Back in late 2023, I started construction on the first ATSF Raton layout in Z scale. I had just come off a very busy year—my second book had been released, and I was inducted into The Explorers Club. Model railroading had taken a backseat to book research, and instead of poring over track charts, I was poring over WWII German battleship documents. I needed a palate-cleanser of a project.
Before moving back to New Mexico in 2021, I had been an N&W modeler through and through. Occasionally I’d taken a little detour into Colorado narrow gauge, but I always came back to the N&W. Living in New Mexico full-time, I was exposed to everything Santa Fe. The bridges still have the logos. Buildings still wear big “SANTA FE” letters on their flanks. It’s not something one can escape. Eventually, it crept in, and I decided it was time for a change.
I chose Raton Pass because it offered all three of the things I love in model railroading: coal, passenger trains, and helper operations. Raton is railroading. I chose the name Raton Past as a little play on words. The idea came from an article in Trains Magazine written by Bill Diven. Mr. Diven—whom I can count as an acquaintance—wrote one of the closing pieces on the operation titled Raton Passed. Raton had indeed passed, and since I was modeling the past, well, it seemed fitting: Raton Past.
Raton—for anyone unfamiliar with the location—would be forgiven for thinking it was an absolute hotbed of railroad action. Raton Pass, with its iconic tunnels and glamour shots of the Super Chief, really died a death not long after it was completed. The grueling mainline grade, second only to Saluda, was never a long-term solution for the ATSF, and so they opted for a less intense route to the south. Trains still used it, but some days the passenger traffic outnumbered the freight.
In the 1950s, the coal began to wind down, only to find a resurgence in the 1960s. By the late 1990s, some coal still crossed the Pass, with warbonnet GEs doubling the grade in one of the last truly dramatic railroading operations of the 20th century. Today, only Amtrak plies the rails—twice a day. Nothing else. For now, the line remains the last to retain operating semaphores. For now. They’re falling fast.
With a location chosen, I began the first Raton Past. I hadn’t built a full-sized model railroad in years, and I figured it would be smart to try my hand with a test layout. That first attempt did what I needed it to do: I built something, and I learned what I didn’t want to do for the second, real attempt.
Once I’d completed it, I was happy—but it certainly wasn’t the standard I’d consider for a permanent layout. So last year, it went. For the second attempt, there would be no compromises, no corners cut.
The first decision was how big the new layout would be. I had ample space set aside for an empire, but the idea of tying up a whole room for something like this seemed a little much. So I reverted to type and began construction on a layout that would incorporate everything I wanted—and be portable. This would be Raton Pass, distilled.
Since this layout would be on display from all four sides, I needed every angle of the benchwork to be finished. I chose red oak with black walnut inlay, and for the layout itself, the fascia would be black walnut with red oak inlay. Everything else would be deep-cut inlay and marquetry work. It’s not something I really see anyone else doing on finished layouts, but I wanted the end result to be refined and solid. The location names are inlaid—not painted. The control panel, entirely inlay work, took weeks to finish.
We have a Bengal cat, and anyone familiar with this exotic breed knows—they’re jumpers. No height is too high for a Bengal. While our guy is a sweetheart, I didn’t want to chance an accident, so the entire layout is enclosed in tempered glass panels. The glass keeps him honest. It’s hinged, so I can easily access any part of the layout and facilitate switching operations. Some extra engineering had to go into building it strong enough to take the weight and flexing of the panels swinging outward.
The glass supports the top, which houses all the lighting—daytime, nighttime, and a thunderstorm effect—just as on the first layout. It’s all covered with a diffuser and finished in oak. No angle of the layout is unfinished.
Sound was a big requirement for me, so this layout has ambient audio for daytime, nighttime, and mine operations, quietly coming from a resonant box I built beneath the layout. It gives the sound a bit of bass while keeping it subtle. I also installed an Iowa Scaled Engineering squealer, with the volume dialed way down so it’s just barely there.
