Mountain Model Railway Scenery on the Colorado Western

Building a layout with convincing model railroad scenery is the goal of most hobbyists, but few have succeeded in creating one in such a spectacular way as Lee Nicholas. His Utah Colorado Western HO Scale layout is the subject of this month’s Allen Keller series on great model railroads and it promises to be enlightening, educational and entertaining!

Lee and friends have been working on the UCW for the past twelve years, with a major revision just a year and a half ago. It’s built in a 30’ x 33’ space with traditional L-girder construction.

As a stickler for not running through barren layout, Lee’s team has created sensational model railroad scenery of mountains and backdrop, and will share their secrets of how it was created in later episodes.

Lee tells Allen that the UCW is always looking for a way to be more efficient in its operations , and utilizes a computer to control signals and a Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) machine whose software was created by fellow modeler, John Robinson. The UCW represents a major bridge line between Denver and Salt Lake City and interchanges with the Southern Pacific (SP), Durango & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) and the Western Pacific (WP), so there’s always plenty of action – and fun – during monthly operating sessions.

Sit back and enjoy some mountain running with a purpose – and amazing model railroad scenery – on the UCW!