Mark's MT Railroads: Roundhouse, CRM, and Cross Bucks

Welcome to the end of October, readers! As I advised earlier, I'll be providing some railroad-related details from our trip to Denver ~

After having lunch in Cheyenne we stopped by the historic Union Pacific Depot. Well, actually we went to the not-so-historic parking lot of the Depot. Amber checked on my surgery recovery progress, and I was able to stand and look at the Union Pacific roundhouse. There were no parked trains obstructing the view, so we were there at an opportune time. The roundhouse is only open to visitors once a year during Depot Days in May of each year. But, as a ferroequinologist, it was fun just to be on site. For those of you that don't know the significance of this, the UP roundhouse in Cheyenne is home to the railroad's operational historic locomotives. Here, the engines receive restoration, maintenance, and protection from the elements. The steam locomotives that reside here are Northern #844, Challenger #3985 and newcomer Big Boy #4014. There are also vintage diesel locomotives and passenger cars that get stored/serviced here. While crossing over the train yard bridge, I spotted an E or F unit still bearing the CNW livery. I hope to visit the inside of the roundhouse during Depot Days someday!

On a Tuesday afternoon, we visited the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden. Staff were busy decorating the campus for the Polar Express events, which will take place over the next few months. Our reason for visiting, however, was the garden railroad display. We spent an hour with Alan Olson, the chairman of the Denver Garden Railroad Society, who graciously provided information, ideas, and answers about starting a garden railroad from scratch. We discussed track, plants, grades, buildings, rolling stock, electronics, weather, wildlife, track plans and more. We will continue to use Alan as a resource as we get closer to construction of the garden railroad in our backyard in Billings. Some useful ideas from Alan included: a kidney-bean shaped track plan with scenery obstructions to provide interest, battery-powered locomotives, the use of thyme as ground-cover, using drip-irrigation, running trains in the snow, tracks at waist height, and track structure that can support a human's weight. We stayed with Alan until the museum closed, and picked up a copy of Garden Railways Magazine on the way out.

Back in Billings, I was able to paint the lettering on my Do-It-Yourself cross bucks for display in the backyard!

Until next week, keep those rails shiny!