D&RGW narrow gauge: Back to scenics.

[JZ]

Picture of the month time.

499 on an eastbound livestock train. October 8 1963. The sheep were on there way from Lumberton NM, to Alamosa. 499 is now on display at Royal Gorge Canyon Bridge.

[JZ]

Charlie's Market. Fos Scale.

Yet to be weathered.

[JZ]

Next on the bench is this kit from Grandt Line.

The frontage is to scale, but the depth reduced to 45' from the prototypes 60'

The original was at Pagosa Junction. Opened in 1911 by Ruben Gomez. After his death, his wife, then son ran it until it closed 1971.. It remained at Pagosa Junction until 2000, when it and it's contents were moved to Pagosa Springs, in the Fred Harman Art Museum. It can be seen on Street View from above, but shielded by trees from the road.

In it's original setting.

Edited October 4, 2023 by JZ

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Aha!  I wondered where Woodland Scenics got the name for my HOn30 depot from:

 

 

A bit too similar to be a coincidence?  The Grandt Line Gomez store is another very nice model by the way, Keith.

[JZ]

1 hour ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Aha!  I wondered where Woodland Scenics got the name for my HOn30 depot from:

 

 

A bit too similar to be a coincidence?  The Grandt Line Gomez store is another very nice model by the way, Keith.

My spelling mistake. Of course it is Pagosa.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

1 hour ago, JZ said:

My spelling mistake. Of course it is Pagosa.

My mistake too - I didn’t know Pagosa Junction was a real place!  Apparently the Station was also known as Gato, and the whole town was progressively abandoned after the RR closed.  It is now a ghost town and is on First Nation Land.  Keith.

[Oldddudders]

About 40 years ago, Model Railroader mag issued a couple of videos of model layouts. Produced and fronted by Allen Keller, they were not followed-up by MR/Kalmbach, but he went on to produce a whole range under the AK brand. 

 

One of the layouts on those two vids was Pagosa Junction by Herb and Mike Danneman, the latter subsequently being an MR staffer. 

[friscopete]

http://

 

This  is my Pagosa junction  combine by PFM.I bought it in a bargain job lot of  built H0n3 models .Its a bit special as I painted it in the early eighties for a customer of Victors in the customers private line "O Hooligans Lumber ".Weirdly it has astep missing as did the  plastic coaches .

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Edited October 5, 2023 by friscopete

[JZ]

Came across this picture this morning. Although these days Cumbres is another ghost town, at one time it had it's own store/post office/gas station.

It was run by a bloke called Ken Lively and this is his photo, now in the Friends of Cumbres & Toltec Archive. A scratch building project I think.

[JZ]

A big let down with the Gomez store kit, is the brickwork. The mould has been made up using small panels and the mortar lines cut into the mould, so you have raised lines.

I have lightly sand the side to get the lines to show and will be using advertising decals at the front end of the side where it shows most. As can be seen, I had a spillage of glue on this corner. If the mortar lines were sunken, it would have been a doddle to tidy up. Anyway. Having a fairly large footprint, this will probably be on the extension board for Lucyville. I won't be using the gas pump and the front deck area will be replaced with a wood sidewalk.

[JZ]

That's the Gomez store done. All the decals on the front and sides are from Dave's Decals. If you are into US modelling, I thoroughly  recommend them. Huge range from 1920s to present day. The are sent as letter post, so $4 to get them over.

Window poster are what I have saved from previous kits and some downloaded from the internet. I'll make up a wooden sidewalk tomorrow. I haven't bothered too much with interior, as it is unlit, but I have used some stock pictures of period shop shelving around the walls and a false back.

[JZ]

Dressed up a piece of card to display it.

The Dodge pick-up and DeSoto are Oxford, the old Ford truck is Classic Miniatures. Figures from Model Power, Woodland Scenics and Preiser. Mail box is also Woodland Scenics, the soda machine* is from Dave's Decals** and the bin is Peco. Textured surface is Vallejo.

 

*Fitting machine as the world has just had it's warmest ever September and our government seem to care little for the environment.

 

*Soda Machine from a set of 7. Resin and supplied with decals. Despite the shape, they go on well with a little drop of Micro-sol and set.

[JZ]

On 04/10/2023 at 17:03, Keith Addenbrooke said:

My mistake too - I didn’t know Pagosa Junction was a real place!  Apparently the Station was also known as Gato, and the whole town was progressively abandoned after the RR closed.  It is now a ghost town and is on First Nation Land.  Keith.

If you search for pictures of Pagosa Junction, you can find picture of the depot named Pagosa Junction and then Gato in later years. Surprisingly there is still track there and an old high sided gondola. I imagine it was renamed Gato after the branch to Pagosa Springs closed in the mid 1930s. A few pictures of what it is like today.

