by Jim LaBaugh

My interest in Colorado railroads began when I took a trip on the Georgetown loop many years ago, before the high bridge was reconstructed. Breathing in the cinders had a long-term effect - addiction to model railroading! The sirens of steam then lured me into hobby shops, such as Caboose Hobbies, where I began to collect some D&RGW equipment. Fate moved me east to Northern Virginia in time to see Runnin' Rails '96 where I picked up an NVNTRAK brochure and a C-16 Nn3 engine kit from Republic Locomotive works. The result of joining the club and the venture into Nn3 is the Salida East module.

After building the frame and legs of the module according to the NTRAK manual, I covered the top with 1" layers of polystyrene insulation board cut to approximate topographic features of the area shown on the Salida East USGS map. Track was laid by gluing it to cork roadbed glued to the insulation board.  I chose the elevation of the Nn3 line based on prototype rather than the NTRAK standards because I planned to make this part of a multi-module set featuring the Salida yard and the rotary dump. I brought the module in this condition to a Fairfax Station set up after passing electrical testing at a backshop. The great thing about this club is that experienced members will provide good advice, when asked, and bringing the module helped me get good ideas for the next phase, scenicking. It was also obvious from running trains over the module at Fairfax Station that the 1" polystyrene needed to be shored up to eliminate sag on the line in between wooden cross braces. 

After some whittling of the polystyrene with a surform tool to get contours the way I wanted, I sanded and filed to smooth the surface of the module. Next, a latex paint base was applied in colors approximating the prototype and then ground foam was added using the Frary method of sprinkling foam on a fresh dilute- painted surface followed by soaking with dilute matte medium. I filled in some gaps with gypsolite and woodland scenic talus and crushed granite paving base from a home supply store. Low shrubs were glued in place with white glue. I airbrushed the code 80 rails with a brownish paint mixture to reduce apparent height.  N scale ties were cut to finish out the end of the narrow gauge spur, giving it the irregular look of much narrow gauge track. 

At the shows and club functions the module attends, I place a water tank and buildings adjacent to the narrow gauge track to provide a focus for the Nn3 equipment placed on the line. The water tank is plastic Dimitrains kit and the buildings are laser-cut kits. All have been painted in colors similar to that seen along different parts of the high country. The <Check back here once we have the photo!!!> photo shows some D&RGW equipment on the blue line, including the X-67 Russell snow plow I won in the raffle at last year's annual meeting, a plow kindly donated to the club by "The Riptrack" in Woodbridge. Those who were at the Manassas show this spring saw the snow plow head up and down grade - the day of the show it had snowed in the Denver metro area! 

I really enjoyed building this, my first NTRAK module. While I work up the courage to hand lay the three-rail track and stub switches for the other NTRAK modules needed to represent the Salida yard, its time to work on something that will enable operation of Nn3 engines. A module trip to a backshop where other NVNTRAKers were displaying a C&S 2-6-0 led to formation of an Nn3NVTRAK division.