Let there be light

Modeling the AT&SF - D&RGW Joint Line through Colorado Springs from Milepost 70 to Milepost 80 circa 1978-1979

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Post 27: Let there be light

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I know, I know, I'm supposed to be laying track right now, not getting side tracked yet again. Actually I did make a start at laying down cork and installing the main track, industry switch lead siding, and south crossover in Kelker-Drennan, but it was frustrating doing so wearing a head lamp with my photo light fans whirling away.

"That's it," I said to myself, trying to lay track in the dark is not going to work. I need to get some lighting up first so I can see what I'm doing.

Fortunately I had already read a few modeler blog posts on how they used LED strip lighting on their layouts and watched several youtube how-to videos. Most of the blog and video examples I found worked with inexpensive (read cheap) strips of exposed LED chips in lengths of 5 meters (16 ft 3in) or less, with a color temperature of 3700K (similar to warm incandescent lighting) or 5000K (like bluish full daylight), and a CRI of only 8o or less (with 100 being perfect), and in many cases two side-by-side 12 volt strips were used to satisfactorily illuminate a layout, meaning they were not bright enough.

As a professional photographer I was already versed in color temperature (expressed in K for Kelvin), lumens (light intensity), and Color Rendering Index (CRI, how accurately a light source renders colors). I had already researched what is currently available and thought about how I might install it, and I had worked up a realistic ballpark budget, so it was time to bite the bullet and place an order for at least a first strip of LEDs to test out and a power supply to drive them.

I wanted something in 4000K neutral white, with a CRI of at least 90, that could light the layout with just one strip. That used to be a rather tall order, but not any more.

There's a new generation of strip lights called COB LEDs (Chip On Board) that pack way more LED chips and more lumens per foot, plus the LEDs are covered with a continuous flexible phosphor gel diffusing coating, meaning that the row of individual dots of bright light characteristic of LED strip lights is gone, replaced by a continuous ribbon of diffused bright light.

One popular brand of COB LEDs with a good reputation that people are using is Hitlights so I looked at them first. They make a high density model in 4000K, 90+ CRI, with 155 LEDs per foot producing 350 lumen/foot in a 16 foot strip.

Then I found another brand, BTF-Lighting. They offer a similar High Luminance strip using more powerful FCOB flip-chip LEDs with 148 LED/ft producing 596 lumen/ft. Plus they sell them in longer 10 meter rolls (32ft 6in), which makes them a bit less expensive per foot but considerably brighter.

Both options require a 24 volt transformer power supply, and not the simple black cube you just plug in the wall. Be sure to match the transformer to the wattage and amperage of your total run of strips as you may need to split your run and use more than one transformer.

Also, both COB and FCOB LED strips generate considerable heat, so mounting the strips on a metal heat sink is essential so you don't reduce their operating life. Both come with 3M peel & stick backing tape for this purpose. You can buy extruded aluminum channel designed specifically for the purpose, including a 45° version to wash both the layout surface and the back drop at the same time. 

I decided to go with a cheaper alternative, 10ft long white-painted steel door & window drip flashing:

Once my test components arrived I quickly hooked them up. Man was it bright! Just holding the strip up with my arms stretched up and out I could see that this was going to make a world of difference. I got to work setting up a test installation so I could verify if a single strip would do the job I hoped it would, work out how high the strip should be mounted above the layout deck, how tall the valence should be, and how the LED rendered the color of the models.

I started by drilling and screwing an 8ft 1x2 on edge to the floor joists above Springs Yard (51in high) to which I could clamp (later screw) a 1/8in tempered hardboard valence. My first test used a 15in valence, putting the bottom edge 25in above the layout, with the front of the valence directly above the front edge of the layout.

I temporarily taped the LED strip to the canted flange of the drip flashing as shown above, and clamped the flashing along the bottom edge of the valence. Then I plugged the transformer in.

Voila! Let there be light!

What a difference. Both the layout deck and the sky blue wall backdrop were washed in neutral, even, diffused light. This was going to work! I left the test setup running as I worked on other projects, checking in on it from time to time to gauge my impression over time.

