SpaceMouse
Fun Lover
I got the Donner Pass by John Signar and have run into two problems in creating a Rocklin/Colfax railroad on my existing benchwork:
1) Time discrepancies. Rocklin work as the engine change service stopped in 1908. The Colfax station was built in 1905,
but the engine house was not started until 1909 and completed several years later. Helper service did not start until 1914.
So what I'm saying here is that the two towns never really functioned in tandem as far as engine/helper services was
concerned. I know Colfax was a transfer point for the NCNG, but the maps in the book show the realignments as of 1915
and little is shown of how it existed prior to then. I don't know when the freight depot or fruit transfer buildings were constructed.
2) Building a Rocklin/Colfax line as it existed, even if I fudge a lot, reduces the operations I currently have by about half.
Rocklin had two major industries that I could see, granite quarries and cattle and I might have room for one of the two. It
has no classification yard. Train City as it stands, fictitious though it is, has a foundry, brewery and lumber yard, in
addition to freight and a classification yard.
Colfax area fares a little better in that there is the transfer freight and produce, but I will lose the mine and cattle
industries that support Rock Ridge. Connection with the narrow gauge will be difficult at best.
What results with a semi-accurate operating scheme--meaning I move helper service forward to 1908--means bringing a
train in from staging to Rocklin, changing the power, running it to Colfax picking up a helper, and running to staging. The
problem is these operations average about 5 feet in between and will make for very boring operations as it will be pretty
much the same for every train.
I'm thinking that if I am to salvage a fun to operate layout out of a Rocklin-Colfax theme, I'm going to have to be very
creative in terms of time/space/industrial reality.
Here it is.
#4 turnouts
18" minimum turns.
Mandatory engine change at Rocklin
Helper service up to the summit at Colfax
Behind the freight house in Colfax is the Nevada County Narrow Gauge line. It connects at the tunnel and the track runs 3-rail
across the bridge.
Layouts of Rocklin and Colfax are "vaguely similar" to how it was in the general era.
1) Time discrepancies. Rocklin work as the engine change service stopped in 1908. The Colfax station was built in 1905,
but the engine house was not started until 1909 and completed several years later. Helper service did not start until 1914.
So what I'm saying here is that the two towns never really functioned in tandem as far as engine/helper services was
concerned. I know Colfax was a transfer point for the NCNG, but the maps in the book show the realignments as of 1915
and little is shown of how it existed prior to then. I don't know when the freight depot or fruit transfer buildings were constructed.
2) Building a Rocklin/Colfax line as it existed, even if I fudge a lot, reduces the operations I currently have by about half.
Rocklin had two major industries that I could see, granite quarries and cattle and I might have room for one of the two. It
has no classification yard. Train City as it stands, fictitious though it is, has a foundry, brewery and lumber yard, in
addition to freight and a classification yard.
Colfax area fares a little better in that there is the transfer freight and produce, but I will lose the mine and cattle
industries that support Rock Ridge. Connection with the narrow gauge will be difficult at best.
What results with a semi-accurate operating scheme--meaning I move helper service forward to 1908--means bringing a
train in from staging to Rocklin, changing the power, running it to Colfax picking up a helper, and running to staging. The
problem is these operations average about 5 feet in between and will make for very boring operations as it will be pretty
much the same for every train.
I'm thinking that if I am to salvage a fun to operate layout out of a Rocklin-Colfax theme, I'm going to have to be very
creative in terms of time/space/industrial reality.
Here it is.
#4 turnouts
18" minimum turns.
Mandatory engine change at Rocklin
Helper service up to the summit at Colfax
Behind the freight house in Colfax is the Nevada County Narrow Gauge line. It connects at the tunnel and the track runs 3-rail
across the bridge.
Layouts of Rocklin and Colfax are "vaguely similar" to how it was in the general era.
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