and the

An HO and HOn3 layout by Jerry Hoverson

Antonito sits along the Sangria De Cristo mountain range and overlooks the Rio Grande Del Norte river and gorge.  It is serviced by the Colorado Pacific as it climbs from the lower level to the upper level.

Here we see K-28 #476 taking on water before it departs town for Alamosa and Salida.  

If we zoom back and look across the Rio Grande Del Norte we can see more of the town.  Several buildings are standard Campbell kits that I build many years ago and have appeared on as many as 4 other layouts.  Others are heavily kitbashed or scratchbuilt.  The design of this town was inspired by an article from the July 1981 issue of Model Railroader by Malcolm Furlow about building the town of Sheridan Colorado in the 1920s.   He used a winding switch back road, craggy rock hill sides and lots of retaining walls to fit a town into a corner.  My version of Antonito goes along a wall and is set in 1955 but has the same overall flavor, at least I think so.

The left photo zooms in on the south end of town.  The passenger station can be seen in the upper right corner and the track leaves westbound for Durango between the town buildings and the retaining wall in the upper left corner.  The RMC can also be seen crossing the Rio Grande Del Norte in the lower left.  The right picture is a zoomed back version of the left photo.

These shots are zoomed back again to show the entire town as well as the wooden trestle that provides access to Antonito from Alamosa and Salida.  In the left photo near the upper right corner you can see the steel trestle leaving Antonito headed for Durango. 

Finally, one last shot more from an aerial view that gives a totally different perspective on the winding roads and tall wooden trestle.

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