by Ken Scales MMR
The Colorado and Western railroad is a freelance HO railroad representing a branch line in the lower Rocky Mountains area. It uses mainly Sante-Fe equipment with the occasional Southern Pacific and Rio Grande train passing over the right of way when snow blocks adjoining lines, in the winter. There is some also some custom painted equipment running, which belongs to the Colorado and Western Railroad together with some leased diesels from a loco supplier, which still have their original paint schemes.
Some of the layout was originally Hon3 narrow gauge but it was converted to standard gauge many years ago, when the layout was extended to allow prototype operation using a switch list system.
The layout is mainly L-Girder construction and scenery is all plaster based with a lot of natural material used for ground cover.
It uses an NCE DCC system and all track and turnouts are code 100 Peco. Buildings are mostly modified kits with many scratch built additions and a lot of extra detail parts.
The initial layout was completed in early 1992 and it has been modified and updated on several occasions.