The Alpine Central Railroad is an HO/HOn3 layout occupying three rooms with the 2nd room double decked and the 3rd under construction. The layout has been revised for operations and expanded over the past 10 months. The setting is Colorado with mines and bridges loosely based on the Old South Park Line with corresponding towns. A large amount of dual gauge mainline has been added. JMRI is used for dispatching from an office created in a mockup steam locomotive cab. JMRI cell phone or Digitrax Simplex throttles are used. The track in the first room is hand layed and the 2nd and 3rd rooms are MicroEngineering. Locomotives are Blackstone and brass for narrow gauge Bachmann for std gauge. Seven AP awards were earned with the layout including Prototype Modeler. An onboard video control system is currently being installed to allow remote location operation.
Scale / Gauge
HOn3
Size of Layout
20X26 sf plus 4x24 addition
Prototype
DSP&P, C&S
Location Modeled
Como to Leadville and Gunnison, Colorado for narrow gauge, Hartsel to Leadville std gauge.
Era
1900-1920
Style of Track Plan
Other
Length of Main Line
270'
Layout Height
40-60"
Benchwork
L girder
Roadbed Material
Homabed
Track Manufacturer
Other
Turnouts
Shinohara
Minimum Main Line Radius
19"
Maximum Grade
2.5 %
Scenery Techniques
-plaster over styrofoam
% Scenery Complete
50 %
Backdrop
Masonite
Control System
DCC - Digitrax
Car Forwarding System
None
Operating Group
Chattahoochee Express Operating Group
Direction Comment
Turn onto Ridgemont Dr then first house on the right. Street or driveway parking.
