With my narrow gauge Silver Valley RR I have a lot of fun. It's the route from module to module.
And here's the problem. With modules you have problems to get any grades. So I came to the idea to build a permanent layout in this room. It was the pdf-file from an article from the late John Armstrong in MR Jan 1962, "To Hardscrabble, the hard way: a track plan". There he describes the PUEBLO & SALT LAKE RR in a 11 x 12-foot room. This layout plan hooked me! It has a staging yard, a dual gauge yard, three small stations and at the other end a station with wye and two staging yards. This design is similar to my current SILVER VALLEY RR, from staging yard via Salina to the wye at Silver Creek.
With this new railroad I will have to build a lot of turnouts, dual gauge turnouts and narrow gauge turnouts. I will be busy for the next years with track work, structures and scenery. And I can operate this layout, as lone wolf or with friends! This old time narrow gauge layout will be an alternative to my current 1975 - 1985 "modern" Westport Terminal RR. And there will be more than 100' (30 m) main line to run narrow gauge trains.
I've made a few sketches and here's my latest idea for my 13' x 16' (4m x 5m) room.
HistoryFollowing the idea from John Armstrong It was the time when Otto Mears had finished his railroad empire, when
you could ride 3-foot-gauge Denver & Rio Grande track all the way
across the Rockies to Grand Junction and beyond. Nevertheless, when
thinking of narrow-gauge American railroading, we are likely to recall
only decrepit branches with twice- or thrice-a-week mixed trains rattling
over weed-covered right of way. ... |