La Madera del Norte is a fictional HOn3 facility of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway in the late 19th century. It is a 4 foot by an 11 1/2 foot addition to my existing modular model railroad. The layout is built using a the modules that followed us when my wife and I moved to the Kansas City area from Denver. The train room is roughly 16x24 feet, so there’s plenty of space for building.
The inspiration for the La Madera track plan is Dave Meek’s HOn3 Barlow Pass model railroad. As soon as I saw his track plan, I knew that it would make a wonderful addition to my layout. Dave, through his Thunder Mesa Studio, has produced a number of gorgeous layouts mostly in O scale.
La Madera is a peninsula so that both sides are accessible for operation and for construction. Electrically and physically La Madera follows the specifications of the Near Sighted Narrow Gaugers module group I was a member of in Denver. So basically it is a large HOn3 free-mo module.
The plan is that La Madera will be a small town and a helper/maintenance facility located somewhere in the San Juan mountains of south eastern Colorado. The maintenance facility will consist of Sierra West Loco and Service Shops, the Railroad Camp, and the Backwoods Tie Mill, as well as a few structures that are looking for a home. These include a hardware supplier, an oil shed, a two stall engine house (the Loco and Service Shops engine house will be repurposed to be the car shop), and a depot.
This is the current track plan. The upper layer, in tan, will be the maintenance facility and the lower level will be contain the SWSM Tie Mill, mountain scenery, and a long return loop. I’m very open to comments and suggestions.
The home of La Madera before construction began. The end module will move elsewhere. It contains a scratch built mine.
The benchwork is underway. The framework is mostly 3/4 inch plywood. I used a couple of 2x8s that I had lying around for the base of the legs. I figured they would give some heft for the stability of the layout. A couple of L-girders support the layout. Right after I took this photo, I realized that the trusses were upside down. That’s since been corrected and the layout became much stronger.
The top is 1/2 inch plywood that will be cutout cookie cutter style on the lower level, and solid for the yard on the top level. An early look at the idea for the upper level. The upper level is 4’ wide by 4 1/2 feet long. When completed, the upper level will be 6-7 feet long. Another trip to the lumber yard will net more plywood for this.
The sub roadbed has been cut out and temporary track laid to test the concept. The grade is 2 1/2 percent, and my C-19 locomotives can pull a five car train. Since this is Colorado narrow gauge where many times only 3-5 cars made up the train, so this will work fine. For longer trains, we will either double head, or make multiple trips. The supports and screen introduce the mountain scenery. Where the tape measure is will be a mine and tipple. Across and to the left, the rectangle will support the SWSM Backwoods Tie Mill.
I added retractable workbench casters for mobility. They’re rated for 880 pounds and make working on the module much easier.