Tolland Canyon

Leaving Rollinsville, the mainline enters into Tolland Canyon within the Roosevelt National Forest. The canyon is beautiful, but distinctly different than either Rollins Canyon or the upper reaches of South Boulder Creek.

A view of Tolland Canyon. Photo from Google.

East Portal Road runs along one bank of South Boulder Creek, while the railroad generally runs along the other, although the railroad does cross the creek to the south bank alongside the road before Tolland.

UP6400 near Tolland, CO in June 2005. Photo by Kent Nelson.

The same location in April 2015 with a newer bridge and UP8377 leading an eastbound train into Tolland Canyon. Photo by David Sheppard.

Another eastbound shot of the same location. Photo by John Crisanti.

Sometime between 2005 and 2015, the pile trestle was replaced by a more modern concrete bridge. As my plan is to model the period from 1987-1996, I will have the pile trestle on the layout.

Track Plan for Tolland Canyon.

In the plan, Tolland Canyon extends down the left peninsula of the room and turns the corner to the layout located above Tunnels 17 and 18, and above the Cargill Elevator. At this point, the plan is for the canyon to open up into the valley where the small town of Tolland is located. With the loop at Espy, the resulting distance between Rollins and Tolland sidings is 28.4 feet, or about 2 long train lengths. The real distance is about 5 miles. By the time the main reaches Tolland, it has climbed about 3 inches to an elevation of 48.25 inches above the reference elevation on a 0.9% grade.

1 Day, 1 Post to Go.

Cameron Turner