Tour of The Royal Gorge Western

It has been sometime since I have posted because I have not had any new projects for a while. In fact I have not been working on the layout for some time. There are a lot of new people on TrainBoard so I thought "Why not do a layout tour of my RR?".

So here are a few shots to get started;

First the track plan for reference points;


The entrance;


An overall panarama of the RGW;


Will be posting more later on.

 

That bridge and those mountains are fantastic! I also love the way the room is done with the lighting and door with the railroad name on them. Very cool! Would love to see more.

 

A while back we had TrainBoard cars that was sent to the moderators to photograph on their layouts and then sent to the next person. I thought that these photos would be a good start to show the trip the car made on the RGW and then include other shots of the same areas as well.


Here are the cars arriving in the Pueblo yards;



Pueblo is the "big" city and home offices of the RGW.


The cars were taken into the shop normaly used for painting to make sure they were ready for there trip.


A view of the yards, freight in foreground and passenger station in back. There seemed to be a lot of locos out that day;


The backdrop goes up to and curves into the ceiling and around three corners of the 14' by 20' room (an old garage) with last corner having the door to the room.

 

Jason,
When I get to the engine facilities I'll show the old roundhouse and the new one with the interiors

Oc Engineer JD,
The lighting is in a valance in the center of the room with blue lights to make the sky have more depth, dimmers to control the amount of light, black light to make the stars on the backdrop come out at night (and light "neon" signs and headlights, tail lights, etc.) and red lights for sunrises and sunsets. There are also a few more lights over the Royal Gorge bridge beacause the valance does not cover that area. They make it diffulcult to take photos of that bridge.

 

The layout is very detailed--the only way to really take it all in, and appreciate John's incredible detailing is to see it in person. Alaska GP49 and I saw it in 2004, or so. Very worth the trip.

 

The name for the RR was used because I was able to take D&RGW decals and use the RGW for my road. The narrow gauge is the RGS (Royal Gorge Soouthern).

Here is a night shot in Pueblo:


A photographer using old RGW #3 for a photo shoot;


Some work train equipment in the Pueblo yards;


One of the more unusual loads that have past trough;


More later.....

 

Back to the TrainBoard cars. After being checked out in the car shop switcher #65 is brought up to pull them over to a westbound freight;

 

#65 switching the TB cars;





The California Zephyr had to make a detour on the RGW because of a slide in Gore canyon on the D&RGW;


The cars are being pushed into the Westbound track;

 

Road engine #220 (a 2-10-4) is backing up to the freight;


Westbound freight with TB cars ready to go


Freight leaving yard, going under auto bridge

 

CalZephyr'

Yes, I used two of the kits to get the added height I wanted. here are a few more shots of the station;


This is not a very good photo but it shows the steet level and the track level;


Baggage carts at track level;


Stairway from street to track level. Candy cane was part of Christmas decorations and not left up all year;


Station looking NE;

 

Here are two photos of the locomotive pulling the freight train. It is #220, a 2-10-4 built from a Micro-Ace Japanese 2-10-4;


#220 is at the end of block 1-S-1 and will be going on the mainline;


The Freight is arriving at Beaver, the connecting point for the narrow gauge RGS;


The cars were set out on display for a day;

 

The Royal Gorge Southern (NG) can be seen behind the station.


Looking down the main street;


A Missouri Pacific train using the RGW at Beaver;


We catch a glimpse of the TB cars as they leave Beaver;