The D&S NG RR | EJB's site

Rio Grande 4-6-6-4 Challenger steam locomotive side view

A versatile hobby

I’ve been modelling in N scale on and off for 30 years, starting with balsa wood and cardboard custom-building (and little pocket money to spend). In 1995 unpacked and tried a spaghetti layout after revisiting Durango for a 2nd time. Started again after moving, building the Durango to Silverton and hoping to make buildings and rolling stock look as real as possible.

You guessed it: after a visit to the area I am modelling the former route of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad along the banks of the Animas River.
An American prototype narrow gauge mountain line starts to come alive on my N scale layout: The Durenver & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (get it? Durango + Denver).

Visiting Durango Yard (1995) (Image ©EJB as CC BY-NC-SA)

Durango town perspective — NG tracks, industries and mountains (Image ©EJB as CC BY-NC-SA)

Building the D&S layout

<a href="/assets/img/trains2/129-2997_IMG.jpg" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="D&SNG bouw niveau 1 Durango aug - sept 2003 © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" > D_SNG bouw niveau 1 Durango aug - sept 2003 EXIFDescr

D_SNG bouw niveau 1 Durango aug - sept 2003 EXIFDescr

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</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/DSRR_Panel_Screen.png" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="DSRR Panel Screen © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" >

</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/Farmington_IMG_1480.jpg" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="Farmington IMG 1480 © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" >

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</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/RioGrande_H-15.gif" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="RioGrande H-15 © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" >

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Silverton Greene Street postcard IMG 1453

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</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/a2y013.jpg" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="Depot Silverton. CO USA reis 1995 (South West) 14 mei - 12 juni 1995 © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" > a2y013

</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/a2y016.jpg" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="Egbert tijdens rondleiding Durango Yard. CO USA reis 1995 (South West) 14 mei - 12 juni 1995 © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" > a2y016

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</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/baan_paneelruw.jpg" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="baan paneelruw © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" >

</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/d_and_s/LocoIO_Inverter_PCB.png" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="LocoIO Inverter PCB © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" >

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Bouw D_SNG RR Level 2 (Rockwood) January 2012

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<a href="/assets/img/trains2/nx-tableau_eindhoven.jpg" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="The NX CTC machine in Eindhoven, The Netherlands Nico Spilt" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" > nx-tableau eindhoven

</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/prototype/20131030205838-28a115e5.jpg" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="Durango yard viewed from the coal tower ca. 1930. © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" >

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</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/trackplan_Durenver.png" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="trackplan Durenver © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" >

</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/trackplan_Newport.png" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="trackplan Newport © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" >

</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/trackplan_Rockwood.png" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="trackplan Rockwood © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" >

</a> <a href="/assets/img/trains2/trackplan_Silverton.png" class="image-ref" data-sub-html="trackplan Silverton © 1995-2024-2025 EJ Broerse CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0" data-date="dt.strftime("%Y-%m-%d") dt.strftime("%k:%M")" >

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More images of the layout

Modeling the D&SNG RR

After we moved house, I kept two modules from the original layout and installed them back to back suspended over a workbench. Back to basics, just like our house in fact: digital switching, signals, kept the nicest buildings and put the other stuff up for sale…

Name: Durenver & Silverton Narrow Gauge RR
Theme: Colorado Rocky Mountain mining
Scale: N/Nn3 Scale (1:160 9mm/6mm gauge)
Era: circa 1955
Minimum Radius: 10 in/25 cm
Turnouts: Atlas code 80 #6
Mainline Run: 20 ft/6 m = 1 scale km
Dimensions: 7 ft x 4 ft/2.2 m x 1.2 m island

A tour of the former layout

Name: Durenver & Silverton Narrow Gauge RR
Theme: Colorado Rocky Mountain mining, logging, cattle & passenger trains, interchange with SF at Thoreau NM and D&RGW at Grand Junction CO
Scale: N/Nn3 Scale
Era: circa 1955
Minimum Radius: 10 in/25 cm
Turnouts: Atlas code 55/80 #7/#6, Peco streamline #8, Minitrix #4
Mainline Run: 100 ft/30 m = 4.8 scale km
Dimensions: 11 ft x 8 ft/3.5 m x 2.5 m around the wall

See the LDA stats below.

