Going Prototype: How I decided to model the Ouray Branch

At the end of my previous (first) post, I mentioned my old proto-freelance layout just wasnt piquing my interest any longer. For the uninitiated, proto-freelancing in model railroading simply means either using real locations but fictionalizing the railroad, using a prototype railroad and fictionalizing the locations, or a combination of both.

My previous layout was built as a modified version of the Model Railroader Magazine Virginian project railroad, which ran in the magazine in early 2012. The track plan was, however, in my case flipped and otherwise modified to work better for narrow gauge and otherwise to my liking. Here is an overview of the layout:

The layout conceptually modeled a fictional branch line of the D&RGW narrow gauge, which would have peeled off of the Alamosa to Mears Junction "Valley Line" at Moffat, ran west to Saguache and then north into the mountains to Bonanza, all real locations in Colorado. While this worked well for this layout, I very much treated this layout as a test bed to work on my model railroading skills, and always knew I'd like to go full prototype when my skills allowed and the proto-freelance thing just didn't do that for me anymore.

Some time ago, late in 2021/early in 2022, that realization hit me. I wanted to change gears and go to prototype modeling. I still wanted to model the D&RGW narrow gauge in the early 1940s, and stay in HOn3, but I wasn't quite sure what section I would like to model, or how I would go about modeling it since I didn't exactly have a permanent space at the time (I still don't).

The answer to the latter portion came to me early in 2022. Some time ago I had learned about a concept propogated by Joe Fugate and Model Railroad Hobbyist known as "TOMA," or "The One-Module Approach." In short, the TOMA approach is a sectional approach to building a model railroad where one can build their layout in pieces and add staging to operate the sections until more is built. There's more to that, but this is not exactly pertinent to this topic. Deciding to go sectional, using TOMA as a guide, I then went looking for a section of the Rio Grande that I would like to model.

Many D&RGW narrow gauge modelers model what was once known as the 4th Division. This includes the line from Alamosa, Colorado to Antonito (where the Santa Fe branch leaves for Santa Fe, New Mexico), then west over Cumbres Pass to Chama, New Mexico and on to Durango, Colorado, where branches to Silverton and Farmington as well as a connection to the Rio Grande Southern railroad all come together. No doubt this is because two segments of this part of the railroad survive today as the Cumbres & Toltec and Durango & Silverton railroads. This area is shown highlighted on this 1940 D&RGW map:

I am somewhat different in that my interest lies a ways to the north, on what was the 3rd Division. This includes the original D&RG narrow gauge main line to Salt Lake City, running west from Salida, Colorado over Marshall Pass to Gunnison, then through the Black Canyon to Montrose, as well as branch lines to Monarch, Crested Butte, Baldwin, Lake City and Ouray. Naturally, being my interest lies here, this is where I went looking for somewhere to model. Again, this area is shown highlighted on the 1940 D&RGW map:

I long thought my "dream layout" would be the main from Salida to Gunnison, over Marshall Pass, including the Monarch Branch, Crested Butte branch, or both. This however, would require a large layout in a large space to model, something I have become less and less interested in doing. As an aside I also looked at just the Crested Butte branch as a modeling idea. While the switching in Crested Butte would be fun for an operator to do, the branch normally only saw one train a day in the 1940s and was extremely heavy on coal traffic and not much else. Here we see D&RGW K-37 class mikado #494 on a freight train at Marshall Pass:

With this idea discarded, I looked west. Next consideration was the mainline between Cimarron and Montrose, over Cerro Summit. This segment was just 22.5 miles in length, and featured helper engines on both sides of the hill. Best part? Because of the light rail in the area, K-27 mikados and C-series 2-8-0s of several classes were the rule of the day here. But two nagging subjects bothered me. Being a fan of operations in the hobby, the lack of on-line switching between Cimarron and Montrose was a striking factor. There were stock pens at Cimarron and reefers were loaded at Lujane, but not much else was going on in that 22.5 miles in terms of switching. The other striking factor was the scenery. This section of the railroad was very much high plans and foothills country. There were a couple of neat vignettes on the line, but nothing that really tickled my fancy. Below we see C-21 class consolidation #361 climbing the grade to Cerro Summit westbound with a K-27 helper on the rear:

My third and ultimately successful consideration was the Ouray Branch. Already, this branch was among my favorites, but as I'd find during my research, this ticked all of the boxes for me. It was fairly busy in the early 40s, with interchange traffic to/from the Rio Grande Southern as well as several on-line customers, and occasionally saw up to two trains a day. The scenery is not only spectacular, it is quite varied. The line was 36 miles long, so it could be modeled in a reasonable space if compressed properly. And lastly, K-27 and C-class engines again were the order of the day. I had also been to the area myself before, and loved the town of Ouray in particular. This is it, this is exactly what I wanted, and better, it was a perfect subject for a sectional model railroad with plenty of operational possibilities. Another photo, this time of C-18 #318 crossing the "Mill Trestle" on its way to Ouray:

With a prototype segment finally being decided, next came research into the Ouray Branch and figuring out how I could turn it into a model railroad, built in sections starting with one that could be operated by itself until more layout can be built. We will take a look at this process in a future post.

Until next time, Happy Model Railroading!