Denver Society of Model Railroaders

The basement of Denver's Union Terminal (Union Station) houses o­ne of Denver's most exciting, historical attractions - the oldest and o­ne of the largest O Scale (1/4 inch = 1 foot)model railroad layouts in the country. The "Colorado Midland Railway" layout encompasses 6500 square feet, spans over 70 years, and, continues to be maintained and expanded by club members of the Denver Society of Model Railroaders. The "original" Colorado Midland Railway was abandoned in the early 1920's so the club has taken a few liberties with the rolling stock, including diesels and mid-20th century railroad cars, which are lettered, for this now defunct railroad. The model railroad reflects the landscape of Colorado spanning our members' interests from the transition period of the 1950's to the present era of hi-tech diesel locomotives. Club members privately own most of the equipment; however the equipment owned by The Club is lettered for the Colorado Midland Railway.

The layout is comprised of two separate mainlines; narrow gauge (3 feet between the rails) and, standard gauge (4 feet 8 and o­ne-half inches between the rails). The trains travel over 4000 linear feet of track, some pre-fabricated; some painstakingly hand-laid. It takes almost 30 minutes to traverse the standard gauge mainline (approximately 1600 linear feet of track) and 25 minutes to traverse the narrow gauge mainline (500 linear feet of track).. Both operations represent Colorado mountain railroading at the turn-of-the century and beyond

Due to its size and age, the layout employs building practices and materials dating from WWII through today's most up-to-date materials and techniques. Model trains depict railroad commerce, including passenger trains, priority freight trains and local traffic. Multiple trains run so the observer may see both vintage and modern equipment moving along the tracks. The Club showcases its equipment through "theme nights", which are advertised in local newspapers and railroad publications as well as o­n our web site, if you are interested in seeing o­ne of your favorites.

The terrain is made up of plaster over wire mesh with small stones from Colorado quarries, gravel, ballast, and dirt scraped from local rail yards. The club's goal is not to recreate specific Colorado scenes but to make a composite of the state's geographic makeup. You can see the plains areas, the Rocky Mountains, the o­ngoing construction of the mesas so prominent west of Grand Junction and, the narrow gauge extensions such as "Sargent" that climb up Marshall Pass and encircle the standard gauge.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Scale
• Rail
• Railroading
• On3
• Colorado
• Riogrande
• DRG&W
• C&S
• Narrowgauge
• Train
• club

[rwundrock]

Are you still open on Friday nights? I will be in Denver on Friday and would like to see the layout.

[DenverOScaleClub]

We are open this Friday, however it is the last open house for the season. We will be open again in September. The tradition since 1933 is every last Friday of the month during the run season. I hope that was helpful, and be sure to stop in and see our website for a complete schedule of operations that include extras.

[olsotrav2013]

How long does it take to lay handlayed track?

[DenverOScaleClub]

It can depend on the technique you use. I actually do not do any track work but I have seen it done a number of times. It would seem maybe a foot of track for an hour give or take a few minutes? But then I know some guys that are very experienced can fly at it and do it half that time.

[SLSF1522]

Nice. What sound decoder are you using in that locomotive?