The following is a look at the model railroad layout and its on-going construction.
The first layout (Tab 1- "The First Colorado Central" ) was constructed in the late 1970's using a plan from an Atlas planning book. It was essentially a switching layout created on a 12 X 6 foot shelf. The layout was purposefully built in a modular fashion to allow disassembly for the numerous moves that we had to make as members of the Air Force. It survived until my retirement in 2011.
The current layout (Tab 2-"Today's Colorado Central" ) was started in 2011 and is constructed in a three-layer design to allow maximum run-time for the trains. It is a shelf layout spread through-out a 18 X 12 foot room, with a 10X2 foot staging area in an adjacent room. The upper most layer contains a large staging yard located in another room. This yard represents the northern-most parts of the railroad at Cheyenne, Wyoming. It also acts as the starting point for Colorado & southern (C&S/CB&Q) trains that use a portion of the Colorado Central. As trains are dispatched fro the staging area they pas though an opening in the wall and enter the area known as Centennial, Colorado (a fictitious city in north-central Colorado. On this layer there is also access to a prairie town (Wheaton) and a foothills town (Cody).
The mid-level, accessed via a helix, is actually hidden, but contains a reverse loop and two long siding which allow us to run multiple Colorado & Southern (C&S) trains which give the appearance of a much larger layout hidden from view. Also, using the mid-level, Colorado Central trains can access a helix at the other end which permits them to reach the lower level and the southern end of the Northern Division.
The lower level represents the southern end of our Northern Division and contains a large yard and engine facilities. In addition there is a connection to a small, hidden, 5-track yard that contains connections for northbound and southbound Colorado Central trains to and from the Central Division; interchanges with D&RGW and a DoD stub: and a storage track for a maintenance train. As trains enter this level from the helix they enter the town of Brighton, Colorado, and the Colorado Sugar COOP.
Photographs of the construction process are contained in the final section (Tab 3- "Construction of the ColoradoCentral" ) and will be added to as we progress through the process.
The first layout (Tab 1- "The First Colorado Central" ) was constructed in the late 1970's using a plan from an Atlas planning book. It was essentially a switching layout created on a 12 X 6 foot shelf. The layout was purposefully built in a modular fashion to allow disassembly for the numerous moves that we had to make as members of the Air Force. It survived until my retirement in 2011.
The current layout (Tab 2-"Today's Colorado Central" ) was started in 2011 and is constructed in a three-layer design to allow maximum run-time for the trains. It is a shelf layout spread through-out a 18 X 12 foot room, with a 10X2 foot staging area in an adjacent room. The upper most layer contains a large staging yard located in another room. This yard represents the northern-most parts of the railroad at Cheyenne, Wyoming. It also acts as the starting point for Colorado & southern (C&S/CB&Q) trains that use a portion of the Colorado Central. As trains are dispatched fro the staging area they pas though an opening in the wall and enter the area known as Centennial, Colorado (a fictitious city in north-central Colorado. On this layer there is also access to a prairie town (Wheaton) and a foothills town (Cody).
The mid-level, accessed via a helix, is actually hidden, but contains a reverse loop and two long siding which allow us to run multiple Colorado & Southern (C&S) trains which give the appearance of a much larger layout hidden from view. Also, using the mid-level, Colorado Central trains can access a helix at the other end which permits them to reach the lower level and the southern end of the Northern Division.
The lower level represents the southern end of our Northern Division and contains a large yard and engine facilities. In addition there is a connection to a small, hidden, 5-track yard that contains connections for northbound and southbound Colorado Central trains to and from the Central Division; interchanges with D&RGW and a DoD stub: and a storage track for a maintenance train. As trains enter this level from the helix they enter the town of Brighton, Colorado, and the Colorado Sugar COOP.
Photographs of the construction process are contained in the final section (Tab 3- "Construction of the ColoradoCentral" ) and will be added to as we progress through the process.