arroyo Lobo Branch and since I can't use them on the RGS First District they need a new home.  I am open to any reasonable offer to include cash or trade to anyone who has an interest.  sdepolo@outlook.com  Upon request, I can provide additional photos.

This depot was inspired by the RGS depot at Vance Junction.  It was built into a hillside diorama that can be easily set into the layout.  It is scratch built, wood over styrene, using Grandt Line doors and windows.  The roof is removable.  The wood shingles are from Builders in Scale.

This depot was inspired by the D&RGW depot at Cumbres.  It is scratch built, wood over styrene, using Grandt Line doors and windows.  The roof is removable.  The wood shingles are from Builders in Scale.

The Chama Lube House was built from a P-B-L kit.  Both the roof and the loading dock are removable.

This is the barn at the end of the wye on the RGS at Placerville.  I built it from a McCarville Studios kit.  I had planned to use it on the 1st District but I don't have the room for it.

As Always, your comments, suggestions & questions are welcome

sdepolo@outlook.com