After a while I felt that it could be just a tad brighter on the deck of the layout, so I tried holding up some white reflectors to see if more light could be directed downward. The canted flange of the flashing blocks light from the upper back side of the valence, so painting it white would not make much difference. Same for adding a white surface fastened across the bottom of the joists. If anything, that would just bounce reflected blue off the backdrop downward, which I didn't want. The solution would be to either bring the light strip down closer to the layout deck, or add a second parallel light strip, which would double the project cost, something I don't want to have to to. That would also almost certainly be too bright, unless I used a lower output second strip.

So I took the test setup down and put up a deeper, 20in valence, bringing the strip light down 5in closer to the deck. I also addressed another problem: with the valence directly above the layout edge any models close to the front edge were dark and looked unnaturally backlit, so I moved the 1x2 forward 1 1/2in.

Both fixes worked. The overall light level on the deck was noticeably brighter, and objects along the front edge of the layout no longer looked backlit. But there was a new problem: the bottom edge of the valence was now at 71 inches, meaning my head would brush it if I leaned in at all. Reaching far into the layout to do any work, like laying track, would be a very tight squeeze. I'm going to have to go back up to an 18in tall valence (22in above deck, 73in above floor), which I think will also make for a more pleasing letterbox view. I'll live with that for a while to see if I need to add a second, lower-power strip or not. Meanwhile I will have to temporarily mount the lighting much higher while laying track and putting in scenery along the back areas.

To complete the test I put out the building mockups along the yard to see how their shadows will look, along with a selection of different colored freight cars and locomotives to the judge the color rendition of the LEDs. I was completely satisfied on this score. The photos here have had no color correction done at all and look just fine. See what you think. 

My take is the higher CRI, higher output FCOB LEDs are definitely worth the extra cost to me.

 

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The Vision

 

Modeling the AT&SF - D&RGW Joint Line through Colorado Springs from Milepost 70 to Milepost 80 circa 1978-1979

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Post 26: The Vision

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  (Very large image, open in a new window to enlarge)

We had visitors coming.

And naturally, as they know that I am building a model railroad in the basement they wanted to see the trains.

Well, that's a problem. A recurring one, since I don't actually have track down yet and can't run trains for them.

So I did what I usually do, I put some structure mock-ups out where they belong and placed a few locomotives and cars where they might commonly be seen working. Gotta show them something, after all.

I had a bit of a head start as a fellow modeler stopped in yesterday to take a quick look at progress on the layout before we headed off to an ops session on another modeler's layout, so the layout room was already more or less presentable.

This time was different, though. The whole south end of the layout sort of came alive as a unified whole for the first time, from the Cimarron overpass at the south end of Springs Yard right across the room through Kelker-Drennan to the Santa Fe bridge across Sand Creek atop the swing gate.

It was almost magical to see how far I've come and how close I am to realizing my dream of bringing the Joint Line alive in my basement.

That's why I spend so much time mocking things up full size. To work out the vision in three dimensions and figure out how best to build it. And to keep myself motivated and moving forward.

And isn't that the whole point?

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Using the Corner

 

Modeling the AT&SF - D&RGW Joint Line through Colorado Springs from Milepost 70 to Milepost 80 circa 1978-1979

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Post 25: Using the Corner

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Although I was pleased when I completed the last bit of mainline benchwork that now connects Kelker-Drennan to the swing gate (see the bottom of Filling in the Gaps), I also couldn't help feeling something was missing here. Frankly, scenically this is the weakest section of the layout. Although the prototype main line does curve through here on its approach to the Santa Fe bridge over Sand Creek, which will be modeled atop the swing gate, on the layout this section is more just a utilitarian connection from A to B, constrained by the available space and track geometry, with the mainline pushed right up against the wall because it has to be. As I said, I will attempt to downplay the main through here by placing a berm and vegetation between it and the Army's line to Fort Carson and live with it.

