A stand in locomotive; B-3H #251

 B-3H #251, a Stand in

Concept

The Falcon branch was primarily operated with the C-3E class of ten wheelers, and a handful of smaller 2-8-0's during the 1920's in my modeling era. I have some other locomotives that sort of fit the bill of "could have been" or that are historically tied to the branch. Case in point is 101, my 4-4-0 that would have been D&NO #5. Its entire life at the beginning would have been on the Falcon line trundling between Denver and Pueblo. Post merger would have seen significantly less of the locomotive on the branchline, seeing these lighter 4-4-0's assigned to flatter territory north of Denver. I wanted to have a representation of the D&NO power, so I made a model of #101 (subject for a later article) for some historical representation. 

My primary backup power for train shows also fell into this category as well. One of the first purchases into the realm of C&S stuff after I decided the Falcon branch was for me was a Broadway Limited 2-8-0 done up as C&S 638 with the Burlington herald. I had to replace the electronics, but the locomotive was a good "Guarantee" for train shows with the freemo. If the smaller cantankerous locomotives wouldn't play, this one would. It lived up to the troublefree locomotive status, being the only locomotive in service for a chunk of the October 2022 PMRA show in Pueblo while 312 was out of service. However this locomotive looked "out of place" with the older 20's rolling stock. Sure I ended up backdating it to be C&S 605, but it still looked too large for modeling a branchline. I started looking for something that would be reliable and more era-appropriate, as I wasn't happy with 312's performance consistency. 

C&S 638 at Pueblo still in the Burlington lettering

C&S #605 after relettering and backdating. Looks better, but still not correct

Roundhouse 2-6-0

I worked a year at a hobby shop in Colorado Springs out of high school (2012-2013) and I remember that we actually had a nice collection of smaller steam being made around that time. Roundhouse had the 2-6-0 and 2-8-0, the mantua mallets were really nice runners...... So I set out to keep an eye out for one of the Roundhouse locomotives to be a good bit of backup power. One night while searching on ebay I found a Roundhouse 2-6-0 of the new run for the nice price of $60. I threw a bid on it, not expecting to win, but I ended up with it in the end. 

The C&S only had a handful of moguls that made it past the 1906 classification system on the standard gauge; 250 and 251 in class B-3H, and 252-254 as class B-3J. The rest of the 2-6-0's were either off the roster, or converted to 0-6-0's by that point. I have been unable to find any photos of 252-254, and only one photo of 250-251. From what information I have, 252-254 also ended up 0-6-0's before long. So that leaves 250-251 on the table. Both are smaller than the Roundhouse 2-6-0, probably better to have a ken kidder base or something like that to start with for accuracy. In this particular case I was more concerned with operational capabilities than accuracy. I chose 251 as the number since I had a photo of that particular locomotive, albeit a scrap line photo. 

The model as it arrived, CN #412

On the test rollers, it turned out to be a VERY smooth runner.

This motor was a bit of a surprise on a modern DCC-ready locomotive, but it runs so smooth and draws so little power. Who am I to complain?

The model arrived, a CN 2-6-0 with a DCC plug in the tender. So what was the first thing I hacked up to make it more C&S like? Er, well...... nothing. See, my end goal with this particular project was to make it #251 in lettering only, maybe some headlight upgrades. I wanted this to be my turnkey backup locomotive, when the bachmann ten wheelers don't want to play, this thing can come out and look somewhat era correct. 

I started with my usual solution of soaking the solvaset into the decals on the model until they start to come off with a little scrubbing. However these decals/pad printing were a little bit stubborn. I ended up getting as much off as I could without causing too much mechanical damage to the paint, and then just painting over the remains with a flat black paint. The boiler jacket also received a coat of flat black. 

Post decal removal and before the jacket was painted.

Comparing the Roundhouse 2-6-0 to the old 2-8-0 kit. 

I didn't do much with the project outside of installing a spare loksound V5 decoder in it and a mega bass speaker. I was trying to knock out more projects before I got too far into this one. In April of 2023, the Pikemasters setup a small layout at Library 21c for the makers fair. I decided that this would be a good test for a still unlettered 251. 

#251 heading up a short train at the 21c maker fair

rolling through a curve during the event. 

