Buildings

The structures are all commercially available buildings by Pola and Piko. They were gifts, so I accepted and onto the railway they went.  It’s a quick start to give the railway some life.  I can always change things out in the future should I decide to build structures that are actually found at Calico Ghost Town.  Since they are western in design, they quickly added the ambiance I needed.  The station is a Pola structure that was lettered for Idaho Springs, a town now along Interstate 70 in Colorado that was serviced by narrow gauge railways.  I have left the name for now because I just so happen to live on Idaho Street.  I thought that was providence and since my railway is based  on Calico Ghost Town, not a model of it, then any name that fits my needs will do.

Idaho Springs Station – This is one of the large Pola buildings made from their heavy duty plastic.  They go together very easy.  Since I live on Idaho Street, I thought it appropriate to have it represent the Potomac side of things since the real river is just a stone’s throw from my house. Who knew Idaho could be so close to the Potomac!

I’ve added some figures to the front to bring the railway alive.  Figures give your railway a sense that it has a life and I want to convey that the patrons at this place are being entertained.  So a washboard jug band with a fiddler helps to convey that idea.  The building is big enough that a small speaker could be placed inside and some audio ambiance added.  With the advancement of Bluetooth technology into the audio area, I could stream a playlist from my phone as I saw fit.

Saloon – A typical stereotype western building, it needs a bit of fixing up.  But then again, that’s the look toady of most of the buildings at the real Calico Ghost Town. They look like they are a hundred plus years old because they are.  It’s a point in time preserved. So the dirty run-down look of the saloon will continue and any touchup I do will be to maintain that look.

Passenger Platforms – Designed to go with the style of the station, they add a nice touch.  I have a couple in period dress acting out a bit for the passengers who have already boarded. Even as they wait for the train to depart the scene continues for their enjoyment.

Water Tower – Another Pola structure that is slowly starting to show some age.  I may have to speed up that process as well.  There are two water towers on the Calico & Odessa.  One on longer has its top and has a very distinctive lean to it.  I built a small tower to represent that one, but was hastily put together for the first year of operation and is in need of repair.  It will once again find its way back onto the railway.

Miners Shack – This was an impulse buy at the 2015 East Coast Large Scale Train Show.  I was shopping for figures and it caught my eye.  It is very typical of the old shacks that were hastily built to provide a respite from the sun or whatever rain might hit the desert, but mostly from sun and wind. Next step is to add rusty old junk around the exterior.

Campgrounds – The tourists have arrived for some outdoors fun and are active in hiking and some fishing.  I hot glue these figures onto the stones and just leave them out all year.  Billy has been showing off his catch for two years now.

Adobe building – There are some adobe buildings at Calico Ghost Town, so I purchased this via the internet.  This was a fortunate find that was already assembled, being sold as used and half the price of its original cost.  I couldn’t complain about that and I think it adds to the eclectic nature of old western towns. Eventually it will get a make-over to bring it more in line with the Calico theme vice Las Cruces.

Scenery

Aerial view from a hot air balloon

When it comes to the natural scenery, the lay of the land, and the landscaping of the railway, my plan is to probably go the way of natural materials first.  I did that with the rock wall that creates the terrace between the upper and lower elevations.  The upper area is the high desert and the lower area is more green and lush; a transition I drove through many times in my youth going from the Antelope Valley of southern California through the San Gabriel Mountains into the lower basin of San Fernando and Los Angeles.  What those of us who grew up in the high desert referred to as “going down below”.

When I was shopping for figures I came across a pack train sculpture made of resin that had a rocky base.  It fit in well scale wise and I was able to make a pretty smooth transition from real rock to the sculpture that looks as though the pack train is making a transition from one strata layer of the desert to another at the desert floor.  After a couple of years in the outdoors, the rock portion of the sculpture has faded a bit and needs some touch up.  I’ll be able to blend the colors of the fake to the real for a smoother transition.

Pack train making its way to Idaho Springs.

We don’t have the free standing sandstone creations in the Mojave Desert like you find in Utah’s Goblin Valley or Arizona’s Monument Valley, but when I saw large fish tank decoration with a “picture window” opening, I had to have it.  The railway is a remembrance of my youth and travels with the family all over the southwestern U.S. so I went ahead and indulged.  It is built to sit underwater so it will definitely withstand the rigors of harsh weather in Virginia. It also helps to create a divide between different scenes along the railway.

Picture Frame Rock

Since it is a mini-garden railway, the more details I add, the more finished the railway looks.  But I don’t believe we ever really finish a railway.  There will always be some small detail piece that I will come across and add now and then.

Plantings

On the subject of plants, well, there’s not much.  After all, it’s a desert scene and I want minimum maintenance.  Maybe I should look into getting someone to 3D print some scale tumbleweeds I can roll across the railway from time-to time.   

