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| South view overlooking Wolf Creek & the Sawmill |
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Wolf Creek
Our layout is set in the fictional town of Wolf Creek, 2 miles west of Wolf Creek Pass in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, on October 30, 1954 (a Saturday). It is the division point in the 3' narrow gauge Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad, and has a 5 stall 70' wooden roundhouse, an attached machine shop, a coaling tipple (just like the one in Chama, New Mexico) ash pit, sand facility, water tank, blacksmith shop, carpentry shop, and a small yard.
Wolf Creek is a company town that grew up around the Wolf Creek Mill of the Hallack & Howard Lumber Company, headquartered at 7th & Larimer Street in Denver, Colorado. Burt Coldren is their president & treasurer, and his son Fred Coldren is their head (and only) salesman.
Motive power consists of two K-27s, D&RGW #454 and 455. Shipment was recently received of the Benson Log Co. #528, a two-truck shay built by Lima Locomotive Works. This shay was working the Benson Log Co. in Washington state. Service out of Wolf Creek Division Point will consist of yard duty, and double-heading trains running east up the 4% grade to Wolf Creek Pass.
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| Overview of Hallack & Howard Wolf Creek Mill |
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The mill pond is fed by a siphon pump on the north side of the causeway on the dam that creates the mill pond. Timber is hauled by rail to the log dump where the logs are floated to the jackslip. Finished lumber is loaded into boxcars and hauled north through Wolf Creek Pass & on to Denver via Alamosa. It is also hauled southwest to Pueblo de Siete Cruces where it is off loaded & stored in bodegas, then loaded onto standard gauge boxcars of the Siete Cruce & Western Pacific. It is then loaded onto lumber schooners at Bahia de Olas Grandisimos and shipped up and down the Pacific Coast.
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| Siete Cruces, New Mexico |
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Julie's farm is a busy place, with horse corral, cattle & pig pens, plowed & planted fields, pumpkin patch & fruit orchard.
Northbound trains passing Julie's Farm cross Grizzly Gulch first over the 125' S-Curve Trestle; after climbing the helix they cross again over the 250' Curved Trestle.
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| Julie's Farm just northwest of Wolf Creek passenger station |
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| 125' S Curve & 250' Curved Trestles span Grizzly Gulch |
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| Coal Tipple, Water Tank, Gallows Turntable, Roundhouse, Shay & CC Kays Blacksmith & Steam Bending |
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The engine facility at the Wolf Creek Division Point. The coaling tipple is scratch built from plans in two 1960 Model Railroader magazines by Len Madsen. The water tank is from a Campbell Scale Models kit. The Wolf Creek 5 Stall 70' Roundhouse & Machine Shop is the pilot model for the kits we offer. After building our models, we drew the plans in CAD on the computer & developed the instructions. The CC Kays Blacksmith & Steam Bending is scratch-built & named after Julie's son Charter Campbell Kays. The steam bending operation is a salute to Charter's role as shipwright at the Maritime Museum on Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco. Charter has many talents including blacksmithing. We have a kit for a sand facility & plans for the sand bin in Chama which have yet to be built. Also planned is one more track off the turntable just to the left of the machine shop for a carpentry & car shop. This will feature a caboose under construction, inspired by a caboose we saw being rebuilt in Jamestown, California.
The turntable is scratch-built from our photos & measurements of the one that exists in Laws, California. It is constructed onto a 130' N scale Walthers indexed turntable fitted with HOn3 track. This becomes a 71' HO scale, just right for our 64' Blackstone K-27s. This scheme came at the suggestion of our good friend Don Grant from Franciscan Hobbies in San Francisco.
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| Caboose under reconstruction at Railtown, Jamestown, California |
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