A New Mini: The Canyon

I'm working on clearing space in my garage for a new, larger On30 layout, and I've been considering a couple of options. On the way home from Gary Beatty's On30 Mini-Festa Fiesta last weekend, I discussed it with my wife, and as usual, she helped me find some clarity.

I still intend to work toward a wide shelf layout that would basically occupy the remaining benchwork from my old H.O. layout. However -- Lisa suggested than it might make more sense to work on a smaller project in the short run (I've got about 10 weeks free this summer before school resumes) while continuing to prep the garage and build benchwork for the larger layout. Which makes sense, of course.

So the immediate plan is to build a small, portable On30 layout, with an eye to bringing it to Gary's Festa next year. I'll get to the bigger layout eventually, and will probably, at some point, also build an H.O. scale shelf/switching layout (probably 16 inches by 8 feet) on the opposite wall, where I have some existing shelves. A 2 x 4 foot or smaller H.O.n30 and/or an On18 layout are other possibilities. 

At the Fiesta, Lisa was very taken with Sean Williams and Kevin Spady's Wandering Spruce layout, which reminded her of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierras, where we have spent a lot of time. Most of the small layouts on display there depicted the southwest, Mexico, or tropical locations, and tend toward the whimsical. Sean and Kevin's layout is more literal, and depicts a Pacific Northwest locale with lots of big trees. Don't get me wrong; I love Dave Meek's and Gary Beatty's work. But like Sean and Kevin, my personal style tends to be more literal, though most of my railroads have been set in desert or semiarid locations. Big conifers and lots of understory would be a departure for me -- but that could be a good thing.

I struggled for a while to find The Story for this one. I did several drafts that included a short siding, a  cabin, and an ore tipple, but those were too much of the same old thing. I eventually figured out that The Story I wanted to tell was a very tiny version of the Durango & Silverton, and the dramatic trip through the canyon of the Animas River. Once I realized that the canyon and the river were the focus, things kind of fell into place.

So right now, the plan is to start by building a 24 x 36 inch micro that I'm calling The Canyon. The track plan is pretty meaningless, so here are a couple of Anyrail-generated 3D views:

The canyon as drawn is 8 inches deep -- the layers shown are 2 inches each. There will be a fair size creek at the bottom of the canyon and big pine trees on the hillsides. I imagine a steep switchback trail down one side of the canyon and a fisherman, or a  prospector or two panning for gold, at the bottom. Perhaps some railfans with cameras waiting to catch a picture of the passing train. I may put one or two very small buildings in the relatively flat area in the upper left hand corner of the top view.

Anyrail draws all bridges as trestles, but the straight one in this case (foreground in the middle picture) will probably be a truss bridge instead.

With 10 inch radius curves, this will use the same kind of equipment as the Southwest themed mini I built last year. I may get a couple more Mount Blue passenger cars, and this time do them in the D&RGW/Durango & Silverton gold, silver and black paint scheme.

The basic look is going to be a very scaled-down version of Animas Canyon on the D&S, though the rolling stock will probably be lettered for L&SE. I'm thinking I may call it San Emigdio Canyon.

I do have one other idea for an On30 micro/pizza layout. The other day I got to thinking about what I can repurpose from the Frazier Borate mini, which I will likely scrap when I start building the big layout. Some of the buildings would make sense on the larger L&SE, but the Brewery, my favorite building on that layout, may not work so well. How could I use it? Then it struck me: Pizza and Beer. So I'm thinking about a true pizza layout, a 24 inch or so round micro with the brewery, a saloon, and just one or two other buildings. I'd run a train with a couple of shorty refrigerator cars, lettered for the brewery, and a caboose.