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
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 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.
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.
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.
gOphir
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.
The Montezuma Lumber Spur at Matterhorn
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
Bravo Steve!
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