"Food for a hungry horse"

This diorama measures 12" by 24" and is built in HO (1/87) scale. The steam locomotives required coal and water for their boiler (to generate steam) and sand for their sandbox (for added traction). There were many such facilities all across America up until the fortys and fiftys when diesels took over. The coal tower and water tank are Campbell Scale Models kits, the toolshed that I've kitbashed with the water tower, is a Finescale Mineatures kit as is the sandhouse. Most of the rest is scratchbuilt, and it has a glass case.

The small locomotive is a shay owned by Darryl huffman, friend and fellow model builder who took these photographs. Shays were used primarily to pull log buggies and flatcars in logging operatons. They were geared in such a way that they had good pulling power in spite of their small size, and could take the sharp curves of the logging railroad.

The large locomotive is an L-131, a Denver and Rio Grand Western 2-8-8-2 mallet or articulated (actually two locomotives under one boiler). They were used mainly for the long hauls from Denver, Colorado, to Salt Lake City, Utah, and for helping trains up over the great divide at Eagle Summit, one of the steepest grades on standard gauge railroads in America. My mother went to high school in Eagle and remembers these 3600's as they shook windows and rattled glasses from several miles away. The diesels couldn't make the steepest part of the grades, so two of these huge locomotives were kept at Eagle. One would be cut into the middle of the train, and the other at the end, just in front of the cabooses.

This model is made of brass, and was imported by Pacific Fast Mail about twenty years ago. I painted it to look as weathered and dirty as the real locomotive. I plan on putting sound and command control into it.

I used to play around the coaling tower, turntable, and two stall roundhouse as a kid. Got plenty dirty but mom didn't mind because she knew how much I loved trains and still do.