Thankfully at Espy

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Creating the long siding at Rollins lead me to dig into my box of design tricks. If you look at the plan for the area, you may notice that the way the track is oriented by the time we reach the west end of Rollins siding, it will require a pretty sharp curve to bring the track back along the peninsula. I chose to use this point as an opportunity to add a little length to the layout, and to give up a little elevation in the process, while providing a smoother track flow at the end of the peninsula.

Details of the plan for Espy.

The track descends starting shortly after the Colorado Highway 119 overpass through Rollins siding to the west switch at Espy.With the track receding away from the viewer, I think that this elevation drop will not be obvious, particularly if I am careful with the scenery and the perspective. As the train disappears out of sight into the trees near the west switch, it will continue to descend under the track forming Rollins siding. The descent gives up almost 3 inches of elevation, by the time it emerges on the other side of the peninsula, through a backdrop opening screened by trees. The mainline once again begins the climb out of the "Espy Loop" and crosses over East Portal Road as it heads towards Tolland Canyon.

BNSF 6447 near Rollinsville. Photo by Joe McMillian.

The above photo is the inspiration for the scenery I have planned. I imaging being able to have the train disappear into the trees, much as it does to the left in this shot.

The additional curvature in Rollins siding is not entirely unprototypical, here are two trains, UP 7347 and 2745 on the left running light, and UP 5307, and 7296 working as helpers on an eastbound coal train at Rollins. Photo by Joe McMillian.  

You can see just to the right of the engines in this Joe McMillian shot, the remains of the ice house foundation.

April 2002, Rolf Stump captured this photo west of Rollins. This is the scene I hope to replicate after the "Espy Loop" feature. 

My scene will have a few more trees around the tracks, but I like how it works. It let me add about 2 feet of length to Rollins, and a another third of a mile of mainline run, while lowering the top deck of the layout and letting me have a little more substantial grade between Rollins and Tolland. The descent through the "Espy Loop", while totally unprototypical, will I think be almost invisible to the engineers, coming after a flat run in Rollins, and being unable to easily see the difference in height between the two sides of the peninsula. All in all, a good clever design solution.

2 Days, 2 Posts to Go.

Cameron Turner