I was expecting 251 to give a good performance at the show. I was wrong, it gave an EXCELLENT performance during the show. I had eliminated the notion in my head that it needed a keep alive of some kind about an hour in, as the thing did not care. dirty track? switches? it just powered on. Tractive effort was also remarkable thanks to those traction tires. Eventually I sent 312 out for some laps so I could say that 312 operated at every Pikemasters show in our first season, but 251 was the star of the show. 

At this point I knew this was going to be the backup locomotive, no questions asked. So it got moved higher up the priorities list. Decals, here we go. 

Decaled, awaiting dullcoat.

After a quick coating of dullcoat.

The finished product

The 251 had a flat sided cab versus the inset one the model had. So some filler was applied here. It's not going to be award winning putty work there, but the decals hide it well. 

I put some thinfilm decals on the model and then hit it with some dullcoat. I was super impressed with how it all turned out. 

I have some 3d printed headlights and class lights in the pipeline for this locomotive that will just slot into the holes the factory lights go into. This will give this locomotive a C&S flair without too much surgery. In the end I wanted the minimum amount of modifications to this model so it can function as the trouble free backup, and I'm more than happy with the end result. It's not an accurate #251 by far, but it will allow me some more correct looking motive power than the large consolidation at shows. 

This whole concept may have been for naught in the end however. After I initially purchased this locomotive, I acquired another bachmann ten wheeler of the older spectrum run. This became #310 and was a stellar performer. #310 ended up doing the bulk of the running at TECO before I installed DCC in #251. #312 now had a reliable running mate that was a correct locomotive class at that. Another spectrum 4-6-0 is also due to join the fleet before long. These locomotives have proven to be excellent performers at the TCA show in early April. 

I'm sure #251 will still get plenty of use, however I don't think I'm going to rack up as many miles as I thought I would after #312's miserable PMRA performance. It does however give me a mogul, and that's cool enough for me!

250 and 251; interesting tidbit

In the process of doing some research on the 250 and 251, I found out that these 2 moguls were leased along with a Colorado Midland rotary plow to the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific in the early 1900's to reopen Rollins pass. These engines sure saw a large portion of the state in their travels!

 

Modeling the Colorado and Southern C-3E class part 2

At the end of part 1, we had picked out our candidates for the C-3E class modeling, the bachmann ten wheeler coming out on top of the list for a starting point. Since that article was published, I've built 2 C-3E's and have a 3rd on the shelf of unlikely origin. 

#312, the first victim, er uh, candidate

The first C-3E started out life as one of the new bachmann 4-6-0's in the blue box. This particular one was a NYC ten wheeler I purchased from Amazon. Nothing too fancy here, just the basic model.

#312 started out as NYC 1238

A quick soaking of the old lettering in walthers solvaset left me with a locomotive sans decals. 

#312 now without decals next to K-2 ten wheeler #637

One of the first things I wanted to do was create the headlight on a bracket that the C-3E's all had. I first tried this with a PSC mason bogie bracket and wasn't that impressed.......
 

Mason bogie bracket, not quite what I'm looking for

While thinking on the headlight situation, I proceeded with the sound install. This locomotive received a soundtraxx megabass speaker in the tender along with a Loksound V5 Nano decoder. The speaker is so large I had to do quite a bit of milling on the tender frame and the nano barely fit back there with the speaker. My plan was (and still is) to place the keep alive under the coal load. I also added some coal board extensions at this time. These were done off memory of how I "thought" the boards should look, they never looked right to me and we'll come back to that shortly. At this time I also hit the model with a can of Walschaerts-be-gone (pat pending) and removed the valve gear. This would receive some tidying up before long, I ended up having to order new hardware for the main rods from bachmann, as the normal eccentric crank acts as a washer so a smaller screw can be used to hold everything together. Without the crank the main rod would just fall off, I ordered the larger hex head hardware for the 4-4-0's that don't have valve gear and it was a perfect fit!

312 on the bench with the coal boards and the lack of valve gear.

