My Own
Train To Denver
By Billy Shaw
[Composer/Performer of popular song of the same name]

So here's my own little Train To Denver done in O-27 and suspended 14 inches down the wall from the ceiling. Total track length is about 60 feet. Layout follows the pure rectangular contours of the room (18 x 12 or so) and spans a doorway, sliding door closet, and picture window.

The spouse works at Bloomingdale's Las Vegas, and insisted on my having this set for Christmas (and Chanukah), in the belief that it will one day "be a collector's item". Well, that pretty much let the genie outa the bottle. Sixty feet of track later, and two trips down to Lowe's (and four days free time over New Year's holiday), and the railroad was a done deal, minus any scenery and detailing, which by my reckoning is a good 12 months' worth of bridgebuilding, diorama design and execution, etc.

The gist of this project is to mount an entire nontrivial layout out of the way in an otherwise spacious room already dedicated to disparate activities. A trip to Lowe's with some fast talking got me a box of 8 inch shelving brackets for a dollar apiece, mostly because nobody wanted the black ones; box consisted of three dozen. They're anchored into the wall with conventional sheetrock screws, placed with a light touch.

Track shelving consists of poplar (a tradeoff between strength and economy) runners four feet long; two types were used, three inch and four inch widths. Two corners (ie., curves) are built out with six inch widths, and the other two are simple joyces appropriate to the curvature of the track. The entire assembly is lined with cork for a railroad bed. The whole corking process was around $8.

In fact, the entire project including buying out the local HobbyTown of all their O-27 track was about $200. This includes $36 in brackets, a few dollars in various hardware, $14 in rolled sheet cork, and the remainder in poplar stock, some of which hasn't been used yet. And I've got a complete roll of cork as yet untouched. The rest of the project will entail alotta plaster, some bridge construction, trees, cactus, backdrops, rock design, plaster castings, yadda ad infinitum, most of which will be as time consuming as it is cheap. My kinda hobby! My first priority is some kind of flourescent lighting system, the need for which is amply demonstrated by these pictures. I was kinda hankering on fixtures at around $10 per, but my local lighting company doesn't seem to see it that way...

Since the railroad was a GIFt, I felt compelled to make it as comfortable and happy in its new home as possible. If it were me from the gitgo, I'd have ponied up for G Gauge; but there's nothing in this design precluding a rail upgrade at some point. I've seen wall-mounted G Gauge setups that look alot like this one, but at orders of magnitude more cost. This setup might be the cheapest I could design, starting from scratch and doing retail. Next up the cost chain would be fine oak, but the difference between oak and the resulting poplar made this decision an easy one. In principle, no one will ever see the poplar again once the scenic plaster is accomplished. But what goes up will have to come down again one day, and the poplar seems durable and green. It should last me a long time as it ages with the railroad. And I'm not precluding the possibility that it accommodates new ones as I "go garden".

No one in my household stands tall enough to see a train mounted 14 inches off the ceiling at eye level. So the entire setup looks like you're in a valley looking up at a train built into the side of canyon walls or on a mountain ridge. This would suggest the kind of scenery appropriate to the effect. Nevertheless, my favorite part of this endeavor will probably be building more railroad cars and collecting more steam locomotives. Most likely, I'll mount straight rails over shelving, and do "collectors cabinets" for the majority of the rolling stock that ends up in the room. These collections will in fact live at eye level, just as the model boats and planes in the room do.

The track layout consists of four corners, ie., 90 degree O-27 (27 inch radius) curves accomplished with two curved track pieces each. Two of the four corners were created as squares, with ample inside-curve platform space to accommodate scenery and visual effects. The other two are minimal, and suggest curving bridgework. Shown here are shots of a "square" corner. When (and if) it gets plastered, the idea is to create a rocklike foundation below, with enough space inside the curve to create a multi-level diorama that approaches eye level. I'm generally thinking in terms of modeling Glenwood Canyon, one of the most breathtaking scenic drives in the United States (two hours west of Denver on I-70) as well as one of the great railroading feats of Rocky Mountain engineering.

You can see the general form of the square in this shot. The areas between the inside platform and the track are envisioned to become the tops of steep canyon walls, down which the plaster form of the scenery will slope backward to the wall, affording plenty of room in which to execute Glenwood's Hanging Lake and various rock formations that will appear to the viewer at the same angles as they appear to the tourist motoring through the Canyon on I-70. The biggest liberty taken will be that the real railroad sits at the bottom of the canyon and runs beside the Colorado River, while the model railroad will crown the canyon, more along the lines of the Royal Gorge canyon, itself another inspiration for the spanning portions of my model railroad.

Here's the most "spanlike" span of the layout, crossing over the open doorway into the room. After some thought, I decided that this span isn't the one destined for the Royal Gorge Bridge. The RGB is a postmodern technospan with steel coloration; it will look better spanning the picture window, taking the viewer from western industrial into "Indian Country", the way my room is already laid out. The span over the doorway will most likely be an arching trestle, the real-life inspiration for which I have yet to identify.

