Topic: Ramblings
I hardly took notice of the first symptom this past summer. Only a small thing which hadn't happened for going on three years. After arriving back in Death Valley, however, yet another recurrence was followed by more and unmistakable signs that the illness was returning. At the time, purchasing the UP 1995 Rio Grande Heritage locomotive seemed like a nostalgia thing. I thought the model railroading bug was permanently dormant. But then, something which had interested me since my early days in the hobby, the new DD40AX Centennial model caught my eye. Full blown relapse was becoming an increasing threat. Strong enough now to put me into an armchair. Reserving the new run of the California Zephyr eleven car set made it clear the disease was progressing. Of course those cars need locomotives to pull them, don't they? And I've always admired the Alco PA's. Those striped Rio Grande units will look great at the head of the California Zephyr. When reserving three of Fox Valley's ES44AC's I was nearly in a fever. So what's the problem with a couple SD70AC's? PWRS had a great sale on an SD-60M with the new BNSF swoosh logo. Buying on-line is so easy!
Is there any cure? Is all of this leading anywhere? Difficult to say. I am back in the armchair I occupied for so many years, contemplating what could be done with that hypothetical basement (maybe not entirely hypothetical). What might I put in that sort of space? Certainly not anything so grand as was planned for Augusta Station and the Missouri Kansas & Pacific layout. You do not go from the Mississippi to the Rockies in a basement. Work on that project, however, has given me a clearer perception of what sort of layout will best suit me. Sorry Missouri and the Midwest, my heart and perhaps my talents are still more in the western mountains than the eastern USA.
While sitting in my armchair where am I looking for inspiration? I have loved riding the Durango & Silverton twice in the past two years. The scenery is spectacular. Spending winters working in Death Valley National Park is exposing me to railroading in the California and Nevada deserts. This area provides a setting for the newest project layout in the pages of Model Railroader magazine. I've made brief visits and plan on future ones to Tehachapi and Cajon. Working in Grand Canyon National Park gave me the opportunity nearby to see heavy transcontinental traffic on the BNSF mainline. Long strings of intermodal cars filled with colorful containers behind the latest motive power make a powerful impression.
So what to do with that hypothetical basement? Working on the MK&P layout reaffirmed my preference for N scale. Although I love the DSNG, I am not ready to venture into Nn3. The Colorado Midland would offer a standard guage alternative. However, the rolling stock of that era was not nearly so colorful as contemporary freight cars. Tehachapi and Cajon have been modeled several times and I have never been a "me too" sort of person. Would a double track transcontinental mainline layout fit into a small basement? At least in N scale it should be possible to realistically model big mainline action. Such a layout would likely require several operators or else have a railfan orientation watching continuously running trains, possibly computer operated. At least for now, something else has caught my imagination.
On three occasions I have traveled to south central Colorado to ride on the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad. For me, the steep and winding route over La Veta Pass is what Rocky Mountain railroading is all about. Passenger trains headed up with a steam locomotive carry tourists between between Alamosa and the town of La Veta. This tourist passenger train operates on the rails of the San Luis & Rio Grande, a freight hauling railroad. While not numerous there is a diversity of rail customers. The SLRG connects with the Union Pacific at Walsenburg providing interchange traffic. Operations are uncomplicated and laid back. Meaning it should be quite comfortable for one or two man layout operations. The railroad has only five diesel locomotives and owns no freight cars. That limits the need and hence the expense of many custom decals and painting.
The SLRG would be a fine candidate for a prototype styled layout. But I prefer freelancing. I do not have patience for doing the detailed research. Nor am I confident enough of my scratch building skills to build a prototypical layout. The SLRG can be a suitable reference for a freelanced layout, however. "Fantasy" and "freelance" are not synonymous. I like to keep my layout concept anchored in real life. 
Freelancing gives freedom to draw from favorite locations on more than one railroad and space for artistic license as well. Arriving at a realistic appearance by finding an appropriate blending of those things is for me part of the fun of freelancing.
As I see them the essential elements of the San Luis & Rio Grande are a short line railroad serving a broad alpine valley in Colorado by providing a connection via a high mountain pass to the mainline of a class one railroad. Many of the customers are agriculture related, but others exploit natural resources for industrial purposes. Tourist trains are an additional source of revenue. What else would I like to add to these essentials? While a short line can provide relaxed operations, I also enjoy watching mainline action. Making a mainline double tracked allows for continuous traffic without a lot of operator attention. I am also fascinated by industrial structures and the switching activity associated with industrial districts.
So how to bring all of these interests together? The most obvious question is how to bring together the rural character of the SLRG with my mainline and urban interests. I think the answer lies in earlier operations of this route while it was still part of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad. In those days, trains originated in Pueblo. So for my layout let us suppose the connection to a mainline is located in a modest size city rather than a sleepy small town such as Walsenburg. I would want to avoid modeling a large yard, so the interchange point would be a simple siding where my short line would drop off and pick up cars. The mainline would quickly disappear in the direction of the city center. Let us locate this interchange alongside an area with industrial activity provided for by the mainline road. The mainline switch jobs would originate in an off layout yard. That yard would in fact be a hidden staging yard for the entire layout.