Around this time, I figured the best way to get the unique headlights for the C&S was to design and 3d print them. So out came 123D and I made up some headlights. I based 312s headlight on the real 312's round style headlight, at the same time I made a box headlight on the same bracket that some of the other locomotives had. I printed these headlights on my Elegoo mars resin 3d printer. They came out very nice, not 100% accurate, but they definitely are recognizable as C&S lights.  

the 3d printed headlight test fitting on the smokebox. Note I've also filed some of the extra valve gear detail off at this time.

With the headlight out of the way, now it was time to work on some other details. When I designed the headlight, I also attempted to design the unique cab that 312 received in the 20's but decided to hold off on that for now. I may revisit this at some point, but I decided having all the C-3E's in their late 1910's appearances would be easier to do. As they later started having odd drivers and tender swap galore occurring.  I also designed a tender bunker that would be a little more accurate than my attempts at building the coal boards. 

#312 posing next to #429 with the other style of headlight. #429 will be subject of it's own post at some point!

In September of 2022, the Pikemasters freemo club hosted its first ever setup at the TECO show in Colorado Springs. I managed to get 312 decaled up on one side with microscale C&S decals before the show and it ran around showing off a short mixed train for the show. 312 did just fine with the 6 car train on this layout, only issues arising were due to some bad trackwork on the return modules and the occasional mis-thrown switch. 

#312 crossing Mike Maline's bridge module.

#312 passing a small 4-4-0 on Mike Malines stock yard module. 

#312's bare side at the show. 

Parked on the spur at Granger on my module.

One thing that bugged me was the decals didn't look quite right. Nobody really makes a C&S decal for standard gauge locomotives pre-burlington lettering that I knew of. But It looked better with the lettering that without it, so a short time later I decaled the other side of the locomotive. 

Now decaled on both sides and with a painted headlight to boot!

I didn't have long to wait until another pikemasters setup bought #312 out to play again in October. This time 312's performance was hampered by a rather stiff grade on the modules, account of the ramp the layout was setup on. 312 spent a fair amount of time in front of 638 showing off my work until, it stopped working about halfway through day one of the show. I sidelined the locomotive on a spur to keep showing it off, at least I could still show the work. On a random chance later that day, I selected it again and it ran. Maybe it overheated or had a fluke? who knows, so I ran it. The next day, same problem, this time straight out the gate. What I was able to determine was there was either a bad connection or a bad spot on the commutator in the motor, as tapping around the motor on the outside of the shell would get it going again. I have heard mixed opinions on the new bachmann ten wheelers because of poor motor quality, so this could be the culprit. Either way, 312 was relegated to double heading for that show because of the grades. 

#312 double heading with #638 at the October TECO/PMRA show.

#312 on display after it stopped running, it ended up cycling in and out of this pocket until the end of the show.

Two more? #310 and #309

One thing I haven't mentioned at this point in the article is I acquired 2 more ten wheelers towards the end of Summer. In August, one of our former members at Pikemasters passed away and his family donated a bunch of items to the club. Included in this I found a brass Gem/Olympia Maryland and Pennsylvania ten wheeler. What I didn't know up until that point is the Bachmann ten wheeler is loosely based on the Ma&Pa ten wheeler. It was a basket case, with some valve gear missing, no drive train, and lots of loose parts and bodywork that needed to be soldered back on. I decided that this would become my #309. Since these photos I have removed the remaining valve gear on this one as well 

#309 next to #312 for comparison. 

Not long after the October show, I ordered a Bachmann Spectrum 4-6-0 from the original run of models. This one a UP model. This would become my #310 and would allow me to put to use some of the methods I had figured out with #312 to practice. First thing that occurred was to equip this one with a sugar cube speaker and Loksound V5 micro.

#309, 310 and 312 all together. 

One of the things I wanted to do at this point was change out the pilots on the locomotives, the Gem model had a a different small style of cow catcher with steps that was very close to what the real 309 had, so I decided this one could stay as is. The other 2 locomotives had bachmann's wide running board across the front, not exactly prototypical for the C&S (or for many roads for that matter....). So I searched for a solution. What I found was PSC #2962 brass pilots were pretty close to what the C-3E's had in some photos. I ordered 2 of these pilots and set about swapping out the pilots. 

310 mocking up one of the pilots. Looks like I'm going to have to remove that cast coupler pocket part......

#310 now equipped with the pilot and a kadee scale head coupler installed. I don't use trip pins, so this will couple to just about everything.