But that still leaves a fair size empty space to deal with back in the corner at the south end of the Drennan Industrial Park beyond the LPG dealer. I suppose I could have coved the corner here and built up a low bluff with scrub woods to create a scenic transition, but that wouldn't really feel right for the location, which is more open. In later times a spur track was extended back there to serve Columbine Steel, along with a rather large Strescon precast facility, and the Rock & Rail unit aggregate train operation, but they were all well beyond my modeling era, plus I didn't want to squeeze something into a space that wasn't big enough to fit more than a caricature. Besides, any track extending back into the corner would be a real stretch to reach. No more of that, thanks.

But there was an industry typical of the area that would fit both the place and space quite nicely, even if it was not rail served. As I mentioned in my post on laying out Kelker-Drennan, the industrial park at the south edge of Colorado Springs sits atop a large deposit of alluvial sand and gravel that has been developed by extractive and construction operations. Over time it has been filled up with scrap yards, sand and aggregate pits, concrete batch plants, a precast concrete operation, asphalt plants, and the like.

That last industry would make good use of the empty corner with a business that is typical of the Kelker-Drennan industrial area. In fact, today there are two hot-mix asphalt plants in the neighborhood. Kiewit Western is located diagonally across the mainline from Western Scrap Metal, which is represented on the layout, while Martin Marietta is located just a little bit further south. Both are large current-day operations with modern, high capacity plants and sprawling yards for material piles, yet neither of them justify direct rail service. (Very few asphalt plants do.)

What I envision would be a much smaller operation, however. This quick and dirty low-res Photoshop mock-up will give you some idea of what I was thinking.

I'm not actually positive that there even was an asphalt plant present in my modeling era or not, as there is a gap in my collection of aerial photos and satellite views of the area, but I'm not sure that there wasn't one either. For sure it would not look out of place or time on the layout as asphalt plants are not just widespread, they are downright ubiquitous, since paving asphalt is in demand locally just about everywhere for use as a roadway, parking lot, work area and runway surface, and it all periodically needs to be renewed.

Asphalt plants come in several types and sizes, ranging from small portable drum plants with all components mounted on semi-trailer chassis or skids so that they can easily be relocated from one work site to another as needed, through older batch plants with fixed elevated mixing towers, more modern continuous-production drum plants, right up to really large concerns with multiple mixing plants on the same site, as I learned when I took a deep dive research side trip into asphalt mixing plants.

Oh, oh, there he goes down another distracting rabbit hole when he should be getting on with the real work of putting down track. I won't bore you with my findings on prototype asphalt plants here, but for those who are interested in learning more here are three useful references for further reading with good photos and diagrams:

Asphalt Production, a Power Point slide deck pdf

Hot-Mix Asphalt Plant Operations, an FAA/US Army Corps of Engineers pdf

Energy Efficiency and Cost Saving Opportunities for Asphalt Mixture Production, an Energy Star pdf

You can also check out the websites of some of the asphalt plant manufacturers for high quality photos of their equipment. Some good ones I looked at were Almix, Astec, CWMF, Gencor, and Tarmac International. Most of their products are physically very similar (no doubt they would beg to disagree), with paint scheme and logos being the main visual difference for us modelers.

We'll just look at what I've come up with for a solution on the layout. Those who are only mildly interested can just read on and look at the pictures here.

Below are two typical small, compact counter-flow drum plants with three silos similar to what I'm thinking. 

 

The down on view is neat as it clearly shows a cramped older plant that has been added to over time. Note the original horizontal liquid asphalt storage tank in a concrete containment revetment, and the newer vertical tanks in their own steel revetment. Other views show that it has two original silos with a third added silo of slightly larger diameter. 

And here's a schematic illustration of a typical plant with the major components identified. 

The individual components can be arranged in different layouts to facilitate material flow and space constraints, but a T configuration is common, as seen in the two photos. Add an LPG tank or a heavy pipe stand if the plant is fired by gas.

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Walthers makes a kit for a small asphalt plant with two storage silos. It represents a very basic continuous-production, parallel-flow drum hot-mix plant, which have been around since the early 1970s, so it should fit my era.  Figuring it would probably do the trick for what is essentially non-rail scenery, I picked one up. Well, that was the plan anyway.

