D&RGW No. 454 (left) enters Telluride. The background is a commercial backdrop glued to the sky-painted drywall. No. 454 (above) also switches the mill at Pandora. The mill is a craftsman kit for a structure found in Rico. Extra No. 464 (below opposite) drifts down- grade as it crosses the Dolores River below Rico where a portion of the busy mining area (below) stands above the town. Cima Summit can be seen in the background.
brush or other appropriate vegetation. The backdrop scenery is applied di- rectly to the drywall. Sky is an appro- priate shade of “Colorado” blue, with spray-painted clouds.
Commercial
backgrounds (minus the sky) are glued directly to the walls in some ar- eas, while other scenes were hand-
painted by my daughter. Lighting is entirely fluorescent using
warm white or “kitchen and bath” lamps. I use a mixture of track lighting and tube fixtures recessed between ceiling beams to achieve uniform cover- age without distracting glare. Structures are mostly from crafts- man kits, or scratchbuilt, such as the Durango roundhouse and the Rico en- ginehouse. The rolling stock is either scratchbuilt, from kits, or are brass. The locomotives are a mixture of brass models from the 1980’s or earlier and more recent offerings from Blackstone. All motive power now has Soundtraxx Tsunami sound. The goose fleet in- cludes one (No. 7) that was scratchbuilt from photo etchings prepared from original artwork. Since most of my layout operation is
solo, all of my train movements are “ex- tras.” Nevertheless, I enjoy duplicating prototype operations, and in particular recreating an era that no longer exists. The whole activity certainly promotes good mental health and, as I often re- mind my wife, is way cheaper than a psychiatrist.
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN 47
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