#312 with the new pilot. I think this actually made a decent addition of weight to this thing..

The pilots went on nicely, I had to remove the bachmann metal coupler box to make them fit and look right. I'll make a 3d printed draft gear part to sit here to look the part. I also painted the pilots at this time, and while I was at it, I painted the smokeboxes silver to match the prototype. 

Both locomotives now sporting new pilots and painted smokeboxes. A huge improvement!

One thing I mentioned earlier in the blog is that I wasn't happy with how the decals from microscale looked. I ordered sets from several manufacturers and found the ones from thinfilm were just about perfect! To top it off, they were actually silver, which is correct for the post 1908 era versus white. I destroyed the first set, turns out thinfilm decals don't like solvaset....... But I managed to salvage enough to finish #310. This was a HUGE improvement. I went back and removed the lettering off 312 and replaced it with thinfilm decals as well. 

310 with Thinfilm decals. This set I ruined with solvaset.

312 and 310 showing off both styles of decals, 310 with thinfilm, 312 with microscale. 

Both engines with the thinfilm decals

What's next?

Ok, so both engines look pretty good at this point. What's next? Well there are a few items on the list I'd like to knock out.

    -Redo the coal bunker on 312 and make one for 310. 

    -3d print a headlight for 310. 310 had a rather unique headlight I still need to design. 

    -Install keep alives in both 310 and 312 (insert your brand of capacitor if that's not your cup of tea)

    -backup lights for both engines, 310 had a rather large box headlight, 312 I don't have any clear shots of, but it seems to be a more modern round design. 

    -Install linkage for the unmodeled Stephenson valve gear on all 3 engines. 

    -Repower and repair #309, it needs some real TLC!

    -design and print a draft gear box to cosmetically complete the front of the locomotives. 

    -add crews and piping detail. 

    -add class lights

Whew, that's been a lot of work done in the article at this point! I have an offer from a friend to purchase one more of the spectrum 4-6-0's, which will become #317 in my fleet, this one will be equipped with the large pilot snow plow. 4 of the C-3E's allows me to pretty much accurately model the Falcon branch comfortably. 

Until next time, keep on modeling!

J. Patterson

Colorado and Southern steam locomotive roster

 This is the master roster list for the C&S I use for modeling purposes. It includes all the narrow gauge locomotives and Standard gauge locomotives that made it to the 1906 system classification. It does not include locomotives that made it to the C&S but were gone by 1906. If you have any information I have missed or would like to contribute some additional information, feel free to comment on this page. Be sure to check out the book "The Colorado Road" by F. Hol Jr. Wagner if you want even more information on this topic.

Reading the C&S Classification system

In 1906, the C&S started using a system used by the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commision) to classify the locomotives. A letter indicated the arrangement of wheels, and a number indicated number of driven axles. A second letter at the end was used to indicate different classes of that type, Eg, C-3E was a Ten Wheeler of the 5th type the railroad had. A number after the 2nd letter indicated a similar class that was added later. Eg. C-3H1 was a batch of locomotives ordered after C-3H that was similar but not identical. 

Letters and their meanings

"A" : No pilot or trailing wheels (Eg 0-4-0 or 0-6-0)

"B": One leading axle (Eg 2-6-0 or 2-8-0)

"C": Two leading axles (Eg 4-6-0, 4-4-0)

"D": One trailing axle (Eg 0-4-2, not used by the C&S)

"E": One leading axle, one trailing axle (Eg 2-8-2, 2-10-2)

"F": 2 leading axles, one trailing axle (Eg 4-6-2)

"G": 2 leading axles, 2 trailing axles (Eg 4-8-4, not used by the C&S)