Until the summer of the year 2000 there wasn’t much room to spike down the tracks, but one day in 2018 the trains crossed the miniature Rockies all the way up to the town of Silverton.

Level 0: Newport, OR

Newport harbor area track plan (still image ©EJB under CC BY-NC-SA)

There just had to be a port with a cannery and coal dock on the layout. I found a fitting prototype along the Tacoma Sound in Oregon, where some D&S engines were sent during WWII, so the connection is clear (but the run is a lot shorter).

Overview of Newport — Coal dock and Trident Seafood factory at Newport, March 2013

Newport Coal Dock (Afbeelding ©EJB as CC BY-NC-SA)

Level 0: Farmington and Thoreau, NM

Farmington NM area track plan (still image ©EJB under CC BY-NC-SA)

The Farmington Branch has an interchange with the Santa Fe in the desert town of Thoreau, which explains the big diesels of a Class I RR.

Frame voor Farmington — Working on the benchwork and subroadbed at the ATSF-interchange in Thoreau (2005)

Overview of bottom level — Bare construction, 2005

Stop for a snack in Farmington, 2013 — GE 44 ton switcher #42 and the Snack Stop are ready for travelers, 2013

A short stop on Route 66 — Signals and snack stop added (Dec. 2012)

Sandstone cliffs — For reference: The landscape around Farmington NM (image ©Joel Deluxe under CC BY-NC-SA)

Thoreau NM interchange — Thoreau water tower, Trimble in the background (Feb. 2020)

Level 1: Durenver, CO

Durenver area track plan (still image ©EJB under CC BY-NC-SA)

Durenver is the main town on the layout, a fictional combination of Durango town and depot located high in the Rockies with the Denver, CO dense urban warehouses next to the yard.

Staging yard and business area of Durango * Denver=Durenver — Staging yard and business area of Durango*Denver=Durenver (mock up)

background urban scene — Durenver Yard, Jan. 2013

The Durango Ice and Brewing Co. — The Ice House, a JL Innovative kit (May 2009)

Denver Business District looking north — Overview of Durenver Yard (Jan. 2013)

Speeder shed — Speeder at the shed, ready the assist in the tunnel

Underpass to cross the yard — To cross the yard, use the underpass.

Level 1: Durango, CO D&SNG Yard

Durango area track plan (still image ©EJB under CC BY-NC-SA)

Central point on the layout is the historic depot and boom town of Durango, CO.

Durango yard turntable, April 2008 — Fleischmann turntable, Shay and Goose in Atlas roundhouse, March 2008

Malone Iron and Graden Mercantile in the background, Dec. 2018

Durango Smelter in 1892 (American Heritage) — Historic photograph of smelter (1892)

Durango Smelter buildings, January 2010 — All buildings ass'd and painted

Durango, looking towards the Depot (2015) — Durango, looking across town to Animas River (2015)

Trimble Hot Spring Hotel above the main line — Trimble Hotel above Hermosa Creek, a beautiful Bar-Mills kit (Feb. 2020)

Level 2: Rockwood, CO

Rockwood area track plan (still image ©EJB under CC BY-NC-SA)

A small settlement halfway up near the High Line, just a couple of houses and a small depot plus lumber mill. A small steam operated narrow gauge segment brings in the logs.