Now, I give Walthers full credit for developing the "industry suite" concept of model product and marketing, combining a freight car(s), a structure kit(s), and a family of related vehicle, detail and scenery items all geared to modeling an identifiable typical industry. Their Black Gold Asphalt Plant (933-3085) is a case in point. The problem is their structure kits can be hit and miss in terms of execution. Sometimes the need to simplify and compress a large industry into a layout size footprint just stretches plausibility too far—even to the point of caricature. And sometimes the quality just isn't there, with grossly over thick molded parts and details. 

I found that their asphalt plant kit suffers from both problems to some extent. While the bag house and the hot exhaust and dust duct work were perfectly acceptable, I found the steel support structure for the tall storage silos to be grossly rendered, even for background scenery purposes. And the drum mixer-heater was ridiculously under size, tiny even.

Clearly I would not be satisfied building the kit as is, so I looked to see if I could turn this sow's ear into at least a simulated leather purse.

I figure I can use the baghouse and duct work, aggregate feed bins, and conveyors more or less as is, along with the drum support base, trunnion rollers and some other parts. I've already cut some Plastruct 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 inch ABS tubing to fashion a more plausible drum mixer-heater and rings. And I will be modeling a slightly different counter-flow drum with the ducting at the opposite end.

The kit's horizontal insulated warm liquid asphalt storage tank is fine, but I prefer a pair of vertical tanks, which I cut from the same ABS tubing. (The fine-tooth finishing blade on my chop saw worked just fine as long as I didn't bring it down too fast.)

The hot-mix storage silos are another matter. As I said, the kit's steel silo support structure is totally unacceptable, so I purchased the appropriate sizes of Evergreen styrene H and I shapes to scratch build a replacement support structure. The kit's silos themselves are formed of six separate segments that you stack and glue together, which does simulate the insulation jacketing used on some prototype silos, but I want to model a three-silo plant, so rather than buy another kit full of parts that I won't use I cut three identical lengths from a piece of nominal 1 1/4 inch ABS plumbing pipe that I had on hand that turned out to be only .o15" fatter than the stock Walthers parts.

The kit includes an enclosed vertical bucket elevator to charge the silos, but I preferred a more visually interesting enclosed slat conveyor inclined at 45°. The Model Mechanic used to list a 3D printed one on Shapeways, but it should be easy enough to scratch build one from sheet and strip styrene. The kit does not include a truck scale, usually located in the loading lane beneath the silos. It should be easy enough to fabricate one from .060" styrene sheet. Small hopper silos for the collected dust and additives, stairs and catwalks, the gas blower, wiring for the drum motors, and piping for the liquid asphalt will round out the plant.

Most plants are painted utilitarian light grey or tan, but I did find some that were light blue and even black. Perhaps the sharpest looking ones are made by Astec, wearing basic tan with dark chocolate brown lower sections (the better to hide spilled asphalt), with a red-orange separation stripe.

A finer looking support structure, three silos, the sloped conveyor, and a new mixer drum should insure that my model plant will look quite different from the stock Walthers kit.

So how might the plant look in the corner on the layout? Here you go, all mocked up:

 

In the foreground is the line to Fort Carson. The red & white pickup is crossing the mainline on Las Vegas Street, with the entrance into Summit Asphalt behind it. Maybe put just the front facade of the office right against the wall, or just keep it as is and leave it to the imagination? Does it look cramped and forced to you, or will it look believable, like it fits the location and era, distracting you as the mainline sneaks out of the scene? 

Let me know what you think.

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Gate Revisited

 

Modeling the AT&SF - D&RGW Joint Line through Colorado Springs from Milepost 70 to Milepost 80 circa 1978-1979

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Post 24: Gate Revisited

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As I reported last time, mainline benchwork is now complete all the way around the layout room but I still needed to build a temporary bridge atop the swing gate. Doing that forced me to revisit the gate and finally resolve how to reliably align and secure it when operating yet make it easy to open and close for hassle free access in and out of the layout room.

