The Mysterious Barbara Gulch

One of the secret places that the Rio Grande travels is Barbara Gulch. Between the sidings of Leyden (MP12.4) and Rocky (MP18.0) the DRGW climbs towards the front range west of Denver through Barbara Gulch. This is a small drainage east of Coal Creek Canyon. It is also one of the more isolated stretches of track along this stretch of line. In the middle of the stretch is a location known as Chem Spur or as Chemical. Chem Spur serves a couple of industries that shipped via the DRGW over time.

DRGW3006 and DRGW3003, GP30s lead a train west into Barbara Gulch onDecember 16, 1997. Photo by Mike Danneman.

Barbara Gulch is a shallow grassy gulch. While the gulch parallels Colorado Highway 72, for most of the distance, the railroad is hidden from the road. Access requires a hike into the gulch. Once there, it does have a feel of isolation from the rest of the world. Yet, in the midst of this isolation there is a connection to the rest of the world at Chemical.

SPINS Map of Arvada, Leyden and Chem Spur.

The SPINS map for the area indicates that the spurs serve Mesa Oil and Thoro Chemical. Both of these industries would be served by either the Rocky Local (most often) or occasionally by the less common West Local. The Rocky Local would run up the Rocky Flats Branch (which joins the main at Rocky Siding). The West Local would run occasionally as far west as the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel. Not only do the industries at Chem Spur (or Chemical) provide a switching location for operations, but they are actually quite visible to anyone in the region.

December 18, 2018, Amtrak's California Zephyr passes by Chem Spur headedwest from Denver. Photo by Mike Harriman.

UP6844, UP8336, UP2292, UP3574 along with the last DRGW SD40T-2 #5371,bring the last MRONY (Manifest Roper to North Yard) east into Chemical on December 18, 2018. Photo by Kevin Morgan.

The tower at Chem Spur is visible for miles in the area. The other buildings are more visible from near the tracks, as can be seen above, but they do stand out from the otherwise bleak scenery. My plan to model this area is to capture the bleakness and isolation of these structures. This is a layout design element representing the space between other features.

Barbara Gulch track plan including Chem Spur.

The plan does not yet have the detail of the configuration for the industries yet, just the single turnout off the main line has been located. This detail can be added later if the plan remains promising. However, I did include the detail of a wandering main line, intended to capture the wandering nature of the main line within the gulch. At this stage of the plan, the length of the main line is a critical parameter because length is directly related to the elevation gain of the main line. At this stage of the plan, the elevation gain of the main line becomes an important factor. My plan is to transition the railroad from the lower deck to the second deck as the main line climbs through the Big 10 curves between Rocky and Clay sidings. For this transition to be effective, the main line will need to climb enough to provide the necessary deck separation. Thus, at this point in the planning process I have two goals.

1. To see if the layout design elements “fit” in the benchwork footprint as currently arranged to faithfully represent their prototypes; and
2. To determine if the vertical profile of the layout is adequate for the layout to faithfully represent the character of the prototype.

The next layout design element consists of three components. Rocky siding, the Big 10 Curves and Clay siding. This is the point where the assault on the Rockies begins in earnest and represents the first big test for the multideck configuration of the layout. 

Cameron Turner