Narrow Gauge
Eng Numbers	Type	Class	cyl	dri	eng wt.	trac ef	BP	Builder	Built	Notes
1	2-6-6T	-	14x16	38"	75,000	10,806	150	Mason	2/80	Ex-DSP&P 24 "Buena Vista"
2	2-6-0	-	14x18	38"	53,600	13,535	150	Brooks	10/80	Ex-CC #11
3	2-6-0	-	14x18	38"	53,600	13,535	150	Brooks	6/81	Ex-CC #12
4-10	2-6-0	-	14x18	40"	61,300	11,201	150	Cooke	2/84	Rebuilt to class B-3C, Ex DSP&P
4-10	2-6-0	B-3C	15x18	40"	74,700	16,301	190	-	-	Rebuilt class
11-13	2-6-0	B-3A	14x18	40"	59,900	11,201	150	Cooke	2/84	Rebuilt with new cylinders 1900/1902; Ex DSP&P
11-13	2-6-0	B-3A	15x18	40"	59,900	12,909	150	-	-	Rebuilt class
14-16	2-6-0	-	15x18	38"	52,000	13,535	150	Brooks	1880/1881	All sold by 1902, Ex-CC
17-20	2-6-0	-	15x18	38"	60,300	13,535	150	Brooks	1882	Ex-DSP&P all sold by 1902
21-22	2-6-0	B-3B	15x18	38"	60,300	13,535	150	Brooks	1882	Ex-DSP&P, rebuilt 1910
21	2-6-0	B-3B	15x18	41"	60,300	13,770	160	-	-	post rebuild
22	2-6-0	B-3B	15x18	40"	60,300	13,770	160	-	-	post rebuild
30	2-8-0	B-4A	15x18	37"	61,748	13,901	150	Baldwin	1/80	sold 2/21, Ex-DSP&P
31-36	2-8-0	-	15x18	37"	61,748	13,901	150	Baldwin	1/80	All sold by 1902, Ex-DSP&P
37-55	2-8-0	B-4B	15x18	37"	62,900	13,463	145	Cooke	1883	Ex-DSP&P
56	2-8-0	B-4B	15x18	37"	63,250	13,463	145	Cooke	1883	Ex-DSP&P
57-62	2-8-0	B-4C	16x18	37"	71,030	15,816	150	Rh. Is.	1886	Ex-U&N;  #59 @ 73,600 pounds weight, #61 @ 71,200
63-70	2-8-0	B-4D	16x20	37"	76,000	17,574	150	Baldwin	1890	Ex-DL&G
71-73	2-8-0	B-4E	15 1/2 x 20	37"	80,500	19,848	180	Baldwin	1896	Ex-UPD&G
74-76	2-8-0	B-4F	16x20	37"	95,520	21,170	180	Brooks	1898	Ex-C&N
Standard Gauge
Eng Numbers	Type	Class	cyl	dri	eng wt.	trac ef	BP	Builder	Built	Notes
101	4-4-0	C-2G	17x24	62"	83,100	13,982	150	Rogers	12/81	Ex-D&NO #5, Dismantled 10/19
110	4-4-0	C-2B	17x24	64"	77,400	13,330	150	Rogers	1867	Ex-Union Pacific dismantled 1907
134, 135, 138	4-4-0	C-2L	17x24	61"	81,000	13,500	150	Cooke	1888	Ex-DT&FW
143	4-4-0	C-2S	18x26	62"	99,000	17,255	150	Schen.	1/89	Ex-CC
144-145	4-4-0	C-2F	18x24	69"	100,600	13,410	140	H&W	1867/1868	Ex-Union Pacific
200	0-6-0	A-3A	17x24	51"	82,800	17,272	150	Rh. Is.	1888	Ex-C&T/DT&FW
201-204	0-6-0	A-3B	17x24	51"	88,000	17,918	155	Baldwin	1890	Ex-UPD&G
205-211	0-6-0	A-3C	18x24	53"	94,000	18,633	150	Rogers	1887/1888	Ex-C&T/DT&FW
212-216	0-6-0	A-3D	18x24	53"	96,200	18,633	150	Cooke	1888	Ex-DT&G
220-224	0-6-0	A-3E	19x26	51"	133,000	28,200	180	Cooke	1906
223	0-6-0	A-3E	19x26	51"	142,700	31,200	180	-	-	post rebuild
