Bear Creek 3.5mm/HO
No other railroad construction in the Old West, not even in the mountains of Washington State and Oregon, presented the hazards and difficulties of the terrain first penetrated in the 1870’s by the Rio Grande.
Men and mules alone accounted for the mountain grades that brought the three foot iron to Alamosa and Silverton and over Marshall Pass into the Gunnison country.
All supplies and construction material had to be carried in for the railroad by mule teams or trains of oxen. Railroad ties were transported lashed to the backs of burros while rails were tied to saddles and trailed along the ground.
Thus it was that Colorado became the 38th state of the Union on the 29th December 1876, 100 years after the founding of the USA, hence the nickname the “Centennial State”, and only 25 years after the first settlement was established in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. And with silver and gold strikes around Leadville and in the Front
Range, San Juan and Uncompahgre Mountains it was a boom state between then and the turn of the 20th Century. Times were also thriving for both the Narrow and Standard Gauge railroads of the area especially with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad reaching Leadville in 1880.
In their ongoing pursuit of the riches of the mountains the Narrow Gauge railroads built towering structures to scale the mighty canyon walls and tunnelled relentlessly through the bluffs and outcroppings to reach the work camps. As demonstrated by the Georgetown, Breckenridge & Leadville Railway reaching Silver Plume via the Georgetown Loop in 1884 and the Manitou & Pike’s Peak Railway completing the rack and pinion line to the 14,115-foot (4,302 m) summit of Pikes Peak in 1890. Whilst the
Standard Gauge roads ploughed through the valleys following the mighty rivers upstream, as typified by the Royal Gorge War between the Denver & Rio Grande Railway and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in 1879. Thus we have the setting for Bear Creek Junction.
Although a fictitious location, the layout is set in one of the many canyons typical of Colorado where mining and logging proliferated. Here you will be able to see fragile
wooden trestle bridges curving round mountains, view soaring steel trestles crossing valleys and hear the sounds of steam engines roaring out of rock faced tunnels.
With steam predominant on both the Narrow and Standard gauge tracks, the marvels of late 19th and early 20th Century motive power will parade before your very eyes.
Wonder at the intricacy of the dual gauge track where the model point work had to be hand built to suit the location, and look out for the 2ft 6in gauge mine tram. Listen to the working of the lumber camps and mines in the mountains and admire the laser cut wood and scratch built model buildings and structures in their working environment.
The setting is also bounded by the wilderness of the mountain forests where you will be able to see Black Bears in their natural habitat. But a word of caution is required as these animals are wild and unpredictable so please….
Do Not Feed the Bears!