The track—which I’ll elaborate on at a later time—is all hand-laid Code 40 on wood ties. Every turnout is hand-laid Code 40 as well. I wanted flawless operation, and hand-laying was the only way I was going to get there. Even though the amount of track isn’t prodigious, it still took about two weeks of off-and-on work to lay it down.
I started construction on the whole layout about five months ago. I had intended to begin last year, but I got sidetracked with another ship modeling project. The ship, RMS Carpathia, took longer than I’d planned. Not wanting to juggle two big projects at once, I held off on the layout until the liner was finished. A scratch-built ocean liner is a very big project, and it took months. Here she is, by the way:
So consider this a little teaser until I can take some photos of the rest of the construction. I have a couple of other small projects to wrap up, and then I’ll roll the layout into the larger photo studio and take some proper shots. I’ll be documenting the build here, slowly. So until then, the overall shots will have to wait—but there’s a lot more to come.
The control panel, solid black walnut.
The panel on the front fascia.
The track plan for the layout was a bit of a struggle. How do I fit all this railroading into 30 inches by 20 inches (76cm x 50cm in new money)? I looked at just about every track plan Kalmbach ever published, looked at what worked, and what didn’t. I knew there would be some traps, some avoidable, some not.
Then I took the actual track diagram for the Morley mine complex and dropped it into Photoshop. I smashed it down, dropped a couple turnouts, edited the scale tracks and holding tracks, to come up with what I have. It left me with a couple challenges. The first was that I needed a runaround. I had initially intended the layout to depict the line in 1956, and this would have been the last months of operation for the Morley mine complex. This also meant one of the Raton tunnels would have been plugged. By backdating about 3 years, I can not only have the mine working full-bore, but I could continue the runaround track through the nearly unused tunnel portal for the runaround.
This little choice also meant I could electrically isolate the other end at Lynn and use it for the helper pocket. Birds and stones and all that. Two problems solved. Although the run around still utilizes the main. But remember, 30 inches by 20 inches…
The other problem, which on something this size, can’t be fixed, is the dreaded switchback. The darling of 21st century Model Railroader Magazine small track plans, but mostly derided by professional track planners. I can see why. In my case, however, it just can’t be avoided, so I decided to use it to my advantage. Shortening the switchback’s initial leg now limits the types of moves I can make at the mine, creating an operational complexity that now requires a little thought. No, it’s not a puzzle, since I have the runaround, I can fix any mistake. However, it is engaging.
With the types of traffic going in and out of the complex, and the need to move cars that are not part of the switching move, I figured I was on to something that would be enjoyable to switch. I gamed it out using some cutouts, then ran it through some math. I found there are literally thousands of combinations of moves, and that’s before I introduce any other variables.
You’ll notice on this track plan that I haven’t added any structures yet. I have the core structures in mind for the mine, the tower at Lynn, the iconic adobe church in the hills behind the town of Morley, but the rest are still kicking around.
So, in an area of just over 4 square feet, I was able to get everything I wanted. If you squint. Mainline trains, coal mine switching, and a helper pocket (sort of).
With all of the hand laid code 40 in now, I’ve been able to take a couple weeks and actually try my theory. No two switching sessions have been the same, and I’m excited to see it once I have some scenery in.
The two tracks to the upper right in the mine complex are the coal loading tracks and the switchback. I had to combine these, and the track to the upper left is the storage and unloading tracks for the mine supplies and the company store supplies. Also, it will be doubling as the scale track, again space.
Some may find it silly that I’m putting so much effort into this, but I enjoy the process. The problem solving and pontificating on the various aspects of this little layout is half the fun!
Expanding a bit on the locations on the layout, the tunnels, the towns.
Probably the first thing folks think of when they hear Raton is the tunnel, well, tunnels. The first bore was completed in 1879 and continued in use until 1950 or so, and was finally plugged in 1953. A second bore was completed in 1908. The original bore was timber lined, and had clearance issues. The 1908 bore was concrete lined and still in use today.
