The Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe

[Iron Horseman]

Surprise, surprise, I open the November issue of Model Railroader and start seeing photos that look very familiar. So I flip back to look at the title of the article and find out they look familiar because it is a railroad I used to operate on years back. Unfortunately I also participated in its razing. I did save the bridge over the Washita but it did not survive the move to Kansas. Here are a few more photos.

#112 crossing the Washita River


Big Steam in Crusher


Paul's Valley, one of the most challenging "yards" I have ever had to work.


Trio of Alco's approach the junction for the Lindsey Branch.

 

[montanan]

Excellent Photos. Why did the layout get dismantled?

 

[Iron Horseman]

Excellent Photos. Why did the layout get dismantled?

I was just getting the hang of photographing it with the lighting he had. I took 100s most of which ended up with something out of focus, or blurred moving locos/trains. But I wish I would have know the article was being written I would have contributed a few.

He retired and downsized his house.

 

[montanan]

Looks like quite the layout. I don't plan on moving so I guess my layout will be around for a while. Our house is around 3,200 square feet and out kids are grown and out on their own. We hardly use the basement at all except for my train room. Two bedrooms a family room and bath are also down there. The main level got a total remodeling over the past two years and I have no plans on downsizing.

I know a couple of guys who also moved to down size and had to tear out their layout. It's a hard thing to do,

 

[NP2626]

I liked that layout, it is better built and far bigger than mine; but, it is a continuous loop design with staging underneath. Trains only travel though the scenery one time; so, that is a more realistic approach to design than mine is.

My house was built sometime around the turn of the last century 1900 or so. The abstract doesn't talk about when the homestead was started, all we know is the abstract starts at the end of the 1800s. In the early 1960s an acquaintance said he lived here and in the winter it wasn't uncommon for him to wake up on the morning of a blizzard and have a snow drift across his bed. So, the house had become pretty run down at that time. Some folks bought the house, fixed up the basement so they could live there, while they remodeled the first floor and two of the four bedrooms on the second floor. I would guess that had these folks not remodeled the house, it would no longer be standing. Having come up from the Twin Cities, we bought the house in 1978 for a fraction of what house would cost in the twin cities. I have lived here, far longer that anyone else I know, has ever lived in a house, 39 years! I tell you all this because although this house has many short-comings, it is where we've lived for a long time and we have very little interest in moving! So, my guess is my layout will be torn out with power saw and sledge hammer

 

[Ron McF]

Thanks for the photos, Iron Horseman. I also model that part of the GC&SF, so I'm always on the look-out for photos of David's old layout.

In the Crusher photo there's a cut-out paper 'flagman'. I assume it was used as part of the operating system - can you tell us how that worked?

I know a couple of guys who also moved to down size and had to tear out their layout. It's a hard thing to do

Two of my friends have just downsized as well. One layout was demolished, but the other was bought by another friend and is being reconstructed at his place (bigger and better!)

Regards,
Ron McF

 

[new guy]

I liked that layout, it is better built and far bigger than mine; but, it is a continuous loop design with staging underneath. Trains only travel though the scenery one time; so, that is a more realistic approach to design than mine is.

My house was built sometime around the turn of the last century 1900 or so. The abstract doesn't talk about when the homestead was started, all we know is the abstract starts at the end of the 1800s. In the early 1960s an acquaintance said he lived here and in the winter it wasn't uncommon for him to wake up on the morning of a blizzard and have a snow drift across his bed. So, the house had become pretty run down at that time. Some folks bought the house, fixed up the basement so they could live there, while they remodeled the first floor and two of the four bedrooms on the second floor. I would guess that had these folks not remodeled the house, it would no longer be standing. Having come up from the Twin Cities, we bought the house in 1978 for a fraction of what house would cost in the twin cities. I have lived here, far longer that anyone else I know, has ever lived in a house, 39 years! I tell you all this because although this house has many short-comings, it is where we've lived for a long time and we have very little interest in moving! So, my guess is my layout will be torn out with power saw and sledge hammer

We bought a foreclosure in 05, built in 1924, extensively but (OY! WHAT was that guy THINKING!) inexpensively rebuilt in 94, we RE-rebuilt it and got the house we did not have to look for. The basement was always "The Mancave" and I could "do with it what I willed" but it was 5 years living here before a layout came to mind. LOL! I made sure the walls were "overbuilt" down here to attach the layout to, so this layout is built IN and would probably hold up the house if it came to that! I'm not going anywhere anytime soon and neither is this layout.

 

[Iron Horseman]

In the Crusher photo there's a cut-out paper 'flagman'. I assume it was used as part of the operating system - can you tell us how that worked?

The little flag men. Used mostly in Crusher and Gene Autry. When an local freight would switch in one of these two locations the main would often be blocked for a run around move or even just for getting a long cut of cars off one of the stub ended spurs. Since this is a schedule base operating scheme, one had to call -- on the station telephone -- to get time and track authorization. Crusher moves were phoned to dispatch from Doughtery as it did not have its own phone. Even in Gene Autry one could not be constantly calling back in for any updates, so these switching moves were protected from any unexpected traffic with flagmen. One would put the flagmen onto the caboose and loco. Move up and down the line a safe stopping distance and leave the flagmen there to stop traffic. For Gene Autry the south flagman was pretty easy to spot because there was a call box just about the right distance down the line. At crusher it was a guess. Anyway, when the switching was completed one had to run the train back to pick up the rear flagman, and then stop again leaving town to pick up the leading flagman.

It was always funny when an operator would forget to pick up their flagman. The next train (maybe even the Texas Chief) would be sitting there at a flagman when his train had vacated town many "scale" hours ago. More funny is was the occasion when the next train didn't see the flagman and would have him plastered to the front of the loco.

 

[Iron Horseman]

I liked that layout, it is better built and far bigger than mine; but, it is a continuous loop design with staging underneath. Trains only travel though the scenery one time; so, that is a more realistic approach to design than mine is.

The only time trains were run continuously was for open house "show" type events.
What I didn't like about it was that a through train spent most (2/3rds) of its time in the two helix.