Sn3 RGS First District: Construction Update #61- Finishing up the basic ground cover at Ridgway & getting started on West Placerville

Ridgway Commercial District - August 12, 2026

D&RGW C-21 #361 crossing Railroad Avenue. Most of the photographs were taken with a I-Phone, 10 images with Camera Pixels, and rendered with Helicon Focus. This little street scene, made up from "leftovers" has turned out to be one of my favorites.

Ridgway Yard

The ballast and basic ground cover got finished in front of the lube house and depot.

Eventually I'll get the Ridgway Depot finished and it will replace the lube house (P-B-L Chama kit) and the proto-freelanced D&RGW scratch built depot.

The Engine Facility - August 15, 2026

Three D&RGW locomotives gathered around the turntable leads. Most of the basic ground cover is in place in and around the Ridgway Engine Facility. I have probably already mentioned the backdrop. The backdrop was created by Dale Krutzer from photographs he took at the actual location. It is about 27' long.

A view looking back towards the turntable and roundhouse.

Dallas Divide and West Placerville - August 17, 2026

The next area I really need to work on is West Placerville. The stock pens and fuel oil dealer are located in a difficult space, visually, right on the other side of the Dallas backdrop. The space is roughly 2'x6'.

The Dallas side of the backdrop. The mainline passes through the backdrop just behind the water tank.

The West Placerville side of the backdrop. My route over Dallas Divide is a bit shorter than the prototype's 26.6 miles; less than a foot! Squeezing the fuel oil dealer into the available space and disguising where the tracks pass through the backdrop may prove to be a challenge. Two of the original three garage doors were removed and replaced with windows.

As some of you already know, the current RGS layout is the 4th layout to occupy my layout room in the last 26 years. As a result, I have lot of leftovers floating around, primarily in my barn. The West Placerville backdrop is one of those leftovers. The height of the old backdrop was reduced by 8 inches and the length by 2 inches. After a test fit, the pass through for the mainline was cut, a couple of old screw holes were filled, and the backdrop got a fresh coat of sky blue exterior house paint. Here it is ready to be installed.

West Placerville with the backdrop and proposed view block in place.

The view looking south with the Placerville gas station and cafe visible on the right. The lighting still needs some work to cut down on the shadows. There is only one section on LED strip lighting right over the stock pens.