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October 29, 2014 VOLU M E 53 | I S S UE 43 | 7 5 ¢
PikesPeakCourier.net T E L L E R C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
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Show will bring Narrow Gauge RR era to life Slim Rail Club shares sights, sounds Nov. 15-16 at Cultural Center By Norma Engelberg Contributing writer
After almost 100 years, steam train engines will be heard in Woodland Park when members of the Slim Rail Club bring their 33rd-annual award-winning, operational, model-train modules to a new venue: The Ute Pass Cultural Center. “Some clubs have operating layouts that try to emulate real operations,” said club president John Campbell, who lives in Monument. “Not our club. Our purpose is to display our work and talk to people. We want to show accurate scale models of rolling stock and share the history, culture and scenery along the lines.” The club has two divisions, HOn3 and On3. HO refers to a scale with a ratio of 1:87 or slightly less than 1/8th inch per foot. The n3 signifies narrow gauge railroads, which have rails set 3 feet apart. O scale has a ratio of 1:48 or about 1/4 inch per foot. There are other scales used to model trains, including the
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S-scale used by Woodland Park Public Works Director and club member Bill Alspach for his own home layout. S scale is 1/64th inch to 1 foot. While many modelers pick an era, Alspach’s home layout uses a specific date: Sept. 23, 1945. “It was after the war, times were good and I can use fall colors,” he said. “It’s the narrow gauge train that ran between Gunnison and Sargent. You can get a lot more of the world into smaller scale layouts.” No matter what scale is used, if the scale designation isn’t followed by “n3,” it’s modelling standard-gauge trains which have rails 4-feet, 8.5-inches apart. Campbell said Gen. William J. Palmer based his Denver & Rio Grande Rail Road on the narrow trains used in Welsh coal mines. He thought they would be ideal for the mountainous terrain found in Colorado’s mining towns. The narrow trains would use less space and be able to take curves better. Narrow gauge lived up to its promise of high efficiency at a lower cost but there was a problem. Narrow gauge and standard gauge trains could not share tracks, so wherever they met, freight and passengers had to be transferred. It wasn’t long before Palmer transformed most of his D&RG lines to standard gauge. “There are a few narrow gauge trains left but they’re all tourist trains,” Alspach said. The club uses module displays 20-28 inches wide, depending on the scale, and 4-feet long. They’re constructed using certain mechanical and electrical standards so they fit together seamlessly along a wall. The club provides end modules that allow the model trains to run in a continuous loop. The club focuses on the Colorado mountain mining era: 19001950.
Slim Rail Club President John Campbell will be bringing this modular narrow gauge model to the Model Railroad Exhibition Nov, 15-16 at the Ute Pass Cultural Center. The module depicts the real town of Fremont, which later became part of Cripple Creek. At the show he’ll talk about how he makes his models and modules and the history of the town of Fremont and the man the town was named after, John C, Fremont. Courtesy photos
Narrow gauge railroads worked in the Colorado Rockies from about 1900-1950. Here is one of Woodland Park Public Works Director Bill Alspach’s home model train layout. “You won’t see a Kansas wheatfield on our modules but you will see our interpretations of narrow gauge in the Colorado
Rockies during the Gold Rush,” Alspach said. Campbell, who works in both divisions, has a module that de-
picts the town of Fremont, which was combined with Hayden Placer to form Cripple Creek in 1893. Like a historical novel, much of Campbell’s Fremont is based on reality but with some fantasy thrown in. For example, real-estate brokers Horace Bennett and Julius Myers bought the land they incorporated as Fremont and, later as Cripple Creek, from a rancher named Levy Welty. However, in Campbell’s Fremont, Bennett and Myers own a men’s clothing store and the local gasoline station is called Welty’s service. Other buildings and businesses are named after things Campbell became familiar with during Era continues on Page 3
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P L EA SE R ECYC L E T H I S C OPY
Owner wants to sell used cars, waits for council approval By Norma Engelberg Contributing writer
Garland “Mac” McClung appeared before the Woodland Park Planning Commission on Oct. 23 with a conditional-use-permit request to construct a 15,022-square-foot parking lot behind his automotive repair business at the corner of U.S. 24 and Mountain Glen Court. He plans to use his older lot in front of his business and the new lot in back to sell used 4 by 4 and All-Wheel-Drive cars and trucks. The new lot would give him employee parking and overflow parking for vehicles awaiting repair or pick-up by customers. Currently, employees park on Mountain Glen Court, which has caused problems for residents. The lot would be separated from nearby residential properties by landscaping, split-rail fencing and a natural ridge. Commissioners unanimously recommended approval of the conditional use permit after a public comment period that included questions from neighbors about snow storage and removal, on-street parking and landscaping. Commissioners also had questions about McClung’s plans to construct a small hard-surface display area in front of his repair business parking lot. McClung agreed to work with resident Arnie Sparnins on extending a fence and increasing a buffer zone along Mountain Glen
Woodland Park business owner William Page plans to construct seven apartments over his commercial buildings in Gold Hill Square North. The first three, if his permit is approved by the Woodland Park City Council, would transform long-vacant office spaces above the building at left. Photo by Norma Engelberg Court. Commissioner Marti Propes easily convinced McClung to limit the number of vehicles he will display on the hard-surface pad to five. “I doubt if I could squeeze even five vehicles into that space and show them properly,” he said. Several conditions were included in the permit approval besides the one that Propes proposed, including the installation of sidewalks and curbs along Mountain Glen Court at the owner’s expense. Sidewalks and curbs from the automotive repair business to the highway will be constructed by the city using funds Mc-
Clung paid in lieu of sidewalks when he built his repair business in 2005. He would also have to make any changes to the layout if suggested by the Colorado Department of Transportation. A letter from concerned Woodland Park citizens Kenneth and Helga Kacir is available in the Oct. 23 planning commission packet at city-woodlandpark.org. This case will go to Woodland Park City Council for initial posting on Nov. 6. The public hearing is set for Nov. 20. Commission Chair Jon DeVaux encouraged the public to air their concerns again at the public hearing.