But how do you have a double track mainline co-exist alongside a short line? That would be where the climb up to a high mountain pass comes in. While the short line train is climbing up the mountainside, at the bottom the mainline trains are speeding past the foot of the mountain ridges. Mainline tracks need not be in sight for a great length to provide views of hot shot intermodals, a coal drag, or manifest freights. The mainline would pop into a tunnel somewhere before the short line crests the alpine pass. Thus the short line is allowed to descend into the valley which belongs to it alone. At the center of the valley is the hub of short line operations. From it's small yard the line would continue toward the far side of the valley. A branch would proceed back along the valley floor in the direction of the mountain pass. While the SLRG mainline connection is the Union Pacific Railroad, I prefer the BNSF paint scheme. The BNSF will be my choice as the mainline partner for the short line railroad.
Such a layout as this would have point to point running at the relaxed pace of a short line, industrial switching, and railfanning a busy mainline. There would be several options for enjoying the layout. Not feeling ambitious? Just start a couple mainline trains; then sit down and watch the action. You're alone but want to spend a couple hours running a train? Pull together a few cars from the short line yard and head out of town on one of the two branches. Not as much time, but you still want to run a train? Then do a bit of switching in the industrial district. Would you like to have a couple guys come over for an evening of operations? Just fire up the whole layout and have at it.
The highway and the railroad run alongside each other for several miles through the wide open spaces west of Kayenta. I had traveled the same route last year on my return from the Fall Photographers' Special on the Durango & Silverton. A road closure and detour on another trip earlier in that year accidentally had given me my first encounter with a portion of this route. However, on neither of these occasions had I seen anything but empty track. Maybe it would be different this time? The Colorado bound leg of this trip was just as fruitless. According to my on-line research trains make the round trip between the mine and power plant three times a day. Certainly, I would see some action during my return trip to the Grand Canyon! So on my westbound lap I lingered around the loadout sight; stopped midway to get a closer look at a road crossing and the right-of-way; but the rails were empty again. This railroad has been more elusive to railfan than I anticipated. It is uncertain when, if ever, I will have another chance to see Black Mesa trains.
With the passage of the DSNG train we reboarded our train and resumed the trip to Silverton. North of Rockwood (more properly "west" in the days of Rio Grande operations) our small consist ventured out onto the precipitous High Line. More money was spent blasting a narrow ledge out of the 500 foot high cliff above the Las Animas River than on construction of all the rest of the line between Durango and Silverton. Beyond the High Line the tracks descend to cross the Las Animas on the High Bridge. Which is not very high but it is the highest bridge on the route. Here we stopped for our first run-by. This is also where the Rio Grande Southern goose would catch up with us so we could photograph both pieces of equipment crossing the bridge. The goose is a most novel contraption devised in the shops of the Rio Grande Southern during the Great Depression. One of the few reliable sources of revenue during that time was a government contract to carry the mail. However, the mail and other limited freight was insufficient to profitably operate a steam train. The RGS answer was to create rail motorcars to carry the small amount of cargo and occasional passengers.
One of the benefits of my current employment is the opportunity to live in new places and to explore unfamiliar regions. Not long ago in the interest of seeing something new, I took a drive down to Mojave National Preserve. Among my new discoveries, I learned the difference between a National Park and a National Preserve is that hunting is allowed in a Preserve but not in a National Park. This is not of much significance for me since I no longer go hunting. I also learned this Preserve holds the world's largest forest of Joshua Trees. These trees do not provide the shady canopy usually expected in a forest. But they seem to be the most a desert can manage. These discoveries were not, however, what prompted me to visit the Mojave. The purpose of my journey was to visit a railroad museum in Kelso located south of Baker, California.
Death Valley railroad was built by the US Borax Company to service their mine at Ryan. As mining declined at the facility the Borax Company sought other sources of revenue and began encouraging travelers to visit this previously remote area. During the early days of tourism in Death Valley the Junction was the major gateway for visitors to Valley. Passengers from the Union Pacific could transfer in Ludlow to the T&T. The DVRR train would take them to Ryan where touring automobiles of the era could then take them the final miles to Furnace Creek Inn in the center of Death Valley. A few ties of the old Tonopah &Tidewater standard guage can still be found in right of way at Death Valley Junction. Also visible is the grade for the wye which marked the starting point for the Death Valley Railroad. Between Death Valley Junction and Tecopah the highway parallels the T&T or, in some cases the old roadbed is buried under the current road. The highway and the railroad part company south of Tecopah where the T&T enters Amargosa Canyon and the highway instead goes up and over the mountains. A few miles north of Baker the old roadbed of the T&T rejoins Route 127. 
I had discovered some time ago a relic of the LA & SL sitting in the ghost town of Rhyolite on the northeast border of Death Valley National Park. Given the T&T junction with the Union Pacific at Ludlow, California, it seems reasonable a LA&SL caboose might show up in Rhyolite. My guess is the Tonopah & Tidewater railroad had inherited this piece of equipment and abandoned the caboose in Rhyolite before they ceased operations. As you can see from the photo the caboose is in pretty poor condition. The lack of trucks seem to indicate it was used for storage or some other purpose before the last train left Rhyolite. 
As I went about taking photos outside, I kept hoping a UP train would make an appearance. The park ranger at the information desk said a train had passed through about an hour before my arrival and that there were typically 20 trains a day. Alas! not a train in sight. My time was limited by my need to be back in Death Valley before dark. A road paralleled the railroad tracks to the east. I decided to take the road as far as Cima and hoped to come upon a train before I had to head back north. I had not gone far when I found the reason for the absence of trains. A track crew was hard at work. 
So long as these fellows were here I was not going to see any trains and I kept on moving.