Jan/Feb 2022The Mule Shoe is a small, short line freelanced railroad that could have once run in Colorado or California Gold Country in the early 1900s. It was owned by a tight-fisted old gold seeker who had struck it rich in the gold fields. This is my second model railroad as I had one in California. When I moved to Arizona, I started again in a smaller space. The 10x22-foot room, gave me enough space for the layout on one side of the room, and a roll top desk, couch and book case on the other side. The layout is 40-inches wide at the window end and widens out to 6-feet 10-inches at the door end. Since I wanted a clear area under the layout, my friend Ralph Scally and I devised a cantilevered platform for the layout fastened to the studs in the wall. We used ½-inch plywood for triangles with a ¾-inch plywood 4-inches wide for a flange to screw into the studs. We used 1x4-inch frames the width of the layout for the track support. One triangle every 36-inches worked well. This method kept the area under the layout clear for storage and drawers. The height of the layout is 42-inches rising to 60-inches at the switchback mining area.
I used flex track and built turnouts using Fast Track #4 turnout jigs. Since I run only geared locomotives, #4s worked great. After all the roadbed was in, I painted the ties brown and the rails rust. The tunnel was made using a mold I made of the track, then used it to pour a tunnel out of plaster. When it was dry, I stained the inside and made sure I had clearance, then glued it to the plywood. I used Switch Masters stall motors for turnout control. A Rix throttle and a PFM Mini Sound II controls the locomotives. The mine end of the layout features a switch back up the mountain with a scratchbuilt mine on a lift out at the top. The layout has a mixture of scratchbuilt and kit buildings. The train loadout was scratchbuilt using the Buffalo train building outside Silverton, Colorado, as inspiration. The mines are a Colorado Leaverite Mine and a JV Models Burnt River kit that I modified by shortening the head frame. The hoist house and supply buildings were scratchbuilt. The Rattlesnake Mine kit was a tad small, so I scratchbuilt a larger building.
The town buildings are kits, some modified and some built as is. The Grand Central Mine has a full interior along with the Green Mining Supply building that started out as a coffin works by Wild West models. The Engine House is a Stony Creek kit that I lengthened. Both water tanks were scratchbuilt. The burnt storage building was modified from a Sierra West Tool Shed. Ground cover is decomposed granite and mine tailings that I picked up on my many trips to Colorado. I used the tried and true method of hard shell to make the mountains and gorge. I made molds for the bridge abutments and center support that look like cut stone. The mountain backdrops were painted on cut out masonite and held with velcro so they can be removed during construction. I have used the same backdrops on both layouts. When it came time to color the rocks, my friend Doug Ramos helped me get the color application right. I have over 300 trees on the layout. My friends Ralph and Doug made a lot for me and the rest were bought already made. I used lots of stumps to show that was the second growth due to the mining use of timber.
I run my Shay most of the time, but occasionally get out the Climax and Heisler. Since it is a small layout, I don’t have a lot of rolling stock. I have Torres Products Wood Ore Cars built for the layout. When Art and Ralph saw what I was doing, they wanted some built too. I ended up building about 30 Ore Cars. After a few, I decided to build jigs to speed construction. I have several Russian River Boxcars and Flats that I have built. I’ve added loads to all the flatcars. One of the boxcars was built with the doors open and loaded with boxes and barrels in the doorway.
My mini sound unit was modified with a walk around unit that lets me operate both ends of the layout with ease.
The layout took Ralph and I about 4 years to reach the stage it is in now. I am always adding clutter and details and have built many display structures for Taurus and Western Scale Models. I have also built lots of various models in many scales for people all over the United States. I have been in this hobby for many years and have met some great people.