Edited October 8, 2023 by JZ

[JZ]

Off work at the moment with osteoarthritis in my hip. First time in my working life that I have had more than 4 days off. It had been niggling for a couple of years, but working on recladding the shed did it no good at all. On naproxen, which is great for about 8 hours, but can only take two per day. Presently doing mild exercise to build up the muscles, a short walk in the mornings, with a stick, just in case, and yesterday I did 8 lengths in the local pool. First time in a pool in 7 years, the last was in Las Vegas in 2016 and forgotten how much less buoyant you are than in the sea. Need to get some strength back, as I am off to Bergen in 3 weeks and I am not cancelling.

Anyway, enough of my troubles. Took a bit of time this morning, well, all morning, to sort out all the figures I have as they take up too much room keeping them in original packaging. While going through the farm animals, I came across some Texas Longhorns that I bought from Miniprints. To be honest, I forgot I had them. So a quick google to find out what colour they should be and I discover it's any colour you like, as long as it's cattle colour. So using a couple of picture as a guide...........

 

They look better not blown up so much. Quite how they'll get them in a narrow gauge stockcar with those horns, is anybody's guess.

[JZ]

Today's paint job was a little easier than yesterday's. Nine Banded Armadillos. Again from Miniprints.

I used a steel colour from Citadel. Maybe a little light, but they should show up better.

[JZ]

Next from Miniprints, we have a Pileated Woodpecker.

 

Based in Canada, they do a few animals that could be used in a UK setting. And being in Canada, the postage is about half what you would pay from the US and it takes about 7 days for delivery, as opposed to anything up to 4 weeks from the USA.

[Pete Haitch]

So the real challenge is scratch-building the sound fitted DCC equipped tree. to play woodpecker knocking. squirrel hissing, leaf rustling and other sounds! A couple of the spare functions could be used to trigger a mini strobe and small smoke generator in the trunk; to simulate a lightening strike. 

[JZ]

35 minutes ago, Pete Haitch said:

So the real challenge is scratch-building the sound fitted DCC equipped tree. to play woodpecker knocking. squirrel hissing, leaf rustling and other sounds! A couple of the spare functions could be used to trigger a mini strobe and small smoke generator in the trunk; to simulate a lightening strike. 

I have a cd of ambient sounds for the countryside and there is a woodpecker in there. I am working with my daughter's partner, who happens to be a sound engineer, to install low volume sounds in different parts of the layout. It may, or may not, come off. But we can try.

[Pete Haitch]

I've just expanded the concept on another thread, to become this:

A sound fitted DCC equipped tree. to play woodpecker knocking. squirrel hissing, leaf rustling and other sounds! A couple of the spare functions used to trigger a mini strobe and small smoke generator in the trunk, to simulate a lightening strike; whilst four or five sub-baseboard relays operate control lines/rods to shake the tree and some branches.

 

I must stop going down rabbit holes. I must stop...

 

I remember wandering around with a Uher and parabolic mic to collect sounds - now all I see is people waving an iPhone about.  Daughters are a blessing; daughters with a useful partner...

Edited October 13, 2023 by Pete Haitch

[JZ]

8 minutes ago, Pete Haitch said:

Daughters are a blessing; daughters with a useful partner...

Trouble is that he is much in demand. At the moment he is touring with some band. Recently he has done festivals in Leipzig and Yogyakarta and next month off to Mexico for a couple over there.

[PaulRhB]

10 hours ago, JZ said:

to install low volume sounds in different parts of the layout.

I did that on my RhB layout, operators swore that the gentle mountain stream sound at one end made them want the loo! 
It’s funny but standing by much louder real streams never gave me the urge 🤣

[JZ]

Put down the first layer of resin in the river today. Can't believe how much it takes, almost 3 pints so far.

Another pour is needed in the upper reaches.

 

 

Once the next pour is dry, I can add ripple effects and white water.

And lastly, one I took of the Animas River from the Durango & Silverton.

 

 

[JZ]

Just to add a bit more interest to the canyon scene, I will be adding this set from Noch.

White water rafting started in the early 1950s, so no issues with having this.

[JZ]

The prospector is now standing in water.

Somewhere I have a haversack and I also have a couple of spare pans and a shovel to put around him.

Water here is only a couple of mm thick, but as can be seen in my picture of the Animas, it isn't that clear and by the time ripples and white water are added, I think it will be about right.

Rafter are now ready for action. I will add them as I do the ripples and before the white water effects.

[rockershovel]

Please tell me your DCC DX include a banjo...