"Dolly Varden Mining Co" by Lennart Elg
Posted on September 28th, 2002© Lennart Elg
Lennart wrote:
“This is a small spare-bedroom sized layout inspired by the Dolly Varden Mines railroad (see Darryl Muralt´s 1985 book “Steel Rails and Silver Dreams” for more info on the prototype - if you are lucky enough to have it, Caboose Hobbies sell used copies at 190 dollars). The room size is 7ft 4 inch x 11ft 8 inch.
“Given the prototype´s location on Observatory Inlet, British Columbia (not far from the Alaska border), it should make an ideal home for Boulder Valley Models enclosed cab version of the Dunkirk, or 0-4-2 Bachmann Porters dressed up in Bill Banta´s “All weather cab”. If you do not want to wait for the promised dump cars from Bachmann, Grandt Line has several suitable models, with a supporting cast of 16-20 ft flat and box cars from Chivers, Foothill Model Works, Design-Tech etc. (You can also use a broken Bachmann Mogul rusting on a siding. The company bought a Mogul which was too heavy and rigid to handle the grades and trackwork..).
“Minimum radius is 22″, I needed the spiral to gain enough elevation for the dump track leading to the ore bunker. The small sawmill making props for the mine is not prototypical, but was added to give more operation opportunities.
“Also, note that after unloading ore trains must proceed down to the yard before the locomotive can run around its train - backing the train up the hill would be cheating.”
Lennart Elg
Although this plan was designed for On30, it would also be ideal for an HO scale standard gauge line.