What's New on the D&L ?

Spring 2003 -

• Scratch built a tilt-up deck truss bridge that connects the train shed to the layout.

• Layed track in the shed (simple). Wired the turnouts for power routing.

• Built some box cribbing for the spur to the train shed.

• Train shed is operational and works great. "Ready to run" trains. Put them away in a flash!

• Newspaper article in the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper on the D&L GRR - Fun!

Winter 2002/2003 -

• Train shed modules and trestles have been installed on the site. Had to remove some tree branches to make room. No track work done yet.

• Spent a lot of time developing a new web site for our club. http://clubs.mylargescale.com/ncgr

Fall 2002 -

• Train shed, to be 3'X18' with 4 tracks for storage. Shed will sit on trestles and look somewhat prototypical looking, but not to scale. Roof will open for access, lock for security. Construction of three 6' modules and the trestle are complete.

Summer 2002 -

• New structures - Sunset Station completed. C&NW railroad office (kitbashed).

• Phoenix Sound 2K2 in the Bachman Annie makes her ready for road service!
  (Sold the Bachman 2-6-0 to a good home)

• New foundations for all structures using 1/4" Hardi-Backer board.

• Scratch-built a track cleaning car, which drags a weighted pad of synthetic steel wool under a box car. The darn thing actually works!

Spring 2002 -

• Built a nice potting bench to keep the Chief Horticulturist happy. It was a fun project.

• Scratch-built Structures: Outhouse, coal bin, and loading dock for Sunset. (Still procrastinating on the Station for some reason.)

• Rolling Stock: Acquired an LGB caboose, made a coal load for my coal car (using stryrofoam).

Winter 2001/2002 -

• Buildings: Columbine Hotel for Sunset (Pola Kit); Station for Sunset (Refurbishing a used Pola Kit, still working on it); cabin for Gold Hill (cheap birdhouse, reworked).

• Acquired a Bachman "Annie" 4-6-0 and a Bachman 2-6-0.

• Lettered the Bachman "Annie" with vinyl lettering from a "Fast Sign" shop. Excellent results! Only 2 mil thick - you can't even tell its vinyl.

• Designed a nice "Large Scale Reference Card" - Bi-fold, credit card sized card with 20.3, 22.5, 24, 29, and 32 scales, plus track gauge and full size figure and door height references. This thing is great! Use it for buying stuff and during construction.

Fall 2001 -

• Got a good deal on a second C&S C-16 locomotive which will be a spare for now.

• Installed a UV clarifier to eliminate green water in the pond (It works!).

• Buildings: Some second hand Piko structures have been refurbished for a house and general store at Sunset.

• Maintenance (the honeymoon is over) - Realigned the grade on Four Mile Creek bridge/trestle, replaced east turnout at Sunset, fixed power pick-up problem on the Climax, increased vertical clearance on Four Mile Creek bridge.

Summer 2001 -

• New 1500 gallon pond (Glacier Lake) about 8' x 16' x 30" deep in front of the layout.

• D&L Garden Railroad is featured in Allan Miller's new book, Getting Started in Garden Railroading. What a thrill! The entire book is just excellent. Thanks again Allan!

Spring 2001 -

• Dew Drop Mine - Mine entrance (scratchbuilt), Miner's Shack (Railroad Ave. kit)

• Sunset passing siding is operational (greatly simplifying running two trains)

• Installed trestle at Four Mile Creek

Winter 2000/2001 -

• Built a trestle to complete the Four Mile Creek crossover.

• Installed Phoenix Sound in the Climax and lettered it for C&N No.2.

• Made "Line Side" signs to give identity to each section of the railroad.

• Sunset passing siding - Assembled Piko Rio Grande style water tower, aquired LGB wide radius turnouts with switches for power routing, and bent rail.

Fall 2000 -
Table saw and brad nailer projects -

• Built a Compression Truss bridge (from Garden Textures Plans) on Gold Hill. Easy project with very nice results. Used beautiful clear redwood, stained "coffee" color.

