Modeling the AT&SF - D&RGW Joint Line through Colorado Springs from Milepost 70 to Milepost 80 circa 1978-1979
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Layout construction progress
I've
made good use of the down time of the COVID pandemic lockdown over this
past year by at long last starting construction on my new and second
layout replicating a portion of the Joint Line.
My
first task was to insulate the upper five feet of the entire basement
wall with 2 inch R10 foam board insulation to below the frost line, add a
vapor barrier, and then cover it with 1/2 inch drywall to meet fire
regulations and prime it white. This does not meet code for a finished
basement, but then it isn't a finished basement. It's just intended to
even out the year round temperature in the basement and save money on
heating costs, and that is exactly what it did this past winter. It was
nice and cozy working down there compared to the garage where the saws
are.
The
only problem was the carpal tunnel in my wrist from hammer-drilling all
those holes in the concrete wall for the strapping that secures the
foam board and wall board in place and to which I will later attach
bench work L-girder. Oh, that and the jump in the cost of lumber and
plywood during the pandemic. No control over that, it was either spend
the money and make use of the time or save the money and find something
else to do. Fortunately I had quite a bit of lumber already on hand left
over from a previous layout and house
renovations, which is where the 2x4s and 2x6s came from. And I ran out
and bought plywood, foam board and drywall before the prices shot up.
With
the outside walls insulated and semi-finished I then constructed a stud
wall across the basement between the steel H column supports to create
the layout room. The studs had to be ripped down from 2x6s to match the H
columns, just as I did to match the 1953 2x4s when renovating the
house.
After building below-deck staging on my last layout I was determined to have easy to access open staging this time, so I
cantilevered 3/4 inch plywood
supports off both sides of the studs to support the staging yards on one side and the sceniced layout on the other,
which means there will be no support legs along the edge of the layout
along this wall. Construction has proceeded from there.
Here are a few photos of layout construction as of mid April, 2021.
(click on images to enlarge)
1.
Denver north (upper) and Pueblo south (lower) staging yards at left
outside the layout room along the stairs. At center will be a swing gate
(yellow level)
across the entrance to the layout room. The distant Denver skyline will
be painted on the
backdrop above the staging yards to suggest the location. This photo
looks south down I-25 north of CB&Q's (later BN's) 38th Street yard in 1962. I will have
to add several more buildings built after then to update it to 1979, as I've already done with the
Federal Building, but it will do quite nicely.
2.
The I-25 or I-70 bridge across the C&S and D&RGW south of North
Yard. Well, sort of anyway. On the lower deck below will be locomotive
and caboose storage tracks and the DCC programing track.
3. Start of the sceniced layout at the north end of Colorado Springs:
looking north at the I-25 bridge across the D&RGW and North Cascade Ave, just south of
Rockrimmon Blvd and the old Carlton station, a coal mine and a lime
plant, all demolished in the 1960s. To fit the layout geometry I had to
rotate the view 180°, so this would actually be the view when looking
south, one of many compromises that will have to be made, but I think
this one is relatively minor. This side of the backdrop will be just
plain sky with a low ridge in the far distance.
Colorado DOT 1960
4.
At left will be the swing gate across the entrance, hinged to the post
on the left. It will carry the main line, which doubles as the US Army's
Fort Carson branch at this point, out of Pueblo staging and north onto
the layout. Eventually it will be sceniced as the modern 3-span through
plate girder bridge across Fountain Crk leading to Fort Carson.
The hinge post is a 2x6 connected to the 2x6 stud with dowels and a 3/4
inch plywood plate, reinforced with a 2x4 in a T. The post does not
move, period. At right is the TARDIS that will transport the basement across space-time to Colorado Springs in 1979....
OK,
seriously, it is the over engineered benchwork to support the turnback
curve, hard board kick panel, backdrop, and overhead light valance. I
wanted there to be no support legs around the perimeter and found this
design posted to the Layout Design SIG discussion list.
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5. The 42 inch radius mainline wraps just
over 180° around the turnback on a side hill cut and fill right of way
punctuated by a couple of 1870s cut stone culverts and a typical Rio
Grande low ballasted deck pile trestle across a dry wash. However, the
view is down hill toward Monument Creek, with relatively lush vegetation
down along the bank against the backdrop that depicts the opposite side
of the valley with Pulpit Rock and the mesa ridge line. Because we are looking east, the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains is actually behind you. I know, a sacrilege, but I like to do things differently and besides, it's my railroad.
Dropping
on a 1% grade the mainline goes through an S curve with spiral
easements to enter Russina, passing a single ABS signal mast on the
right with two heads, one pointing north, the other south. (As per 5E in
the Time Table Special Rules section.)
Jim Griffin, 1996
6.
The main crosses Garden of the Gods Road at grade (it's now on an
overpass) and then runs between commercial buildings at Russina, an
industrial park the Rio Grande began developing in 1960 as I-25 was
being constructed. Active customers include a beer distributor, a wine
and spirits distributor, a lumber yard, a paper distributor, and a tool
manufacturer.
Dick Leonhardt, 1981
7.
The spur up into the industrial park will take off at the south end of
Russina to curve sharply up a steep grade onto a stub peninsula, with a
switch back spur to serve two customers, while the main spur will
continue to reach two others.
both Frank Keller
The
spur then ducked under I-25 in a narrow concrete "tunnel" and there was
a run-around on the other side, but I won't have room to fit either so
the run-around will be on the other side of the main line beside the
beer distributor. The foam core building mock ups are from the previous
layout. I've found that there is no substitute for full size 1:1 scale
layout planning if you want to make sure things will fit and look right.- ~ -
USGS 1975 (modified)
8. After passing under Fillmore Street the Joint Line runs past the Rock Island wye
at the end of the wall in the corner, with their old no longer used
stone roundhouse inside. I had to deliberately make the mockup undersize
and reduce it from 4 to 3 stalls to not look ridiculous inside the
severely compressed wye.
At
left is a sand & gravel and landscaping dealer and a steel dealer
that both use the north leg of the wye for team unloading. Against the
wall under the pipe is the city department of public utilities warehouse
and materials yard. All are served by the RI local turn that works the
branchline (originally mainline)
in from Limon out on the high plains where the RI takes to the UP's
Kansas Pacific line for the run into Denver. The Rock branchline east
will pass through the stud wall and become the staging track.
Eventually
I plan to add a stub peninsula on the other side for the RI and Santa
Fe switching spurs at Pikeview, but that will be a small layout in
itself and it can wait until the main layout is up and running. The
north wye connection to the D&RGW will be live to allow occasional
Rock Island detour trains to run up the Joint Line to Denver when the UP
line has a wash out or is snow-blocked, which I know happened at least
once in 1978.
Well, that's as far as I've gotten so far, more later.