Here's the span over the window; this is where I envision the RGB. To the left of the proposed bridge is my collection of American Indian stuff, some of which is my sister Liz's art (got a decent Valery Graves collection, too). To the right of the window is a ten foot span over closetspace and a joyced curve. It'll probably end up industrial looking flying trestle unless I get an inspiration that hasn't hit me yet.

Once the RGB span is modeled to the extent that it goes "load-bearing", I'll remove the two brackets currently mounted upside-down. The span will then look more like a bridge, and with the blinds pulled, the effect should approximate the "in the middle of space" effect of the real thang.

The model railroad itself is lovely little Lionel Starter Set done special for Bloomingdales. Shown here is a span of 6" wide poplar runner envisioned to accommodate a train station against the wall. This is where I usually park the train. Shown in this photo is the "keystone" piece that makes the wood stock actually fit the layout. The track itself had to be cut up in the same manner to get it to fit the general bracketed layout. Modifications were easy to accomplish with a hacksaw...

See the corner in the ceiling line? That'll disappear behind a curved backdrop with sky blue airbrush and some light clouds. Again, my biggest single concern is the lighting and placement of fluorescent fixtures that won't produce multiple shadows undermining the illusion.

This shot shows the track, its bedding, and the amount of space I have to work with for most of the track layout. The left side of the track shown here gives you an idea of what's available to work with up to the wall, and the right side of the track is what's available for anything on the viewer's side, including accommodating the top of canyon walls, viewer-side figurines, plants, etc.

The amount of wood shown here for this length of track might be enough to host a small stream beside the track, in which case, a fisherman or two wouldn't be out of the question.

Anything below the track shown here will become rock. Everything above trackline will most likely be absorbed into an airbrushed backdrop to expand the viewer's experience and eliminate the lines currently so prominent in this photograph. All of the track coming toward your point of view will probably become "industrial trestle" and span the entire closet over which this length of track progresses. Since this span sits almost directly over the headboard to the sliding closet doors below, I'll need a hella illusion to keep the viewer's eye away from the closet and focused on the railroad. But the entire area over the track is uniform; a suitable backdrop behind the track can conceivably minimize the effects of closet doors below, and give the viewer something memorable with which to transition to the Royal Gorge Span coming up on the left of this area (also, the train travels to the left, covering this area prior to getting into the Royal Gorge. Maybe this area should be Denver Industial?...)

Here's a "joyced curve" that isn't intended to host any trackside features. It can express itself in a flying trestle or it can host a tight plastered "side of the canyon" effect. Haven't decided yet.

Note that the joyce can be removed and/or another added further inward to accommodate a larger diameter curve, ie., O-[bigger'n 27] or G gauge track layout. Note also the amount of exposed wood beyond the cork bedding. This is the portion for which plaster undertrack effects can be accommodated or even overtrack tunnelling etc. can be effected. If I do a curve-in-a-tunnel, this is where I'd do it.

Same view from the underside. If this corner ends up in a tunnel, all of what you're seeing now will become a rock-effect plaster facade with potentially a mining diorama below and anything else I can think of to take up the space, including some mining-specific equipment that relates to railroad operations.

Some of the derelict mining operations visible from I-70 around the Eisenhower Tunnel would fit right in, and require little or no special lighting to accomplish the effect.

Here's more detail on the "square corner" curve. A lot of the spacial arrangement for which nothing is currently defined can be filled in with tiered contours intended to mimic the tops of canyon walls. Since two of these corners exist, one will be modeled after Glenwood Canyon's Hanging Lake, and the other hasn't readily presented itself as clearly yet. Awaiting inspiration, I assume that whatever comes of the space, it will need to transition the scenery on one side to the scenery on the other, both spacially and thematically. Moreover, there is the opportunity here to introduce a visual block, designed to separate the two themes enough to keep the viewer from being overwhelmed with multiple scenic themery. To the right of this platform is "Indian Country" and prairie. To the left, Glenwood Canyon.

Ultra-closeup of the track and cork bedding. Lionel has only recently (ie., in the last month) introduced "realistic" O-27 track, including more realistic coloration and actual railroad ties, more in line with the effects of G gauge track. Since all of this layout is above eye level, little will be gained by upgrading the track. However, I'm inclined to procure the new track for eye-level railset displays, since the track as shown more resembles modern lightrail urban transit track than 19th century railroad equipment. Were this to become an issue with the current layout, I'd simply model a coupla hundred scale railroad ties and slip them under the track. Realistic bedding can be executed with colored aquarium "rock", dyed as required (India ink) and fastened in place with a light spray of water/Elmer's mix. This railroad is a great experimental lab since few eyes will ever actually see the result unless I provide a step-ladder at appropriate observation points...

...like this one. Shown here is one of the long walls. On the far wall, you can see my Collector's Edition Frank Sinatra doll, still in his "recording studio" box. You can't live in Vegas and not have one of these thangs! To the right of this shot is most of the Billy Shaw Recording Studio with all the crap that destroys the Period Railroad effect.

This is the price you pay for mixing your metaphors in the same space. And all my model r/c aircraft hanging offa the ceiling don't add to the effect either... But for the afterthought that this railroad is, the room has managed to absorb this addition with grace and playfulness. The additional scenery will blend a number of existing themes together and create a place of even more fun and recreation!