Pikeview: Laying out the Santa Fe and Rock Island

 

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 12: Pikeview: Laying out the Santa Fe and Rock Island, Part 1

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Yet another planning post?

I know, just what I need, yet another diversion, right? But after I mentioned in the Trains and Traffic post that the Rock Island had quite a few customers in an industrial park in Roswell on the north side of the Springs I just couldn't resist dragging out the long sheet of cardboard on which I'd already drawn a plan for that trackage. It is not shown on the layout plan, but the name is there where it could be.

Basically it would be a long, stub-end peninsula coming off the RI staging track along the wall outside the layout room. And it wouldn't just be for the RI tracks to the industrial park, it would also host the isolated piece of the old Santa Fe mainline used as a switching lead to reach several still active customers, giving both switch jobs more work to do.

You can see just how easily my attention wandered, can't you?

Anyway, since I already had a stack of building mock-ups and several drawers of freight cars and locomotives handy from mocking up the rest of the layout, it was all too easy so out they came. At least I was having fun, even if I wasn't laying down track in the staging yards.

So, the physical track layout up at Pikeview looked like this:  

ATSF notes and customers in red, RI notes and customers in light blue

(click on image to enlarge, I suggest you open it in a new window to zoom in)

The vestige of the northbound Santa Fe main is on the west, running 1.4 miles right beside N. Nevada Avenue after crossing over the Rock Island main. That bridge was removed, completely isolating this trackage. To the east is the first of three Rock Island switching leads swinging north off their mainline. It curved sharply and climbed steeply to cross Fillmore Street and run right beside the Santa Fe a short ways before making an S-curve to reach several customers, at one time continuing just under a mile to north of Nichols Blvd. 

To get to their their now isolated track the Santa Fe reached a deal with the Rock Island to use the RI mainline through Roswell, and then the RI switching lead to tie into the old Santa Fe main just below Fillmore Street. In return, the Rock was allowed to use a short stretch of the Santa Fe track across Fillmore, and then divert back onto their own track. This resulted in only one flasher-protected grade crossing across Fillmore, which was being rebuilt and widened at the time. Win-win-win for both railroads and the City.

So what customers justified all this. From the south the Santa Fe served two drywall companies, Building Specialties and Drywall Supply, two petroleum distributors, Amoco and Texaco, a team track, LPG distributor Empire Gas, a branch Transit Mix batch plant, and the Miller beer distributor, High Country Sales.

On the Rock Island lead there was the very large El Paso County Lumber Co. yard (later Brookhart Lmbr, currently Foxworth Galbraith), the smaller Everitt Lumber Co., Pike's Peak Distributing, the Budweiser franchise until it moved over to Russina on the Rio Grande, a couple warehouses, and CSDPU's Birdsall gas-fired power plant, although it didn't get anything in by rail after construction was completed. The lead was then cut back to the lumber yard.

My plan is to model this Santa Fe and Rock Island trackage on one side of a 14 foot long, 36 inch wide peninsula. On the other side will be an amalgamation of the other two Rock Island spurs, but I'll get to that in Part 2. Running down the middle of the peninsula will be a long row of buildings serving as both the rail customers and as a view block to separate the peninsula into two distinct scenes within the same industrial park. These buildings will be finished and detailed for different customers on opposite sides.

And here is what the area looked like on the ground, and what the west side of the peninsula might look like.

 

Here's our old friend U33B 196 returning light after shoving a cut of lumber cars up the 

switching lead (center) to El Paso County Lmbr. Train 50 was left tied-down on the 

steep mainline (left). In the distance is the Amoco bulk plant served by the Santa Fe, 

branded as Exxon in this 1973 photo.

 Here is the RI switch lead, rebuilt to jog west to connect with the Santa Fe track as it 

approaches Fillmore Street. It used to run straight to the berm at center right.

(photos by Frank Keller) 

 

Looking north up the former ATSF mainline, where the connecting track ties in right 

at Fillmore Street, with a pair of overhead flashing lights but no gates.

 

And here is the same location as modeled on the peninsula.
 

Everitt Lumber had its own spur, the rails still just barely visible in the sand.
 

A bit further north the RI lead jogged east as it entered the El Paso County Lumber Co. yard.  

Here is a view of D&RGW 3100 switching El Paso long after the demise of the Rock.
 

A view inside the lumber yard, with its collection of sheds and stacks of lumber.

 

Here's the south end of the peninsula, showing how the lead will curve off the Rock Island 

main and staging track at the base to cross Fillmore, and then split into separate RI 

and ATSF switching leads.

 

The RI customer spur into El Paso Lmbr will hold up to six cars, making it a very busy rail 

customer, as it still is today. On this side the central row of buildings will be detailed for 

open face lumber storage and shops. The ATSF track runs north, squeezed between the 

lumber yard and N Nevada Ave, which curves west here off the front edge of the peninsula. 

The ATSF Pikeview House and Team Track cuts off here just before the private grade 

crossing into El Paso.

 

The Santa Fe serves El Paso Lmbr using its House and Team Track, but the Rock 

obviously gets the lion's share of the business with its customer spur directly into 

the yard.

 

Beyond the El Paso Lumber yard the Santa Fe had a short passing siding and 

run-around beside the CSDPU Birdsall power plant. It had been removed when 

the photo was taken. In the far distance was ATSF milepost 667 (from Topeka), 

and Pikeview Station.

 

Just past the bridge across Templeton Gap Floodway and the Mount View Lane grade crossing 

is the switch to High Country Sales, the Miller beer distributor and the last active customer 

on the Santa Fe lead.

 

The old mainline continues only a short distance beyond to serve as a switching tail.

 

As you can see the spur to High Country is quite steep and is protected by a derail.

Here is a view of BNSF 2537 switching High Country in 1999.

 

And here is High Country at the end of the peninsula.  

 

Next time we'll look at what the east side of the peninsula might look like.

 

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