225-231	0-6-0	A-3E1	19x26	51"	138,000	28,158	180	Schen.	1907
227-229/231	0-6-0	A-3E1	19x26	51"	143,000	31,200	180	-	-	Post Rebuild in 1927
232-236	0-6-0	A-3E2	20x26	51"	151,800	31,200	180	Baldwin	1910	232 boiler to rotary 99201
250-251	2-6-0	B-3H	17x24	56"	105,000	16,844	150	Rogers	1888	Ex-DT&G
252-254	2-6-0	B-3J	18x24	53"	96,200	18,633	150	Cooke	1888	Ex-DT&FW
252-254	2-6-0	B-3J	18x24	51"	96,200	19,410	150	-	-	Rebuilt 1907
300	4-6-0	C-3A	18x24	56"	93,400	17,635	150	Rogers	1887	Ex-C&T
309-319	4-6-0	C-3E	20x24	62"	131,200	21,380	180	Rh. Is.	1890	Ex-UPD&G
320-322	4-6-0	C-3G	20x26	63"	155,200	28,063	200	Rh. Is.	1900
323-326	4-6-0	C-3H	20x28	67"	169,500	29,636	210	Schen.	1902/1903
327-329	4-6-0	C-3H	20x28	67"	172,000	29,850	210	Brooks	1906
330-331	4-6-0	C-3H1	20x28	67"	187,450	29,850	210	Baldwin	1907
350-354	4-6-2	F-3A	25x28	69"	197,000	34,500	160	Baldwin	1910
370-372	4-6-2	F-3B	27x28	74"	269,200	42,200	180	Baldwin	1918	Ex-CB&Q, purchased 1919/1920
373-375	4-6-2	F-3C	27x28	69"	293,870	46,450	185	Baldwin	1922
400-401	2-8-0	B-4H	18x24	51"	107,000	19,364	150	Pitts.	1888	Franceville Mine Ex-DT&G power
402-411	2-8-0	B-4J	20x24	51"	122,000	26,350	165	Baldwin	1889	Ex-DT&FW
412-418	2-8-0	B-4K	20x24	51"	132,500	26,350	165	Rh. Is.	1890	Ex-DT&FW
419-421	2-8-0	B-4L	20X24	51"	138,300	26,350	165	Baldwin	1896	Ex-UPD&G
422-428	2-8-0	B-4M	20x26	51"	141,800	31,200	180	Baldwin	1897-1900	Ex-UPD&G
429	2-8-0	B-4N	19x26	51"	144,700	28,189	180	Cooke	1900
451-455	2-8-0	B-4P	21x28	56"	163,360	34,618	185	Rh. Is.	1900
520-531	2-8-0	B-4S	22 1/2 x 32	57"	206,100	45,980	190	Rh. Is.	1903	Built as tandem compounds, rebuilt to simple in 1920s
600-609	2-8-0	B-4R	22x28	57"	194,180	41,369	205	Rh. Is.	1901
610-624	2-8-0	B-4R	22x28	57	191,701	42,320	210	Richmond	1902
625-643	2-8-0	B-4R	22x28	57"	193,400	42,439	210	Brooks	1906
644-649	2-8-0	B-4R1	22x28	57"	194,250	40,400	200	Baldwin	1907
700-708	2-8-0	B-4Q1	21x28	57"	181,950	36,830	200	Baldwin	1907
800-804	2-8-2	E-4A	27x30	57"	266,550	56,550	170	Baldwin	1911
800-804	2-8-2	E-4A	26 1/2 x 30	57"	266,550	53,400	170	-	-	1920's rebuild
804-809	2-8-2	O-4	27x63	63"	320,946	62,950	200	Baldwin	1919	Ex-CB&Q, purchased 1957, last class 1 steam locomotive purchase. 804 is 2nd 804. 808 only used as parts source
900-904	2-10-2	E-5A	30x32	60"	367,850	81,600	200	Baldwin	1915
905-909	2-10-2	E-5B	30x32	63"	380,000	77,710	200	Baldwin	1919	USRA design
910-914	2-10-2	E-5C	30x32	60"	404,070	83,000	200	Baldwin	1922