First setup of Rockwood — First test fitting of scenery elements

Mine and lumber pond — Mine and timber pond (July 2010)

Above Rockwood — Bowman Mine and Needleton tank spur (April 2014)

Rockwood and High Line — The town of Rockwood with the High Line overhead

Durango special #269 — First train from Durango to Silverton! (Nov. 2012)

Wyman’s sawmill

During 2 rainy days in my summer vacation I finally built the mill using plans from a 1976 Model Railroader magazine. The location in Rockport had been part of my layout design since more than five years, but the detailed drawings I had studied over and over for the last 40 years contained so much detail that this clearly was not a beginner’s model.

Sawmill bird's eye — A look from the aisle, with Tacoma Power House in the back.

Detail of lumber shed — The well stocked interior of the lumber shed.

Windows are Grandt Line castings, some adapted by splitting and joining. All doors were hand made from styrene or stripwood. My son suspects me to enter the sawmill in some kind of modelling competition, and perhaps I will some day.

Level 3: Silverton, CO

Silverton track plan (still image ©EJB under CC BY-NC-SA)

The final stop on the main line, interchange with SN RR to Ouray and SG&N RR to Gladstone. We were there during a snow storm, so at this point the imagination takes over.

To climb from Rockwood to the High Line, I custom-built a helix in 2012.

Colorado Historical Archives — Greene Street around 1912. Note the folk on the roof of Hesperus Coal.
© 2000-2010 The Silverton Magazine (now offline)

Scratch built with interior — Silverton Depot and town (Jan. 2013)

Silverton snow shed, hiding the reverse loop

Silverton mountain (styrofoam) — Silverton Engine house and snow shed (Jan. 2010)

Layout Statistics

Layout Design Analysis, LDA in short, provides insight into how well a model layout will operate given its size, complexity and amount of rolling stock.
LDA was developed by Joe Fugate, but the original web pages are no longer up. Link is to the Wayback Machine, checked Feb 2023.
All credits for LDA go to Joe Fugate.

To summarize the input:

Room and Layout area are self-explanatory, with the latter representing the total area taken up by just the layout "tabletop" itself.
Number of turnouts is used to calculate the complexity and operational potential. Count a crossing as a turnout, and count a single slip switch or three-way turnout as 2 turnouts. Count a double slip switch as 3 turnouts.
Track length is measured as both total footage and as the equivalent number of 40 foot cars (e.g. 4 40' cars per foot in N scale, see table).
Similarly, measure the actual main line for running trains, and the total of your passing sidings.
Connecting track = total track - mainline - passing - storage - staging - service
Staging train length (three values separated by slashes -- longest/average/shortest)

Next, we do some math:

Max. # of cars = 80% of (storage + staging + passing/2).
# of cars moved = 40% of (staging x 2 + passing + connecting)
# of trains = number of cars moved / min(average passing train length, average staging train length)
Dispatching threshold = (3 x shortest passing siding + 2 x average passing siding + the longest passing siding) / 6

LDA Results:

Room Area (sq ft): 110
Layout Area (sq ft): 86 (78%)
Number Turnouts: 61
Total Track: 200 ft = 800 cars
Train Length (max/average/min): 18/15/12 cars
Maximum Number of Cars: 172
Number of Trains: 9
Dispatching threshold: 14 car trains

It works nicely with JMRI Operations (Dec. 2012)

Rolling stock

Check out my Rolling Stock Collection.

In January 2007 I entered all my items in a dedicated database Mac-MoVe. It was astonishing to get a good look at all the beautiful items one has collected (and paid for) over the years.

All Items were later added to JMRI Operations Car Roster.

Silverton RR Nn3 2-6-0 (conversion by me) April 2009 — Nn3 2-6-0 (Republic Locomotive Works white metal conversion kit on top of a Märklin Z frame. I'm proud of this job!)

Model RR Links

N Scale Supply: A fine shop shipping internationally
Model Railroader monthly magazine: The magazine that got me interested in 1974
NMRA Special Interest Groups (SIGs): Thematic groups of interest:
Layout Design SIG: they publish the Layout Design SIG Primer
Operations SIG: Learn about industries and yard ops
RailPictures.Net: Browse large archives of prototype pictures from home