I described building the swing gate in my second post to this blog way back in November of 2023. Back then I left unresolved how the gate would be opened and closed easily while ensuring that the track would be properly aligned each time and every time, kicking the can down the road 'til Later.

(click on images to enlarge)

Well, Later finally arrived: it was high time to figure it out and make it happen. And it proved easier than I had feared and just goes to show that if you cogitate on a problem long enough—not worry and fret about it, just cogitate on it while you're busy working on other things, sometimes necessity really can be the mother of invention.

Along the way I'd contemplated various ways to install a simple slide bolt, but it had to have very little play and be accessible from both sides. There are garden gate latches that are dually accessible, but I didn't find them to be that reliable or accurate. Finally, I looked at using an ordinary passage hand set door knob—I had built the gate more or less as a hollow-core door, after all. Unfortunately the gate was way too thick, plus there was too much structure inside near the end where the knob would need to be.

Then it dawned on me that I might be able to sister in a block on the underside of the end to use to mount the hand set in. I even happened to have the perfect piece of stock on hand for the job: a cut-off piece of 1 1/2 inch Beech butcher block countertop. After cutting the block to size and proper angle to fit the gate I drilled it to fit a standard hand set and latch bolt on the drill press and morticed it for the faceplate, just as on a standard door. Then it was clamped up and securely blocked and pocket screwed in place, and the handset installed.

The gate would be aligned when it was pressed firmly against the jamb, so all I needed was to install a block on the back side of the jamb with a hole to receive the latch bolt and add the striker plate. Locating the edge of the striker was critical: too far in and the latch bolt would not engage reliably, too far out and there would be too much play for reliable track alignment. I'm glad to say that I got it exactly right first try: the gate closes without needing to lean in on it, and there is no wiggle room once the latch extends and engages the striker plate, just as required for reliable train movement. Operation is smooth as silk with positive engagement every time.

Once the gate was fully operational a temporary bridge was easy enough to install using a length of 3/4 x 3 poplar trim board, with one end trimmed to a 9° angle for a keystone mate with the 3/4 plywood at the end of the staging yard baseboard. The angle allows clearance when swinging the gate open and closed, plus the gap crosses the track at more or less 90° where it curves onto the gate/bridge, meaning no sharp pointed rail ends.

Next step, lay cork roadbed and rail! 

Well, that and figure out reliable, automatic electrical connections for power and signals across the gate. And a fail-safe power kill-switch for the approaches.

There's always something more to do.

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Filling in the gaps

 

Modeling the AT&SF - D&RGW Joint Line through Colorado Springs from Milepost 70 to Milepost 80 circa 1978-1979

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Post 23: Filling in the gaps        (Edited May 9)

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A bit of travel and then a bad late winter-early spring cold kept me from working on the layout at all for a few weeks, and of course then I had to overcome inertia and rebuild my momentum. I'm finally back up to speed and have been working intently on filling in the last remaining gaps in the benchwork.

This post will cover finishing connecting Springs Yard down grade past the Santa Fe yard to link up with Kelker/Drennan. The mainline roadbed was in through here, but not the benchwork to support it. It turned out to be a much more complicated task than I had anticipated.

Here's the view into the corner showing the scope of my last week and a half of work. At the left edge is the subway for Costilla Street/Nevada Avenue, at right is the gap for Shooks Run/Spring Creek. The baseboard for the Transit Mix batch plant is new, as is the benchwork along the front edge to support the mainline.

When I built the baseboard in the corner for the Santa Fe yard I knew that the mainline would be lower and curve across in front of the yard. I figured I could simply graft the support framework for the main onto the yard baseboard. Well, that turned out to be far easier said than done.

First, the Santa Fe yard was already a pretty deep scene, and adding the mainline in front of it would only make it deeper. Second, since the edge of the layout would be a large, continuous curve here, the framing would be more complex, plus I was building out to an unknown edge in space. So the first order of business was to put up a temporary hard board fascia to build out to.

