Going to the Junction....C&S Junction

While the layout is not envisioned as a model of the Burlington Northern operations around Denver, they do impact the operations of the stretch of the Rio Grande I am modeling. The BN mainline headed north runs along North Yard, and the line south through the Platte River valley shared a double track mainline with the Rio Grande (and ATSF) after about 1987 as part of the Consolidated Mainline Project (CMP). This project made Union Station a stub ended station - before this Rio Grande traffic ran past the station on the way to the Burnham Yard and Shops.

This line sees a lot of traffic - today a lot of it is Powder River Basin coal headed south to the Gulf, or empties headed north to Wyoming. In my era, it still saw a lot of traffic, and it was the route that BN used to interchange with the Rio Grande at North Yard. Just past Utah Junction, the BN Main breaks away to head north to Wyoming.

In my plan, I had to delay this departure until after Cargill. This is a slight compromise but allows me to model through traffic from the BN (if I have the operators to do so) and provide a little more complexity to North Yard operations. It is also easy to eliminate if I so desire or find the traffic to be too much for the layout. I'm showing this location on the plan below.

C&S Junction Plan.

So, the BN main departs through the backdrop into a helix to drop below the layout. This helix can then reconnect to the main layout helix with a staging yard in between to create a continuous run for BN traffic. Fortunately, the Rio Grande main (in black) is climbing, and with the BN line dropping, we should have enough clearance. After this mainline split, the Rio Grande main drops to a single track as it crosses Federal Boulevard. Shortly after, the line expands again to provide a lead track for industrial sidings in this area and in preparation for arriving at C&S Junction.

C&S Junction is where the BN Golden Branch departs to go to Coors Brewery in my hometown. I am hoping to include this branch in the layout, but at least plan to represent it with staging. Just as before, I again routed the BN branch into a helix. However, here I make a calculated trade off. In reality, the BN branch should depart towards the aisle. By flipping the junction to the inside of the layout, I allow the branch to disappear conveniently into the backdrop. By going into the backdrop (forming a counterclockwise helix) instead of following the mainline (creating a clockwise helix) the task of hiding the helix becomes much easier. In addition, it allows me to decide later if the branch would be modeled above, or below the existing layout. At this point, without knowing exactly how much of a climb I will be able to achieve before I come back to this spot on the next deck, it could go either way. Hence, the reason why I have to this point based the layout height relative to the elevation of Prospect Junction.

Pushing past C&S Junction, I arrive in Arvada. The Rio Grande skirts the northern end of Olde Town Arvada, while the BN tracks skirt the south side, closer to the old charming downtown. I much prefer the look of charming downtown Arvada, so I plan to have the Rio Grande line pass through here, while the branch would be in the helix anyways. This also gives me a couple more industrial areas to model.

SPINS Map of Arvada, Leyden and Chem Spur.

Olde Town Arvada.

Looks like the perfect spot for some Design Preservation Models and Woodland Scenics kits. So, that brings the design through C&S Junction, and now we would continue our climb towards the first siding on the line, Leyden, as we climb through the western suburbs of Denver on the journey Thru the Rockies...Not Around Them in 1:160.

Cameron Turner