• Howe Truss bridge over Four Mile Creek (Also Garden Texture Plans) proved to be quite a challenge. Couldn't just slap this one together with the brad nailer. Glue alone was insufficient, so I drilled and pinned each beam joint with 6d nails.

• Tunnel liner and new wooden tunnel portals made from cheap cedar fence slats.

• Added a Bachman Class B Climax to the locomotive roster to model C&N No. 2, which was actually a Class C Climax with 3 trucks. Runnings two trains now adds lots of crossover action on the layout.

• Finally got my Reo Railbus by Aristo-Craft. Lettered for C&S, this one is just for fun.

Summer 2000 -
First Summer of Operations on the D&L

• Many Garden Railroad Tours, both hosting and visiting. Running the D&L at least three times a week!

• Finished off area around the pond with Oklahoma flagstone. Added fish: Gold fish and golden orphas. Learning about pond plants and pond maintenance. Added lots of plants.

• Kit bashed my Bachman ore cars and lettered them for the "Big Five" mine. Also repainted my Bachman caboose and lettered it for the C&N. Made a load for my gondola.

• Built a small shack out of popsicle sticks to house an air pump for the pond.

May 2000 -

• Installed Phoenix Sound in the C-16. This was an interesting project. I found it a little challenging to get everything located in the proper location. But plenty of planning before hacking paid off. Boy, does sound ever bring the whole thing to life! I was really looking forward to this day. I now consider the D&L a very basic, but fully operational garden railroad.

• Last years plantings on Bald Mountain are doing great. Most are in bloom. We are in the process of adding many more.

April 2000 -

• Golden spike ceremony (i.e. brass rail joiner) April 16th. Continuous running is now possible over temporary bridging and trestles (and they don't look all that bad either).

• Lessons learned - When filling the pond with hose, don't go off and talk with neighbors. When placing power transformer in a temporary location, choose high ground.

• Updated construction photos

• Power (AC) to layout for pond pump and track power pack

March 2000 -

• Four Mile Creek is operational. After much trial and error with the upper pond and shape of the stream bed, it works!

• Track ballasting is in process - 3" of grey crusher fines. A track inspection car, consisting of a gondola carrying a plumbers level to measure grade and a line level to measure track super elevation is working well. Temporary bridge over the waterfall is in place.

January 2000 -

• First test run of the roughed in track.
  C&S No. 32 ran point-to-point from either side of the missing Four Mile Canyon bridge. No roadbed. Just track laying on the ground. No bridges or trestles yet. But it was great anyway!

State of the Railway

• Milestones Completed
  Landscape timbers form raised garden box - Sep 1998
  Box filled to level with fill dirt - Dec 1998
  Bald Mountain terrain established - Jun 1999
  Gold Hill terrain established - Oct 1999
  First train ran point-to-point on roughed in track - Jan 23, 2000
  Four Mile Creek and 100 gallon pond are operational - Mar 2, 2000
  Continuous running over full loop of ballasted track - Apr 16, 2000
  AC power to layout - Apr 26, 2000
  Sound in the C-16 - Apr 31, 2000
  Compression truss bridge installed on Gold Hill - Aug 2000-
  Howe truss bridge installed over Four Mile Creek - Dec 2, 2000
  Sound in the Climax - Jan 19, 2001
  Installed Four Mile Creek trestle (all temporary bridges have now been replaced) - April 2001
  Passing siding at Sunset operational - April 2001
  New 1500 gallon pond is operational - Aug 25, 2001
  Bachman Annie is commissioned with Phoenix Sound - Aug 3, 2002
  Train shed is operational (18' X 4 tracks, one track connected to layout) - May 2003

• Current Projects
  Finishing up the spur to the shed - cribbing and trackwork

• Future Projects
  Realignment of some track
  Redesign this web site

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Last Update: 4 June 2003
Music: A Breeze From Alabama, 1902, Scott Joplin