Intrepid railfans can hike to the site but it’s not advisable. Parking is an issue, since there isn’t any, and the local wildlife is a hazard. Bears are very common in the area. Very. BNSF takes a dim view of trespassing too, and they keep an eye on things.
The northern portal, timetable east, just across the border in New Mexico.
The new southern portal, timetable west.
The old western portal
The two portals in relation to each other.
The way the southern portal, timetable west appeared after being plugged. It has since collapsed.
The sign the ATSF erected to let passengers know the tunnels were coming up.
I’ve recreated this sign on the fascia of my layout.
Lynn:
The small town of Lynn, New Mexico existed at the southern exit of the tunnels. There were several ASF buildings here, and a helper pocket for the eastbound trains. I’ll be modeling as much as I can of this small town, if you can even call it that. More to come on this later.
The pusher cutting off at Lynn.
Morley:
The town of Morley was originally known as Cima. Its only purpose was coal mining. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company built the town in 1878 to house workers for its expanded coal mining operation there. The mine was a prosperous one and sent its coal north to the CF&I steel mill in Pueblo, Colorado. Those who have been to Pueblo will remember seeing the ruin of this mill that looms tall on the horizon to this day.
At its peak, Morley produced 600 tons of coal a day with 600 residents in town. The mine itself was a drift mine and up until its closer in 1956 still used mules for pulling out the mine carts. This was common in the mining districts of southern Colorado and northeastern New Mexico, owing to the two horrifying mine disasters at Dawson, NM in 1913 and a decade later in 1923. Killing hundreds. Both were attributed to explosions created by sparks. Mules don’t spark.
The crosses at the Dawson cemetery. No one comes here anymore, and few stay until sunset when the crosses cast long shadows. If you do want to go, it’s not far off US Hwy 64.
The mules will add a little operation interest since the complex had massive mule barns requiring prodigious amounts of feed. One more boxcar to keep my operations interesting.
Morley also had a huge company store owned by the Colorado Supply Company. This giant store looks like it would have been more at home in Albuquerque or Santa Fe than Morley, Colorado, population 600. I’ve seen photos of the interior, the folks in Morley wanted for nothing.
This will make for an interesting model. I’ll have to edit it down considerably to fit, but it will still be a pretty imposing structure on the layout.
Probably the most iconic building in Morley was/is the St. Aloysius Church, whose ruins can still be seen today. After the mine closed for good in the spring of 1956, the town and all the buildings were torched by the company, save for the church. They felt it was bad luck to burn a church, perhaps they were right.
The complex of Morley is extremely interesting from a modeling perspective. Even my edited and compressed caricature will offer some nice switching opportunities. Between the coal loads and empties in and out, the feed, the water, and the boxcars of supplies for the CSC outfitters, my Alco will stay busy.
Morley in happier times
Those iconic mules.
The mine cars inside the drift mine at Morley
The scale of the Colorado Supply Company store
Morley in the teens.
Just a small part of this big little town.
The façade of the CSC store.
The bridge:
The bridge over the Purgatoire River will get some more coverage later, but it represents one of the many unremarkable river crossings in the area. One would think with all this high railroading drama, there would be some high steel trestles to go along with it, but sadly no. This bridge will be a bit of a composite of the bridges in the area.
Uncle Dick’s Place:
One spot on the Raton line that needs to be models is Wootton Ranch. This is where Uncle Dick Wootton lived in the 1870s, while he operated his toll road over the old Santa Fe Trail. He sold the operation to the ATSF and lived comfortably on his ranch, which still exists today. The curve at Wootton is iconic, not only in the excellent photos taken from across the way, but in its sharpness. It remained the tightest curve on the ATSF main.
I won’t be able to model the whole ranch of course, but somewhere to the left will be a small barn, and a double arched culvert. If one squints, maybe they’ll think of Wootton.
The curve at Wootton and that culvert I mentioned.
How later modelers have treated Morley:
