Welcome to the Recreation of the Old West

Updated 2/6/05

This current ongoing project  is my attempt to recreate a piece of the Old West as things might have been in the 1880s somewhere in the Southwest United States.  Below are some screenshots of the layout as it is progressing.  The map is currently over 220 baseboards and is HIGHLY custom textured.  Remember there were not a lot of buildings and structures during this time period so the texturing has to be extremely good to pull off a good looking route.  That is why this project is taking so long.

Map and General Layout

The Desert

The main line of this layout runs through a desert and grassland area and there will probably be 4 little towns along the route.

Along the main line there is a branch line which will service a mining industry and a logging industry in the mountains.  On the other side of the mountains will be at least one town, but to get there you have to go over the pass.  The pass is 2400 feet to the summit above the mainline and provides some pretty spectacular scenery along the way.  Then down about 800 feet to the plateau on the other side.   

The Mountain Pass

The Marent Gulch Trestle Model

When this trestle was built by the Northern Pacific RR near Missoula Montana in the 1880s it was the tallest trestles in the US at 236 feet high and 860 feet long.  This model is 300 feet high for those that need to span some big gulches.