Rocky Mountain Central

and the

Colorado Pacific

Most people think narrow gauge when the town of Leadville is mentioned but it also had standard gauge.  The route I'm modeling and the room layout dictated that my version of Leadville be standard gauge so it is serviced by the Rocky Mountain Central.  I suppose some day, when the rest of the layout is complete, I may run a narrow gauge line from Salida to Leadville but that's many years away at best.

The track had to cross the Arkansas river while heading northbound from Salida to Leadville.  Here you can see a Challenger crossing the river enroute to Leadville and the Daylight crossing from Glenwood Springs to Orestod.  Both bridges are scratch built.  The stone arch bridge is made out of masonite with plaster castings of a Chooch random rock retaining wall master applied and colored.  The deck portion of the steel bridge is Micro Engineering and the support grid is made from Central Valley and Micro Engineering via duct parts.  The support grid had to be made wider than normal because the track curves as it spans the river.  I painted the background mountains, trees and river using acrylics.

As you can see Leadville is still under construction.  The hillside will be forested and lots of detail still need to be added.  You will probably recognize several of the buildings, they have been with me for several years and as many as 4 previous layouts.  The mainline cuts down the middle of the town at a diagonal with passenger service and/or various industries on either side.  This town has its own switcher and operator during operating sessions.  The local switcher will normally pull cars from the various industries and spot them for pick up when the inbound train arrives.  The crews then work together to remove the cut that is being dropped off and placing these outbound cars in the train.  The road crew then departs town and the local has to do all the work of spotting the cars at their destinations.

At the north end of town resides a refinery, a foundry and the local switchers engine house and facilities.  Well they will when I can get around to installing them.  The mainline departs town through a tunnel to the hidden tracks of Glenwood Springs behind the wall.  Mounted on the wall above Leadville is the control panel for Glenwood Springs.  Future plans call for lots of details, trees and bushes.  Another item is a cave complete with stalactites and stalagmites with its entrance on the mountain that can be seen in the back of the right photo where the mainline heads for Glenwood Springs.  The actual cave will be installed below ground level in the fascia that faces the door into the room at the back of the photo.  When this town gets closer to completion, I'll add more photos.

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