Pike sized passenger trains; Colorado & Southerns Zephyr Connection

The Zephyr Connection; Pike sized train

So here's an article that's been done just a few times by others over time. Pike sized passenger trains is a popular topic for people wanting to model passenger trains but don't have the space to run the long full length name trains. 

The name originates from an article written by Andy Sperandeo for Model Railroader in 1987, this topic has become a popular topic for modelers as there are quite a few smaller passenger trains out there that are just as interesting as their larger, more well known contemporaries.

While not seen in service on the Falcon branch, I bought a pre-done C&S passenger train from a friend along with my BLi #638, so I decided to pursue modeling this train. Later I would find out about the Pioneer Zephyr and a connection it had to the Falcon branch, so that was a given I'd have to do as well. 

The real Zephyr Connection

The prototype train known as the "Zephyr Connection" started out life as train #31-32, the Denver to Wendover, Wyoming train. In 1929, #31-32 became the Denver-Cheyenne Local. This train operated typically in a basic consist consisting of a baggage, RPO, and coach. In 1936, the CB&Q rebuilt a former SP&S solarium-lounge into a solarium-parlor car and placed it into service with the #31-32. Numbered #220, the solarium was named "Denver" on the right side and "Cheyenne" on the left side. This solarium continued in service until WWII, when it was converted to a chair car and returned to the Q. 

At some point in the 30's, the train received the name "Zephyr Connection" and in October of 1949, the famed Pioneer Zephyr took over the duties of the Denver-Cheyenne run. However this would be short lived as on April 29th, 1950, the Pioneer Zephyr collided with a water truck in Longmont and was heavily damaged. Fireman Dan Grinstead was seriously injured in the collision and never returned to work. The damaged zephyr was returned to the CB&Q shops in Aurora and rebuilt, never to return to the Zephyr Connection. 

Photo from the Longmontian

Afterwards, the train continued on as a standard locomotive hauled train, now using the Burlington's E7's in pool service out of Denver. It was discontinued outright on February 28th, 1951. 

Consists

Here is a small selection of basic consists I've been able to identify from photos

    

        1937, date unknown

        350 class pacific Unk number

        RPO-Baggage

        Steel Combine

        #220 Solarium-Parlor

        1936, date unknown, Otto Perry photo

        CB&Q Pacific #2911

        RPO-Baggage

        Steel Combine

        #220 Solarium-Parlor

    

        1942, date unknown, Otto Perry photo

        Colorado & Southern #350 4-6-2

        RPO-Baggage

        Coach

        Coach

        1941, date unknown, Otto Perry photo

        Colorado & Southern #350 4-6-2

        RPO-Baggage

        Coach

        1939, date unknown, Otto Perry photo

        Colorado & Southern #350 4-6-2

        RPO-Baggage

        Steel Combine

        Coach

        #220 Solarium Parlor

        

        1951, date unknown, Otto Perry photo 

        CB&Q E7 #9936-B

        Baggage

        RPO

        Coach

        1951, date unknown, Otto Perry photo 

        CB&Q E7 #9934-A

        Baggage

        RPO

        Coach

        

In general, it seems the train operated until WWII with an RPO-Baggage, Combine, and the Solarium Parlor. I see occasional photos where an extra coach or two is added, and sometimes even without the combine. 

Post WWII, the train has lost #220 and operates with two head end cars, and whatever coaches are needed. Some photos show the train down to just a baggage-rpo and coach. 

In the last year of operation with the E7, the consist seems pretty consistent from what I've seen, with the 2 head end cars and a coach.

Modeling the Zephyr Connection #31/32

This part is going to seem a little disappointing to those used to the normal passenger car specific listings and options usually associated with modeling passenger trains. To my knowledge, there is no book on Colorado & Southern passenger cars, nor did the CB&Q passenger book I looked at include any information on the fleet of passengers cars. Of course, the Texas Zephyr has quite a bit of information available, and the C&S narrow gauge is well documented. However unless somebody knows another source, I do not have detailed listings of the C&S standard gauge passenger cars, so this is going to be a generalization of what is available and what looks similar to photographs. One might be able to cross reference CB&Q passenger car roster photos to find cars of similar/identical construction. My train was already created by another modeler (Leighton) when I purchased it, but he has done a good job picking cars that are pretty accurate. 

Baggage Cars

For my model of the baggage car, I have a walthers ACF Baggage, which while not a dead on match for the photos I've seen, it is similar to a photo of C&S #220 (not the Solarium, a baggage car). This is the number I've chosen to use for the train (for comical effect too, wait for it)

C&S 220

RPO

My RPO is a model done by a friend of mine, Leighton. He had done up a walthers heavyweight RPO as C&S #254, the RPO preserved today at the Colorado Railroad Museum. I'm keeping this one as is, it's pretty close and has a local connection with the museum. 

