I've poked around with On30 long enough that I figured I should do something about it.
It all started in the early 2000s, a cover picture of one of Bob Brown's critters caught my eye and I was hooked. This was around the time that Bachmann was putting out all sorts of cool On30 equipment at good prices. I started buying little bits including a few Porters, freight kits, and some building kits. I also started reading and collecting a lot of Narrow Gauge Gazette, Timber Times, and the modeling annuals and they really stoked my interest. I love the little trains, the crazy places they were built and the related industries of mining and logging. My main modeling focus has been N scale and I have built a number of layouts, including my current Yellowhead Division, but the On30 bug never went away. On a few occasions I thought I would sell all the N scale and go into On30, but never did. I still have that Model Railroader with Bob Brown's layout on the cover. One of the few I have kept.
To add fuel to the fire, I've discovered a lot of cool old mining sites during camping trips to Nevada, California, Montana, Idaho, Alaska and the Yukon. The equipment and buildings of these sites are ideal modeling subjects and seeing them in person has led to a secondary hobby of finding and visiting these old sites.
Fast forward to the recent past. I had no motivation for my N scale layout so I printed out a few On30 cars for laughs. The designs were HOn30 from
@Chris333 and I loved the size and detail that was possible printed at this larger size.
Back in 2012, I drew up a plan for a small mining layout that would be mostly to operate little trains and build a neat scene. It was inspired by a trip to Dawson City, Yukon, where after the Klondike rush, gold claims were consolidated into larger companies that built up infrastructure to placer mine at a large scale. One of the curious things that was built was the Yukon Ditch, a 75 km waterway that brought water from the high mountains to the north, down to the placer mines where the gold was. It was ingenious and absurd, and seeing the old ditch, pipe and associated hydro plant got me interested in the area. The Tombstone Mountains are full of mineralized rock and have seen quite a bit of exploration over the years but no actual mines. It is the perfect setting for a little layout and some On30 distraction.
My backstory is that during construction of the flume around 1908, one of the workers discovered a rich copper vein outcropping on the hillside above. The ore turned out to be particularly rich, up to 30% copper. The richness of the ore meant that it could be profitably hauled out and shipped on river boats on the Yukon River, ultimately to smelters in the Pacific Northwest. After some changing of hands, the claims were consolidated as the Tombstone Mountain Copper Company and the promoters raised funds to build an underground mine. Financial conditions deteriorated and the grand plans had to be scaled back. They were able to recover some of Porter locomotives that found their way to the Klondike for work around Dawson, and they minimally upgraded the flume construction rail line that was built most of the way to serve the remote mine site. Coal mines north of Dawson would supply vital fuel to operate steam equipment and provide heat, while nearby sawmills from the flume construction would provide timber.
So here is the layout, 2' X 6' and designed so it can be both portable and easily expandable in two directions. The goal here is to basically make as much from scratch as possible, and with an emphasis on building out things I have in storage. It is a test bed as much as anything, and it would be easy to take to a show or to a friend's place.
The track will be code 70 handlaid, and rather than lots of PCB ties, I will hand spike it. Trains will be a Porter or similar with 1-2 cars and a caboose, so the leads don't need to be very long in this first layout. I started to build track for the ore bin tracks and successfully built a sturdy turnout with only one PCB tie. I have laid it out on a 4" foam base that I had left over from my N scale layout, and it will be housed under the layout.
So a modest beginning, and not necessarily an end to my N scale efforts. I can already envision a little train hauling some copper ore or supplies running on the track. The opportunity to do something fully freelanced is motivating as well. It should be an interesting journey, even if it never amounts to much.