That done, I set to work slowly and methodically marking lengths and angles, then setting up the saw, cutting board by board to fit. That meant lots of trips upstairs to the shop in the garage and back down to test fit each piece before screwing it in place. Rinse and repeat as many times as necessary.

Here's the result. Did I mention that adding the mainline along the front edge of the yard would make the benchwork deeper? Like a lot deeper.

The yard throat turnouts at the left will be within reach, but those tying into the tail track back behind the Santa Fe Geep will be way beyond reach, never mind the customer spurs back in the corner. 

Now, I regularly operate on a layout with a yard that is up to 8 feet wide in places, so I know it can be done as long as you make your trackwork, trucks, wheelsets and couplers absolutely bullet proof, but even then sooner or later you are going to have to reach into the deepest spot to rerail a car, or replace a turnout, or whatever—trust me, it's gonna happen, so you'd better be ready for it. 

So what to do?

 

 

You do what lots of other model railroaders have done, you build in an access hatch. I already had one practically ready-made in the form of the baseboard for the concrete batch plant, but there was a wrinkle. The spur serving the plant had to run onto that baseboard, and at an acute angle to boot. There was no way I wanted to deal with a gap in the spur that would have to align perfectly without fail every single time the hatch was removed and replaced. Plus the rails would come to sharp points at the gap and would be sure to catch on something sooner or later and deform, rip out, or hurt someone (meaning me).

 

 

The solution was to sever off a wedge shaped slice of the baseboard right up to the edge of the spur track and permanently affix it and the spur to the benchwork framework. This will place the hatch joint right along the very end of the ties where I figure it will be least noticeable.

 

The batch plant structures will of course have to be built for easy removal, so whenever the need for access arises in future they will be cleared off, and a couple bracket screws removed from below, leaving the hatch free to lift up, also from below. That means there will have to be a second person present to hand it off too. Anyway, that's the plan. So far so good, we'll see how well it works once scenery is in place.

By the way, that white tube down at the bottom of the frame is a sewer main trunk pipe bridging across Spring Creek to reach the treatment plant on the other side.

 

That brings layout progress up to date, leaving only one more gap in the benchwork to fill between the south end of Kelker/Drennan and the swing gate, which should be much more straight forward, but you know how sideways things can go when you get overconfident, so stay tuned. With any luck the Golden Screw moment could be very soon now.

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Postscript Addendum        (Added May 9)

Northbound Santa Fe train 314 is rolling off the Sand Creek bridge and is about to enter Kelker on the Joint Line main. Meanwhile, the Rio Grande local's GP9 is using the Army's Fort Carson line for head room as it doubles over a cut of DODX flats to haul back to Springs Yard.

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As I had anticipated, building the benchwork for the transition between the south end of Kelker and the swing gate proved to be straight forward with no snafus. This last section supports the Joint Line mainline at the back, with the Army's line to Fort Carson in the foreground. 

This arrangement is very much a compromise as in reality the Ft. Carson line curves sharply to run southwest while the Main continues southeast, so the two do not run parallel here. And the Ft Carson line certainly doesn't tie back into the Main, but it has to on the layout to get across the swing gate to reach the staging yard. I'll add a berm and vegetation between the two tracks to make their proximity a little less obvious. I also had to compromise on track radius here, dropping down from 42 to 36 inches to get everything to fit. Such is life in the real world.

It may not be the Golden Screw moment quite yet as I still have to build a temporary bridge atop the swing gate, but mainline benchwork is now complete all the way around the layout room, not counting the peninsulas for the Russina Spur and Drake Station, and a bump-out for the wye in Springs Yard.

It also finishes off any excuses I have for getting started on laying track, so stay tuned.

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Fitting in Drake Station

 

Modeling the AT&SF - D&RGW Joint Line through Colorado Springs from Milepost 70 to Milepost 80 circa 1978-1979

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Post 22: Fitting in Drake Station

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  The Rio Grande Springs switch job has just shoved a cut of loaded quad hoppers across

Conejos Street into the Martin Drake Power Station and is now pulling out a cut of empties

to take back to the yard.

