Our Layout
is nearly built. There is only a 'minor' amount of track work to be finished. With somewhere in excess of 4,000 square feet of building, this has been a labor of love for many of us over the years. But we are almost there. Operations have begun.
The Texas Western Railroad runs from Salt Lake City to New Orleans, Saint Louis to Denver, and is comprised of three divisions: Western, Central, and Eastern. This represents trackage rights on three different Railroads: the D&RGW in the Western Division; the Texas and Pacific in the Central Division; and the Santa Fe in the Eastern Division. Our "era" is the steam-diesel transition era, 1944 - 1959. A fourth railroad, the Creede, South Fork & Rio Grande (a wholly owned subsidiary of ZFI) has been contracted by the D&RGW to haul iron ore on the Jasper branch to Alamosa, then on the D&RGW from Alamosa to the steel mill at Pueblo.
In order to make our operations more prototypical for passenger operations, we recently "re-organized" the railroad, and renamed or relocated a few 'places':
- The "Salt Lake City" staging yard was changed to the staging yard tracks under red Mountain.
- The "Denver" staging yard was changed to the former Salt Lake City location.
- As a result of the two changes above, "Provo" was changed to "Pueblo". (No big deal, just change the letters between the "P" and the "o". Both towns had steel mills in the 1940's and 50's, and both are south of their associated major cities.)
- Tracks for staging "Saint Louis" trains were designated in "New Orleans". This staging yard now serves two 'destinations'.
Below are a few "miscellaneous" pictures from around the layout to whet your appetite. For a trip on the Texas Western, click the locations listed in menu bar to the left. You will proceed from the "west to east" beginning in Salt Lake City, ending in New Orleans.
Clicking the thumbnail gets you a "browser sized" photo. These will be
about 100 kb file size
Clicking "Large" gets a full size view. Warning: "Large" photos are 700 kb
- 1.5 MB (and larger) in size.
Layout Map from approximately 2001
Does not show new Narrow Gauge area, added 2002, to left center bottom; and new Houston area added 2003, in separate room beyond left border of map). |
Looking down from Red Mountain onto dual gauge Mountain Creek Siding (l) and the Mainline (r) Large |
Mountain Railroading at its BEST!! Large |
The layout is built with an open framework substructure, using risers to gain elevation, and plywood sheeting where flat areas are required. Homosote covers all plywood.
Grades and curves are laid by two main methods: spline roadbed on risers, or plywood cut to fit. Homobed roadbed is glued to the sub roadbed, and Micro Engineering track, Code 83, 70, and 55 is laid as is appropriate for the traffic.
Turnouts are a combination of Micro Engineering, Shinohara, Walters, and Peco devices. Turnout motors are all Tortoise brand motors.
Scenery, as will be seen in the layout photos, is a mixture of different hard shell techniques, foam boards, plaster castings, real rocks, and anything else that works, looks good, and can be glued down. Coloring is done with dry pigments, acrylic paints, latex paints, and other water soluble materials.
Here is some stuff you don't ordinarily see, but that are crucial parts of every layout in some form or another. Photos courtesy of Don Hays, TWMRC 2007.
Joe helping Chris program a new NG 2-8-2 K-27 from Blackstone. |
Ken adding roof signs and other details to the new Houston passenger station |
Access hatches are needed (D Hays 2007) |
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Layout fascia skirts were made by Connie Stiles (r) and her Mom. Thank You!! (D Hays 2007) |
Booster panel at Alamosa Junction. This is a small one. (D Hays 2007) |
Under Fort Worth yard. So many Tortoises and so much wire! (D Hays 2007) |
More wire. The light is not at the end of the tunnel! It indicates short circuits when switches are thrown wrong. (D Hays 2007) |
More in Fort Worth than in Alamosa Junction. (D Hays 2007) |
Joe W. building a paint rack for Ken M. Why you ask? See next picture. (D Hays 2007) |
Go ahead, count the paint bottles. Yikes! (D Hays 2007) |
A collection of SF steam power. (D Hays 2007) |
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