Okay, so here I am, happily and busily slingin' track in my Coal Belt project. I figured I could pawn off... er... "share an opportunity"... for the track testing responsibilities with a couple of good friends. Was intending to put together a few "Intro" activities to familarize them with the lay of the land... then turn them loose on the route to run back/forth over EVERY piece of track on the route. (Now you see why I shared this opportunity?)

Got it covered.

Then a bit of a clinker.

You see, me and my long time (way before MSTS) friend Herb Kelsey HAPPEN to like narrow gauge. He's an idiot for the Rio Grande Southern... I'm a sucker for just about any Colorado/New Mexico narrow gauge thing around TOC19.

Well... on acount of this long-time mutual interest with Herb, I thought I would go ahead and burn a copy of the Colorado Central and send along to him for his look-see.

BUT... my little route went from nowhere to nowhere... literally. Instead of a nice yard area, Golden is only a long section of track. Shoot... the end of rail at Forks Creek wasn't even in place.

This would never do. At least I could lay Forks Creek. Throw in some more track, build a wye... no biggie.. right?

Hoookay... attempts spread over two days and I FINALLY have a Forks Creek I can live with. Sort of went like this: Plop down track... line it up... wye leg too broad... pull up track... relay track... too steep... pull up track... relay track...

You get the idea.

ANYHOOO....

As I was piddlin' in the Colorado Central route, I was again smitten with just what a spectacular piece of real estate this is. I couldn't help but get a bit re-interested in my "other love": Narrow gauge.

How can a feller resist when such vistas as those pictured below beckon to this creative soul?

Pic 2 of 4...

Pic 3 of 4

Lastly, a pic of little Forks Creek (with a scale sized stand-in for the depot). Can't really see the west leg of the wye (over against the rock penisula), but it's there... FINALLY!

Hi Andre!

Its great seeing you to engage in narrow-gauge!!!
Would be great if we could get one day a VSCALECREATONS
NG-route 8-)

I love NG and mountains, I love steam and steep
grades!!!

I love your RGS!

Christian

P.S.: Here 3 pics of my Maine 2 foot Monson RR to come soon ;-)

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

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Guilty as charged.

Dadgummit, Herb! Your more distracting than a cell phone to a commuter engineer!

The man's all happy and busy with his Ozark coal fields and you go dinking with him like this! Where's your sense of propriety, man? Now he'll have to go back to Narrow Gaugers Anonymous to git him back on the wagon an' sober and all. That's a crying shame to see Andre backslide so ...

Okay, OKAY!! I can't STAND IT!!! The GUILT is overpowering. I CONFESS!....

...i blamed herb.

Herbie is innocent. I offered the Colorado Central to him in his role of track tester for me. It was my OCD that kicked in and wanted to get more done on the little route before it got burned to CD.

Herbie was a big man to step up and take the wrap for my shennagins, eh troops?

(Speaking of Herb... those of you that have seen his pic, have you ever noticed a similarity between his likeness and this smiley? )

BTW Steve: You'll be getting the same routes on your CD too.

AND... thanks to both of you for being willing to take the time to run the tracks for me.

Sounds, that wie get a VSC narrow gauge route! :-)

Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttt!!!!!

Christian

Hi Christian:

Well... I wouldn't say a VSC narrow gauge route is going to happen anytime real soon... but maybe someday I can solve some of the issues with the Colorado Central and at least get a portion complete enough to release?

Hey... I can hope!

One thing is for sure: I will ALWAYS have a soft spot in my heart (head?) for Colorado narrow gauge!!!

AHA! I knew it.

On my first trip to Mt. Airy. I thought that it looked just like approaching Osier ('cept for the grade of course).

Keep up the good work!

Jim Brake

Jim:

Like Herb... I'm GUILTY as CHARGED!!!

Indeed, the Ozark Northern was my attempt to superimpose bits and pieces of Colorado railroading that I love so much into the Ozarks. Among the reasons for doing the Ozark Northern several years ago, one of them was that I had (still have) access to lots of opportunities for photo textures to work with.

BUT.....

That has changed as of the summer of '08. Went to Colorado. Came home with over 1 Gigabyte of Colorado textures!!!! I'm talking rocks, water, trees, dirt, buildings, etc, etc.

SOOOOooo... maybe the lil' Colorado Central will be my outlet for these textures, or maybe not... but I'm pretty stinkin' confident SOMETHING Colorado will get worked on when I'm in a Colorado mood. (Hey... what's NOT to like about Colorado????)