In the last post I was installing the main line and siding roadbed in front of the Springs yard switch lead and the Santa Fe connecting track and yard throat. That's now done, it's in the background, with the mocked-up CTC signal plant. Beside it and a bit lower is the base board for Conejos Street. Yet to be added is the plywood for the Drake Power Station grounds, which is what this post is about. The structure mock-up behind the hoppers is the north end of the turbine and generator hall, the only part of the plant building that will be modeled on the layout, and even then only as a 2 inch deep flat at that, as behind it is an operating pocket aisle for working the Santa Fe yard and industries in the distance. Designing and building this section of the layout proved to be quite a challenge, but the power plant was the largest customer in the Springs, so I really wanted to simulate its traffic in and out of the plant. I was able to do it, but just barely.

 

Here is a view of Drake Station looking south from the Cimarron Street overpass. The main track is at center, with the plant lead peeling off to cross Conejos Street and then squeeze between the power house and the cooling banks. Except for that low section of the north wall of the turbine & generator hall the enormous plant structure will be off the layout "in the aisle." Note the phone box on the code pole for contacting the Dispatcher to request "tack & time" on the Main when switching the plant.

These aerial views show just how large even a compact coal fired power plant can be.

 

1974 aerial looking west, with the plant lead running in between the main building and the cooling banks. Note the three transformers along Conejos Street beside the main building. These stepped up voltage for transmission to local step-down substations located around the city and environs.

Drake Station started out as a small municipally owned electric generating plant built on the site of the old Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek District Railway yards and shops. The original low brick building at the left was built in 1924-25 and enlarged in 1931 to ultimately house four coal-fired boilers, Units 1 through 4. Coal was delivered on a short spur off the D&RGW main that ran onto a coal dump trestle at the north end of the building.

In 1962 a modern 46 megawatt plant was built to the right of the original structure (the block directly under the thin left stack). This new Unit 5 complex was named for Martin Drake, a long time municipal Councillor instrumental in advocating for electrification and public works in the city.

The plant was expanded in 1968 with the addition of 77 MW Unit 6 (the block beneath the center stack), and then expanded again in 1974 with 131 MW Unit 7 (the tallest block beneath the right stack). This is the final configuration seen in the photos.

1983 aerial from the west, with a 65-ton GE plant switcher at the bottom working empties below the dumping pit.

The expanded plant was pretty cramped, with the plant lead curving south between the coal storage pile and Monument Creek. Initially the plant tracks couldn't handle a full trainload of the Grande's standard quad hoppers, but they were later extended. Circa 1986 a completely new plant lead was constructed to the north (left) of the cooling banks, and the tracks were completely reconfigured and extended to be able to handle an entire unit train of CSUX rapid discharge hoppers.

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So how could I fit in just enough trackage to be able to deliver coal loads into the plant and pull empties out.

It was a given that the very large plant buildings would be assumed to be off the layout in the aisle. At first I thought I could just squeeze two stub tracks in along the front edge of the layout, but several problems immediately became apparent with that plan. First was track length; there just wasn't enough distance to the Nevada Avenue subway to make it worth while. Second was layout depth; I'd have to scrap modeling Conejos Street to keep from making the layout any deeper. And finally, it didn't look at all like what was actually there; it just looked like a model railroad with too much track squeezed it.

The next idea was to explore if a short stub mini-peninsula would fit without unduly constricting the aisle as it passed around the turnback loop out of north end staging. I had seen how Joe Atkinson had made this work on his Iowa Interstate 4th Sub layout to fit in the Atlantic Spur on a long, skinny peninsulette. I didn't need anywhere near as long a run, so maybe it could work here.

First I just propped up a board to see what it might look like and if there was room to fit it in.

 

OK, that could work. Make it a bit wider, 9-10 inches or so. And longer, just enough to hold 8 quad hoppers per track, which is about a third of a train length, the size of the cut that will be set out in the yard. And curve it in at the end to tuck it in and create a pocket aisle for working the Santa Fe yard and industries in the corner.

Next iteration was to draw it out on cardboard and then prop that up.