All of the greenery is either in the lower level or along the back side of the box and is left over from the original garden.  A small row of prostrate blue spruce- (picea pungens 'glauca prostrata') fill a line along the edge of the flower box.  From the vantage of the upper end of the railway this gives the illusion of transition from desert to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada tree line, a distance in real life of about 150 miles from Calico foreshortened into twelve feet. 

picea pungens 'glauca prostrata'

Future plantings will be miniature bulbs, some low growing moss and dianthus like (Dianthus gratianopolitanus) 'Firewitch' and  some ‘Sweet William’ (Dianthus barbatus) to represent the desert wildflowers. I have one already in the front yard that was a left over from the former owners and nursed it back to health to where it can now be divided.

‘Sweet William’ (Dianthus barbatus)

Hens and Chicks (Jovibarba globifera) succulents have a desert cactus look to them and grow well in Virginia, so those are on the list along with a sedum that is called a miniature Joshua Tree (sedum multiceps). I have to have that!

Miniature Joshua Tree (sedum multiceps)

A  Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster salicifolius) also left over from the original plantings was pruned to be a tree and provides some shade relief for the campers that have arrived to do some fishing and hiking.  That scene is homage to my younger days when as a family we went camping and rock & fossil hunting in the desert. You can say that the entire railway pretty much embodies my youth while growing up in the Mojave Desert.  So now, anytime I pine for the good ol’ days of my yesteryear, I can visit my miniature living desert here in Virginia.

Two Year Anniversary

Train Consist

When the light-bulb went off in my head of what I was going to build and model, I pretty much had the required rolling stock on hand.  I guess in the back of my mind I was subconsciously thinking of Calico Ghost Town years earlier without realizing it.  The Calico & Odessa uses small ore cars very similar to those made by LGB for the late Ward Kimball Grizzly Flats Railroad train set.  I had purchased a few of these years ago to go behind the little red “Cricket” so they fit in perfectly.

I needed a small caboose to complete the train.  That was accomplished through an Ozark Miniatures caboose from their mining collection of rolling stock.  Again – a perfect fit.  I ordered it and that was a winter project in preparation for the 2013 construction.  With some minor modifications, it now looks closer to the caboose on the real C&O.

First Run and Details

Testing is important in the construction of a railway.  This tiny loop was going to be the primary railway for my little live steam “Cricket” locomotive and any small battery power that was going to visit.  I steamed up the “Cricket” and relaxed with a smile on my face as once again I had steam running around my garden. It had been a few years in between garden railway number one and this one and I felt twenty years younger as the same feeling of satisfaction from the first railway steamup rushed through my memory.

Satisfied with a smooth running railway, it was time to ballast.  I mixed up a batch of crusher fines with anchor cement and brushed it in place.  A fine spray of water then started the setting action of the cement.  At the approach to the cliff edge where the transition to trestle takes place, the edge of the pvc roadbed was visible.  I disguised the edge with some molded scale cement blocks made from a Jig-Stones mold.  These too came from another project that went on hold when I downsized and moved into this house.  I had previously molded up a large batch of the Jig-Stones and there was a box with plenty of pieces just waiting to be used in a project.  I was able to easily pick and choose from what I had on hand to glue in place with “liquid nails” glue.   The pvc roadbed was now no longer visible and I had a very nice stone block wing walls for the bridge.

I wanted the small railway to be a fun and functional railway that represented what you would see on the real C&O today.  Modelling a theme park lets you get away with a lot of things.  You can mix modern figures, the tourists, with western style figures that represent the costumed staff that work the amusement park to the delight of the tourists.  I even put a Yosemite Sam figure on the back of a small caboose to represent a cartoon costumed figure there to entertain the passengers.

I made some cribbing from left over trestle material not only for looks but for function as well.  The prototype has cribbing holding back the hills in a couple of places so it also adds to the idea of modelling the real thing.  A few Pola buildings that I received as donations from friends help add to the scenery and were perfect for the western theme. Since the theme is also mining, I purchased a 1:20.3 scale ore car to add as a decoration near the station.  You’ll also find that at the real Calico as you approach the station to buy your tickets for a ride.

Total time to build the railway amounted to about three full weekends.  Of course, that didn’t happen in three consecutive weekends.  Because of other projects, steamups to attend, other housework and the east coast summer heat & humidity, I spread those weekends over a time span of about four months working a couple of hours at a time.  This also allowed for minor landscape adjustments as I observed how the weather was affecting the railway as the landscaping settled over those months.  The longest consecutive work day was of course, the day before the grand opening at our Garden Railway Society meeting I was hosting.  Having a goal like hosting a meeting is always a big kick to get the railway ready! 

First Visiting Locomotive at the Open House - Sep 2013