Rio Grande branchline...

As the dollar slumps my resolve weakens daily. That Scaletrains GP30, which absolutely is not required here in North Wales, in my collection, no, not at all... that locomotive, that wonderful miniature is looking more and more tempting...

So, in part to exorcise that energy I put digital pen to iPad screen. The RioGrande conjures up images of huge narrow gauge steam engines, SD40 tunnel motors on long grades with even longer trains, of the Californian Zephyr with it's yellow and silver F7 locomotives... all wonderfully set against the majesty of the Rocky Mountains. How then, to shoehorn the Rio Grande into a cameo? 

‘Switching in a darkening rain’ Mike Danneman photo, Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/dU7HAz

A flick through Dale Sander's beautifully illustrated Rio Grande album didn't help, but what artful photography. Instead it was Stephen Rasmussen's wonderful book, bought whilst I was enjoying the San Luis Central and remotely exploring the valleys railway's a year or so ago, that came to the rescue.

Out towards the end of the line to Creede lay South Fork, an unlikely place to find a forest products plant but nevertheless the source of traffic that kept trains running past the closure of the mines at Creede. It gave something of a branch line feel with its single locomotive and a handful of wagons (box cars and gondola) and brake van (caboose)... but look on Google Earth and the station site was vast - how could this be condensed to a typical 'hifi-cameo'?

Illustration James Hilton 2025.

The illustration, I hope, shows that by taking just the 'point' of interest (excuse the pun) and shuffling around some vertical interest (the loader and water tower) we can come up with a composition that gives the feel of the place, in a small space, and captures a fair amount of movement too - two single track sectors (perhaps even turntables) sit at each end with a short spur off stage for the forest products plant. The scheme could be realised in something like 60-70cm in N gauge, perhaps 1-1.2m in HO. Any larger would be too big for a cameo presentation - and increasing the size wouldn't increase the feeling of intimacy that this form encourages. 

The same concept, of cropping, compressing and composing can work for a lot of prototypes and I will consider this again soon with an example from across the country, the Milford Bennington - but that will wait for another time. For now, I hope this may have given you some ideas for your own project or prototype - or perhaps introduced you to the Rio Grange in the San Luis valley... or perhaps it was just a nice way to spend your coffee break. For me, the risk of the rash purchase of some Rio Grande N gauge feels as if it might have passed - my wallet can breathe a sigh of relief. Until next time though, more soon...

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