Northern Colorado Garden Railroaders
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Sorry to say, this railroad is gone 
Sadly, the D&L Garden Railroad is no longer, since our move in 2016. But we still enjoy the club, and run a few large scale trains indoors now.
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Construction started in August of 1998, and the first trains ran in April of 2000. In between, over 50 tons of dirt and 25 tons of rock were moved to the backyard via shovel and wheelbarrow. The 20' X 30' raised layout is a twisted and folded dog bone design with 150 feet of track and 3% grades up and down. A stream runs from the mountain top, down through the canyon, and into the pond. A four track 18' long train shed moves trains to and from the layout via a draw bridge. All trains run under battery power radio control designed by Del, who owns and operates www.G-Scale Graphics.net.

June 2016
The D&L Garden Railroad is no more. We moved to a patio home in Windsor, Colorado. No railroads allowed outside, but I'll be running trains indoors on table tops.

Our railroad was featured in the book "Getting Started in Garden Railroading" by Alan Miller, 2011. See it here ...

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Our pond is home for the Koi and water plants. It was built a couple of years after getting the garden railroad up and running.

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Spring really makes the railroad come alive! The track layout is a "folded and twisted dog bone" with 3% grades up and down. 

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Sunset is decorated with figures for an open day.

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... and this bridge. Water from the pond is pumped to the top of the mountain, down this stream, and back into the pond.

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We soon got tired of hauling locos and rolling stock from the garage to the layout. The drawbridge lowers to access the layout.

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We really like the looks of the Ash tree in the middle of the layout. Of course there are leaves in the Fall.

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The theme for the railroad is loosely the Colorado & North Western RR in 1898. This is the town of Sunset.

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There are two crossovers on the track plan. This tunnel ...

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Pulling the grade up Gold Hill, passing a miner's cabin.


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The train shed houses four tracks worth of rolling stock and locos. Usually, only the first roof is open for operations.

Northern Colorado Garden Railroaders  -  Established February 1999