Colorado Union

Scale On30’ 1:48

"O" scale (7mm = 1foot), n = narrow gauge, 30" gauge uses "OO" gauge track.

Built by:

Jack Southern

Charles Hudson

Nigel Cooper

The inspiration to use this scale was taken from a visit to the Dortmund exhibition in 2005. A layout using this scale was at the exhibition and we liked the potential it showed. As we all had an interest in American railways and had knowledge of the type of railways for the stock available it was an easy choice.

We have based the layout on the narrow gauge railways found in the state of Colorado around the Denver area. There were two main companies in the area, these being the Colorado & Southern and the Denver Rio Grand & Western. These two companies exchanged routes in the 1920’s and 1930’s, so we have decided that they merged to form the Colorado Union Railway for economic reasons. As yet they have not changed the livery of the rolling stock and they have also purchased some stock from another railway to improve the operating capacity of the company. Both steam and rail bus units (commonly known as Galloping Gooses or is that Geese? It doesn't really matter as you rarely see more than one at a time), are used.

The layout is being built using an experimental method of construction of the baseboards using an expanded insulation material found in the building industry on a wood frame work. The layout is being built in three stages of which the first is now nearly complete and the second phase is now underway. The third to build a saw mill will follow later. The layout is being controlled with a DCC system by NCE (North Coast Engineering).

Updated 24/02/09