Hey, now were' getting somewhere. It fits without constricting the aisle or hindering an operator working in the corner. It has a wide base to attach to the main layout to give it stability. It's long enough to hold two 8 car cuts (one loaded, one empty). And it preserves the open feel of the actual location. There's even room to add at least a suggestion of the plant buildings.

And there's also room to include the dumping pit. I've just gotta model that tower for the car shaker and the flanking corrugated sheet metal screens that help contain the coal dust.

I think we're in business here, there's actually a customer to switch those coal hoppers into instead of just letting them sit in the yard between ops sessions.

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While the Rio Grande delivered coal loads into the plant and hauled out empties, several small city-owned GE locomotives handled switching chores within the plant grounds, slowly shoving loads over the dump pit and assembling cuts of empties for pickup.

City of Colorado Springs unit 9701 was a former U.S. Navy GE 65 ton numbered 65-00063, built 5-45, CN 27866. The unit looks like a typical GE 44-tonner until you notice the extra thick plate steel deck, which added ballast for increased traction. Here it is sitting beside the cooling banks in 1977.

CCS unit 97o2 was formerly U.S. Department of Interior GE 45 ton number 120, built 5-55, CN 32340. It proved too light for the job and left the property in 1978. It was spotting cars over the dump pit in 1977.

The 45 ton was replaced by CCS unit 9703, former Saint Johnsbury & Lamoille County GE 70 ton number 48, built 3-48, CN 29299, shown here in 1979.

 

The 65 and 45 ton units wore a black hood scheme with safety yellow pilots, sills and cab roof, and a small City of Colorado Springs roundel on the cabside. The 70-tonner introduced a much more lively yellow scheme with black pilots, sills, and two broad hood stripes emblazoned with white City Of Colorado Springs lettering. The 65-tonner later got a similar yellow makeover.

For sure my rendition of the plant trackage is far too limited to require an operating plant switcher, but I couldn't resist relocating a pocket spur out front on which to park one of the switchers. I traded my friend Steve Lucas a resin flat car kit for an old Bachmann 70-tonner. It's an early run with two motors but that doesn't matter as it will just sit there, waiting out of the way as the Grande switcher shoves loads in and pulls the empties, or posed for photos shoving loads over the pit. I splurged and ordered a Kaslo Shops 3D printed shell that is a much closer match for CCS 9703, which I admit will make for what is essentially a fairly expensive piece of scenery.

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Modeling tips

For those with ample room to spare, perhaps inside a turn-back loop or atop a helix, the entire Drake plant could be nicely represented using Walthers kits. For the main power house either the Metro Power & Light generating plant (933-4052) or the Lakefront Energy Power Plant (933-4172) could be used. The latter is the same kit revised with an added fly ash collector bag house and a new larger stack. Two or even three kits could be combined to better capture the massive size of the Drake plant.

The Walthers Conveyors with Transfer House (933-4171) kit is almost a ready-made duplicate of the Drake conveyor set up, but with a slightly different arrangement of the conveyors. The Drake conveyor enclosures are also rectangular in cross section.

Walthers' Cooling Tower Facility (933-2979) is quite a bit different from those at the Drake plant, but two or three of them can be used in lieu of scratchbuilding.

And of course Walthers makes a selection of transformers, power grids, and substation kits to populate the plant grounds. The Northern Light & Power Substation (933-3025) comes with a large transformer and power grid, while the Small Substation (933-4175) comes with a much smaller transformer. Their Modern Transmission Poles (933-3343) nicely duplicate the type leading from the plant. 

Lest this be mistaken for a Walthers ad, Woodland Scenics also makes a very nice built-up older substation, and IHC once made a power grid kit. Walthers, Woodland Scenics, Rix and Showcase Miniatures make older wood transmission poles and hardware.

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Postscript

The Martin Drake plant burned it's last train of coal in 2021 and was converted to burn natural gas, but that proved to be only temporary while a new modular gas-fired station was built where the coal storage pile had been. The old plant was shut down and decommissioned in 2022 and has since been torn down. 

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