Not Como Nevada

[Don Gustavson II]

I just registered with this Forum today. Have been reading it for a year or so. You all are inspiring. The more I read the more I want to do.  Sorry this might be a little long of a post. But I just go so much to say..  

Some History of my own.

I live in Reno Nevada.

Around 20 years ago my father met a lady in Smith Valley Nevada whose husband had passed away. They got to talking and it turns out her husband (I do not have his name on me right now) was building an HOn3 layout in an outbuilding. No one in the Family wanted the layout. My Dad made a deal and he bought most of the locomotives and rolling stock. The deal was, we had to remove the majority of the layout. It was not ever meant to be moved.
   
So early one morning we drove out with the biggest moving tuck you can rent, saws, wire cutters, and what not (no camera). Packed everything loose into boxes and started extricating the layout.
 
Over the years we setup some sections of it. But for the most part it got stored and moved from house to house over the next 20 years.
 
Around 3 years ago, my Dad bought a house with an oversized 5 car garage. Perfect for this layout and more.
 
This layout is HOn3 and 95% of the track and turnouts where hand laid. Some of the buildings look custom. I have the original layout track plan drawings. I will post that sometime. It was a great find.
 
So we pieced it back together. Converting it to DCC.  I did not realize until a few years ago just what we had. (un-familiar with the C and S.)
There are some portions of the layout we just could not fit into our space. And we had to rearrange parts to make room for another standard gauge layout we "inherited" more recently.

Only about 2 years ago did I pull buildings out that had been packed for 20 years. One of the train stations said “Como”. So for whatever reason I starting poking around on the internet. Since the creator of the layout lived in Nevada. That is where I started looking. Sure enough there is A Como Nevada. But, I did not seem to have a railroad there.
 
But then I found Como Colorado. And my life as a model railroader changed forever!
 
I stared finding pictures of Como, St Elmo, Boreas Pass. These pictures matched buildings and sections of the Layout.  It explained the hand built 3 way stub switches.
 
I was, and still am very excited!
 
So now we continue repairing, and adding onto the Layout. But now I feel a responsibility to continue on in the spirt of the layouts original creator. With some creative licenses of course.  I went back and moved a Mine I stuck in a what I thought was a good spot. (oops. There needs to be a hotel there). And rebuilt some track work in Como near the station to more accurately depict the prototype.
   
So once gain you all are inspiring.  And cause me more work. In a good way. In the future I would like to add to this layout the following. Or have started.
 
1) Buena Vista (lots of creative licenses here) Mostly using it for duel gauge that will connect to or standard gauge layout. Building some of the Colorado Midland tunnels north of Buena Vista.
2) Loosely making King City coal mine.
3) Alpine tunnel, and part of Alpine station. Perhaps the telegraph building and section/bunk house.
4) Romley / Murphy's Switch, Romley bridge, Mary Murphy mine.

I will post more pictures. Current progress and others.
 
The first picture, I cleaned out the background and added some sky. A lot of the detail stuff is items I just laid out. This layout has lots of stuff to repair, finish off, and add to.

Thanks again for having and actively using this Forum.
Wish I could make it to Como this weekend. I hope they are doing Railroad days next year.

[Bill Uffelman]

Any relation to Senator Gustavson?

Bill Uffelman

Former President and CEO Nevada Bankers Association

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 1:47 PM, Don Gustavson II [via C&Sng Discussion Forum]

<[hidden email]> wrote:

I just registered with this Forum today. Have been reading it for a year or so. You all are inspiring. The more I read the more I want to do.  Sorry this might be a little long of a post. But I just go so much to say..  

Some History of my own.

I live in Reno Nevada.

Around 20 years ago my father met a lady in Smith Valley Nevada whose husband had passed away. They got to talking and it turns out her husband (I do not have his name on me right now) was building an HOn3 layout in an outbuilding. No one in the Family wanted the layout. My Dad made a deal and he bought most of the locomotives and rolling stock. The deal was, we had to remove the majority of the layout. It was not ever meant to be moved.
   
So early one morning we drove out with the biggest moving tuck you can rent, saws, wire cutters, and what not (no camera). Packed everything loose into boxes and started extricating the layout.
 
Over the years we setup some sections of it. But for the most part it got stored and moved from house to house over the next 20 years.
 
Around 3 years ago, my Dad bought a house with an oversized 5 car garage. Perfect for this layout and more.
 
This layout is HOn3 and 95% of the track and turnouts where hand laid. Some of the buildings look custom. I have the original layout track plan drawings. I will post that sometime. It was a great find.
 
