Modules: Club Loop - Placerville
One of the prototypical scenes on the St Louis loop layout is Placerville, located in southwestern Colorado. This was a small town along the San Miguel River, served by the Rio Grande Southern RR, featuring a passenger depot, a few warehouses, a stock pen, oil depot, post office, general store, a garage, and a few residences. Some of these structures still exist, even after the rails were abandoned in 1950.
This 1952 photograph of the Station at Placerville and the San Miguel River served as inspiration to model Placerville on the RGS.
Photo by A. G. Chione, part of the Richard Dorman Collection (Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Sceneic RR), image RD127-080.
Photo by: Gary Duffy
Nice birds-eye view of Placerville depot , warehouse and beyond some of the main street shops, followed by houses at the far end of town.
The 2 module Placerville set of modules.
An overhead view of the Placerville depot and outhouse, the warehouse in the background, and the town.
Locomotive 453, a D&RGW K-27 Class or "Mudhen", pulls a passenger up to the Placerville depot
The simple trackage at Placerville made it ideal for a 3-table recreation in HO scale: Placerville, Old Placerville, and Leopard Creek. On Placerville to the right is the town and the large corrugated metal warehouse . The width of the table was insufficient to model the town accurately, so it was freelanced and compressed onto the right table, Most of the structures served by the railroad are accurate reproductions of those at Placerville. The red sedimentary rocks around Placerville dominate the background and are extended beyond the Leopard Creek table to give continuity to the scene.
Depot and scratch-built freight warehouse built by Steve Hollenbach
Oil depot and stock pen built by Rich Young
Structures in Placerville town built by Paul Kraegenbrink, Chuck Graham, and Greg Poth
Scenery by many members
Backdrop painted by John Scherr
The Old Placerville Module is a companion module with the Placerville module. At this southwestern Colorado location, the RGS descended the hill, crossed Leopard Creek and turned towards Placerville on the bank of the San Miguel River. A stock pen and the Texaco bulk oil depot were located along the long spur here.
Old Placerville is the central table of the 2+table Placerville scene, and has the depot and the spur to the oil dock and stock pen. Most of the structures served by the railroad are accurate reproductions of those at Placerville. The red sedimentary rocks dominate the background and are extended beyond the Leopard Creek table to give continuity to the scene.
Depot and scratch-built freight warehouse built by Steve Hollenbach
Oil depot and stock pen built by Rich Young
Placerville town built by Paul Kraegenbrink, Greg Poth and Chuck Graham
Scenery by many members
Backdrop painted by John Scherr