C&S 254

Coach

The best match I've been able to find to the Burlington Coaches is the Atlas/Branchline single window coaches. I've seen some people also do a very nice job with the athearn bluebox shorties in dressing them up to be good stand ins!

Atlas/Branchline single window car, to be relettered to C&S

Athearn Bluebox cars done up very nicely.

Solarium

So this car is a LONG stretch to be modeled by the walthers solarium car, but it's about the only option unless you dig into brass or scratchbuilding. I bought the former trainset from Leighton (RPO, Baggage, coach) in March 2022 and was going to roll with just those cars until I found pictures of the solarium. I mean, why not, it's a very cool and unique car! I happened to mention to him again that I was contemplating finding a walthers solarium when he stated he not only had one, it was for sale. So in the end, all 4 passenger cars came from Leighton to start the Zephyr Connection. My end goal with this car is to modify the interior to be more a lounge than the sleeper accommodation it has now. I have a nice photo showing the drumhead on the car with the "zephyr connection" text, so creating the drumhead is on my list. This car will also carry the #220 number, same as the baggage car, just to see how many people notice. I have managed to determine what letters I need to steal from other car names on the decal sheet to do Denver and Cheyenne on each side as well. 

Solarium #220, to be relettered at this point

Motive Power

Motive power for the train is going to be a bit of a mixed bag of trying to find models. Primarily in the steam era, the C&S's Pacifics did most of the hauling of the train, I have one photo that seems to show one of the large ten wheelers (class C-3H?) on point. In the diesel era the E7's seemed to be the predominate power.

LMB Models S2 Pacific    

LMB models has done a model of a CB&Q S2 pacific that would be a good C&S 370 class pacific. These aren't expensive but are fairly rare to come across. One photo of #31/32 does show CB&Q #2911 on the point of the train, which is an actual S-2 class pacific. One caveat to kitbashing one of these from another pacific is the oddball high speed trucks under the tender, more at home in headend equipment than tenders!  

        

LMB models S-2 pacific, Brasstrains.com photo

Varney/Bowser Casey Jones ten wheeler

As mentioned in the above text, in one photo, it does look like one of the C&S's large ten wheelers (C-3H) was on point of the train, however I cannot confirm this. If one was wanting to make a C-3H in HO scale, a Varney/Bower ten wheeler would be a good starting point to build one of these larger ten wheelers. A new headlight, some tender tweaks, and it would be a good stand in. 

EMD E7

There are several options to do the E7 in HO scale. Broadway Limited, Proto 2000, Walthers, Bachmann (if you're really desperate), and several varieties of brass. My choice in this particular case would be one of the walthers proto 2000 models, they're decently detailed, available cheap and easily, and can be really good runners. The BLi is a good choice as well, the mechanism is quite nice, and while the electronics can be a real let down, that's a pretty easy fix. This particular choice in motive power technically eliminates the solarium from the options list. 

Proto 2000 E7

Pioneer Zephyr

Ok, this was the part everyone was waiting for. Con-cor has done an excellent Pioneer Zephyr in HO scale and N scale. The lights are nuclear out of the box and will need to be toned down, but you need to get in there to put figures in the coaches anyway! I installed a loksound select micro decoder in mine. For the time period the Pioneer Zephyr ran on the zephyr connection it had the dual headlight arrangement (anyone want to trade a dual headlight for a single headlight train?) with the gyralight up top. This one is probably the easiest C&S passenger train to create as you can really just take it out of the box and it's correct, the C&S did not reletter anything during it's time in service. The train did by that point have the 4th car added into the consist as well. 

My Pioneer Zephyr

Interesting side note here. While my modeling primarily focuses on the Falcon Branch, I did spur out a bit to do #31/32. However the Pioneer Zephyr does have a connection with the Falcon branch, sorta. When the Pioneer Zephyr was performing its tour of the US, it was run to Connors and displayed there in 1936 for the opening of Buchtel Blvd. So the Pioneer Zephyr does have a small connection to the Falcon Branch, however brief.