Author: mrdavez_o3vxls

On any given Saturday or Sunday (during non-pandemic season!) we have many admirers of the our z-scale railroad. Both young and not-so-young & everyone in between like to to admire the G~B&CC!!

These are some of the many scenes you can see on the beautiful G~B&CC Railroad at Tomball, TX Train Depot

Of all the modules that used to make up the GB&CC layout when we traveled around the United States, one of the most popular was (and still is!) the Royal George Gorge. This module won Best of Show at the NRMA National Train Show in 2013. It is unique in many ways, but it is likely one of very few modules where the line of sight ‘across the tracks’ comes all the way down almost to the floor! Dave came with this design when he noticed small children were very often lifted up by their parents to see other layouts. Children always gather around this module because they can see directly into the Gorge and watch three levels of trains appear and disappear into a maze of tunnels and track all at a child’s eye level.

Here’s a great video of a busy day on the Royal George Gorge!

These are Rokuhan raw plastic toy, inoperable, street light poles.

I need to have “holding” platforms (Jigs) to stabilize them while I perform alteration work so that I may install micro LEDs in them.

I will test to see if these plaster molds help me to ease the process.

I have been working with my fingers only as I burr out the plastic bulb blob for an LED receptacle and then glue the LED into same to make it stable.

Next, I must carefully glue the lead wires down along the inside of the pole a short length at a time so they are straight.

I also file flat the inside of the pole and the bottom base ridge for easier lead wire gluing.

After all this, I paint the top of the light fixture black to mask off light shining up thru plastic and then paint over the black and the whole pole with a light grey acrylic.

It is a tedious job!

I have made 24 so far and it has taken me too many hours over too many days/weeks to get this far.

Folks who remember seeing Mister Dave’s model railroad back in the days when we traveled to model train shows around the country, might remember marveling at a beautiful trestle bridge that the trains regularly crossed.

Alas, there was not room for it on the new layout, but here is a photo of it for old time sake…

Of all the many things to see on the Golden~Blackhawk & Central City model railroad, you can’t overlook Mister Dave’s signature rock formations. They are made with care from rock molds and special plaster called “Sculptamold” and a variety of other secret ingredients! Ask Mister Dave to tell you about the hours he spent bringing these realistic rocks to life on the G~B&CC…

These special cars (known as “rolling stock” feature the unique markings of the G~B&CC logo applied using custom made decals

G~B & CC crew man , Jackson Connett , sets up a double ended coal train in Colorado Rockies.