So we pieced it back together. Converting it to DCC.  I did not realize until a few years ago just what we had. (un-familiar with the C and S.)
There are some portions of the layout we just could not fit into our space. And we had to rearrange parts to make room for another standard gauge layout we "inherited" more recently.

Only about 2 years ago did I pull buildings out that had been packed for 20 years. One of the train stations said “Como”. So for whatever reason I starting poking around on the internet. Since the creator of the layout lived in Nevada. That is where I started looking. Sure enough there is A Como Nevada. But, I did not seem to have a railroad there.
 
But then I found Como Colorado. And my life as a model railroader changed forever!
 
I stared finding pictures of Como, St Elmo, Boreas Pass. These pictures matched buildings and sections of the Layout.  It explained the hand built 3 way stub switches.
 
I was, and still am very excited!
 
So now we continue repairing, and adding onto the Layout. But now I feel a responsibility to continue on in the spirt of the layouts original creator. With some creative licenses of course.  I went back and moved a Mine I stuck in a what I thought was a good spot. (oops. There needs to be a hotel there). And rebuilt some track work in Como near the station to more accurately depict the prototype.
   
So once gain you all are inspiring.  And cause me more work. In a good way. In the future I would like to add to this layout the following. Or have started.
 
1) Buena Vista (lots of creative licenses here) Mostly using it for duel gauge that will connect to or standard gauge layout. Building some of the Colorado Midland tunnels north of Buena Vista.
2) Loosely making King City coal mine.
3) Alpine tunnel, and part of Alpine station. Perhaps the telegraph building and section/bunk house.
4) Romley / Murphy's Switch, Romley bridge, Mary Murphy mine.

I will post more pictures. Current progress and others.
 
The first picture, I cleaned out the background and added some sky. A lot of the detail stuff is items I just laid out. This layout has lots of stuff to repair, finish off, and add to.

Thanks again for having and actively using this Forum.
Wish I could make it to Como this weekend. I hope they are doing Railroad days next year.

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[Don Gustavson II]

Yes.
He is the one that got me into this Model Railroading adventure when I was just a kid.

[Jim Courtney]

Welcome to Roper's Doghouse!

Yep, that's Como, Colorado.  You've some beautiful C&S structures, and that Key number 71 is wonderfully finished.

Who ever the nameless original builder was, he was doing some great C&S modeling back in the 1990s!

Jim in the Northwest.

[Jeff Young]

Welcome, Don!

What a great find; I can see many enjoyable hours ahead for you. ;)

Cheers,
Jeff (from sunny -- for once -- Ireland)

[Bill Uffelman]

Wish I had known there was a C&S narrow gauger in the neighborhood during my 10 years of commuting to Reno and Carson City from Las Vegas.

Bill Uffelman

Ocean View DE

On Tuesday, August 16, 2016 2:26 PM, Don Gustavson II [via C&Sng Discussion Forum] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Yes.
He is the one that got me into this Model Railroading adventure when I was just a kid.

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NAML

[Don Gustavson II]

That is one of the reasons I decided to get out of my shell and get on the internet.

[Bill Uffelman]

Tell him I said hi.

Bill

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On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 4:09 PM, William Uffelman

<[hidden email]> wrote:

Wish I had known there was a C&S narrow gauger in the neighborhood during my 10 years of commuting to Reno and Carson City from Las Vegas.

Bill Uffelman

Ocean View DE

On Tuesday, August 16, 2016 2:26 PM, Don Gustavson II [via C&Sng Discussion Forum] <[hidden email]> wrote:

Yes.
He is the one that got me into this Model Railroading adventure when I was just a kid.

---

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NAML

[ComoDepot]

I see a Depot, not sure about the hill behind it!

Looks like you are going for the late period so the Loco's would be heading in front forward to the Roundhouse.

[Don Gustavson II]

The Hill behind the Depot is taller then it should be on the layout. In Como the line that went to Jefferson left Como going North. Then looped around crossing the creek and went South/East. The road headed out going east.


A 12 foot section of the original layout had to be turned 90 degrees to make everything fit in the room.
This brought "the Hill" closer to the Depot. And higher in elevation. (It has a 7% ish grade on it. And that is another story). Originally there was not much layout behind the Depot.

In this photo the "Red" part is the section we had to turn. The "Blue" part is also part of the original layout. The "Red" and"Blue" sections where connected where the yellow lines are. The "Green" part is stuff I added/filled in.  The hill got a little steep. So I am doing some rock work to make it look good.


I found this picture showing the road going east. And the satellite picture then made more sense.


I am going to continue the road as indicated in this photo. I cant cross the creek, but I am okay with that.
Please excuse the buildings stacked on top of each other. Rowe street is having some work done on it.  



