The Square Round House | 0 Comments - Click Here :

I've recently come across two more newspaper articles. I think it is safe to say the new engine house was painted the same color as the depot being that it was constructed only one year after the "Painting Gang" came through town:

Summit County Journal; Oct 25, 1902;
Round House at Dickey
 The Colorado and Southern Railway company is building a round house at Dickey, with room to "stall" six engines. The building will be completed and ready to use before winter sets in and will be a convenience that the company has long been in need of on this side of Boreas. But instead of being located at the out of the way place of Dickey, the structure should have been located at Breckenridge.
 Gradually the C.& S. management is placing the South Park line in shape to handle traffic more economically. Besides many improvements heretofore noticed the road-bed is being relaid with new steel rails between Denver and Leadville.

Breckenridge Bulletin; Nov 15, 1902;
Round House Completed.
 The square round house at Dickey is completed, and the iron horses have a stable in which to stand while having to lay over or wait a bit at Dickey.
 The weather has been very favorable for out door work. And every one has been taking advantage of the favorable weather to have all contract work done before snow begins to fall.

The Painting Gang | 2 Comments - Click Here :

One of the difficulties of modeling the earlier periods of railroading is determining color from black and white photographs. Sometimes we get lucky and find personal accounts of such things. In this case, the color of the facilities on the station grounds:

Summit County Journal; Jul 27, 1901;
On the Fix-Up.
 The visionary theories of the know-alls relative to the abandonment of the South Park line by the C.& S. people are now effectually squelched. At present the Colorado & Southern has a large force of laborers on the High Line, placing the track in better condition and "fixing things up" generally, and the improvements are made with a view to permanency.
  Among the new things now receiving attention we notice new and extensive sidetracks and greater switching facilities at Kokomo, a 12-pocket elevated coal chute at Dickey, which will enable engines to coal in one minute; the station buildings along the line, especially those at Dickey, Dillon and Breckenridge, have undergone thorough repairs, and the painting gang is now recoating them with a bright red; the trestle work on one of the long twin bridges on Boreas pass will be 200 feet long and thirty feet deep in the center.
  One of the high bridges near Birdseye has already been dispensed with by an earth-fill.

Bright red it is.

Fun With Foam | 0 Comments - Click Here :

This past weekend I paid a visit to the local Home Depot to gather materials for the two staging cassettes which need to be constructed. Instead, I came home with a sheet of pink insulation foam. I immediately went to work with a hack-saw blade and carved in the basic land forms. A messy job, but someone had to do it!
After gluing down the foam, I applied two coats of grey latex paint in preparation for a layer of Sculptamold goop to be added at a later date.
Despite my poor photography caused by an iPhone, bad lighting and the temporary grey color of everything; to my minds eye, it's starting to look allot like Dickey. Maybe its because it looks much like a cold wintry day so typical of the area.
I'm excited to get some real scenery started. But the shadow box and lighting must come first.
~ Cowboy Up!

Up Next.... | 2 Comments - Click Here :

With the track work completely finished and operational, it's time to move on to the next phase of construction; the backdrop and valance (the shadow-box). As tempting as it was, I purposely waited on this stage to make it easier to lay the track. I was able to work from above and both sides rather than having to reach in and under.
I plan to use Gatorboard for the backdrop and fascia. It is strong, lightweight (the layout is heavy enough as it is!) and resists warping better than masonite. It is also available in a 10' length, so there would be no seam in the backdrop or fascia. It is rather expensive, but I think the trade off will be more beneficial than going with a lesser material.
While I wait for the Gatorboard to arrive, I will investigate lighting options and maybe even build the two hidden staging cassettes.
I'm looking forward to recreating scenes such as below with a backdrop behind it!
- Cowboy Up!

Painted Rail | 8 Comments - Click Here :

In the past, I've always spray painted individual rail sections with rattle cans of Floquil roof brown and grimy black before spiking it down. For this layout, I hand laid the un-weathered rail first. This created the problem of how to paint the rail once the track laying was completed. I considered using my airbrush; but it is a siphon feed as opposed to gravity feed (meaning it feeds paint from the bottom as opposed to the top, thus making it difficult to get it down low on the layout). Even then, it would require an extremely steady hand to accomplish.
Enter Floquil's Rail Marker set. What I would consider as one of the top tools to come along recently. I hesitated on them at first because I am using code 55 rail, and I thought the pen tips would be to large. As a test, I caved in and spent the measly $9 for a set of three (Rust, Rail Brown, Tie Brown). Am I glad I did! These things worked great!
I applied the rust as a first coat and it had a slight translucent effect after it dried. After letting that cure for two days, I followed up with a coat of Rail Brown. The results can be seen below. I am more than pleased with the effect and highly recommend these pens!
- Cowboy Up!

 

New Locomotive Type? | 3 Comments - Click Here :

My other brother Derrell has pointed out that I own three 0-4-0T "Jughead" types (T for tail).
Lol! That name couldn't be more appropriate!
Thanks d!
- Cowboy Up!

Missing At The Bar (Missy)

Dash For Sonshine (Sonny)

Joes Royal Jay (Joe)

Turnout Servos Installed | 2 Comments - Click Here :

I have successfully installed all of the turnout servos. I utilized the micro servos available from  

Tam Valley Depot. They are very small but work great! Come to think of it; anything bigger is overkill when throwing Sn3 turnouts.

I modified the positioning of the servo bracket by mounting them sideways on a block of wood. This allows the servo arm direct swing to more precisely line up the stub turnouts. To control the servos, I utilized Tam Valley's Quad Pic, Dual Three Way and Hex Frog Juicer. There will be no control levers or switches on the fascia of the layout. Control of the turnouts will be from a wireless NCE DCC throttle. 

I found the installation and programming of these to be easy and am very pleased with the way they operate. I am looking forward to operating the layout using this method!

- Cowboy Up!

Roper Sez: | 0 Comments - Click Here :

Stay thirsty, my friends.

Making Progress | 1 Comments - Click Here :

Having the Labor Day weekend off from rodeo gave me the opportunity to make some real progress on the layout. I am happy to report that all of the rail has been completed with the exception of the hidden staging yards, which have yet to be constructed. I have also installed all of the feeders and completed all of the layout wiring for DCC. All that remains is to install the turnout servo motors.
The layout will then be put through a vigorous shakedown, working out any bugs before painting the rails and adding dirt and weeds. After all of this is completed, I can move on to the shadow-box and lighting installation!
For reference; I used code 55 rail from Micro Engineering and 150% HO spikes from the Proto:87 Stores. The turnout modules and servos are from Tam Valley Depot and the wireless DCC system is from NCE.
I took the following pictures with my iPhone so please excuse the quality!
- Cowboy Up!

Roper Sez: | 3 Comments - Click Here :

All these miles chasing rodeos is fine and dandy;
But when are we gonna get back to workin' on the railroad?