The tunnel portal was the main line on the original layout. But I reworked the North end of Como and had to abandon it. It will get removed at some point. Also of note in the above photo. The cattle pen. I wanted to put one in here somewhere. In Como I was happy to find out that there was one near the Depot. It was on the other side of the tracks. I am using this one for now I picked up for 50 cents. I have seen plans for cattle pens that where on the C&S. This may span another project
.
This area is all a work in progress. Patching some holes. Trying to match the original ground cover, etc.

I am happy with how it is working out.
It has been a challenge to keep intact as much of the original layout as I can. And make it work in the space we have.
As seen in the above photo, I used some flex track. I sometimes lay this down first to work things out. I will go back later and hand lay it.

As for the time period. I am not sure what the creator of the layout was going for. My guess is late. Since the turn table is concrete. Witch I understand that was done later in time. As for me. I don't know that I will be sticking to a particular time period.

[Don Gustavson II]

The original  creator of the layout was Ewald Pyzel of Smith Valley Nevada.
Here is his original Plan for the layout. The Red and Blue sections we have been able to use.
 

[Bill Uffelman]

Quite a layout, both original and revised. It is nice that it has been saved.

Bill Uffelman 

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On Tue, Aug 23, 2016 at 1:03 PM, Don Gustavson II [via C&Sng Discussion Forum]

<[hidden email]> wrote:

The original  creator of the layout was Ewald Pyzel of Smith Valley Nevada.
Here is his original Plan for the layout. The Red and Blue sections we have been able to use.
 

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[Alex Hois]

Nice work, Don and Ewald!
I'm looking forward to see more pictures, since I need some inspiration for my own condensed version of Como in HOn3.
This would be a nice layout to add to the links in the header of the C&SN3 home page.
Alex

[Ken Martin]

A friend who has traveled Nevada looking at mines sent me these two pictures of Como, NV. Definitely not C&S territory.

Ken Martin
Sacramento

[Don Gustavson II]

That looks like the place. Perhaps some day I will drive out and check it out. Just to do it. Same reason I want to go to the ghost town of Berlin Nevada. I can then tell people I have been to Berlin.

[Don Gustavson II]

A few progress pictures of the area I filled in between existing sections of the layout. This would be the area North and East of the Como Depot.
All the track on the "inside" of the mountain was added. All to make the layout work for the room we have it in (Normally I would avoid hidden track). It someday will get a camera system. There is a hidden Y in here. Nothing like building the bottom end of a layout after the top is in place. . But it is all working well.
The bridge at the top was salvaged from the original layout also.


We had to add in an access hatch. I like having areas with more scenery then track if I have the room.
Getting scenery on it is a challenge.


The white is Hydrocal from a large bag. What can I say. I grew up with the stuff.


After a layer or two of dirt. I have a good base of scenery to build upon. Trying to match the original dirt color of the layout. I found that a mix of sifted natural Nevada dirt, and colored grout works well.
The holes on the top of the mountain patched up well.
I need to get good at making Aspen and other trees for Park Creek now.
The two trees in the foreground, I just stuck them there for the moment.

[Jim Courtney]

Looks like we have another C&S scenery master here on the Discussion Form. I can almost smell the South Park as the line departs Como east bound!

One request: With the next photo, please pose a C&S train climbing up the Kenosha grade. It doesn't have to run -- we'll never know!

Jim

[Jeff Young]

Looking good, Don.

You might use a bit of ranch fencing to further disguise one or two edges of the access hatch, although it would have the disadvantage of being easily damaged when using the hatch.  I suppose it would come down to how often you think the hatch would be used….

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Don Gustavson II]

Jeff,
That may work out perfect. It would fall right into my plans..
Right above the hatch at the current tree line in the last photo, I set a cabin.  I built it out of our old Christmas tree back in the 90s. Been wanting to use it  somewhere ever since . ( I finally found a place for it.)
My Mom has this painting in her living room. I like everything about the painting, and have wanted to try and recreate the scene.
I have a spot next to the cabin that I can scratch build the barn.
Was going to put in a path that cows are run down to the cattle Pen at Como. The path may go right over the hatch.

So. Adding a fence line along the edge of the hatch could work well. Could have some wind blown weeds on the fence to help hide the line.

The two Signatures on the  painting looks like "?aroin Grelle?" and "Martin Grell?? Trying to give credit..

I will get a picture of  Kenosha Grade with a Train on it. Before this post. I had no name for the grade.

[Jeff Young]

Don, that is a great picture.

Cheers,

Jeff.