Trip to Raton, New Mexico

Some years ago I received a call from a friend telling me I really needed to go see the model railroad items that were being sold at an estate sale near Andover, Kansas.

Turns out it was the estate of David Haines, a well known local architect and a highly skilled model railroader. I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Haines, but from the types of books in his library I believe I would have had much in common with him.

He modeled the Santa Fe railroad in the 1950's, specifically the area around Raton, New Mexico and the Raton Pass. He modeled in N scale which is 1/160th full size. This scale is a very good scale for allowing lots of scenery in proportion to the actual models and is well suited for capturing the area around Raton.

 Mr. Haines had taken down much of his railroad in anticipation of building an improved version, but one section which portrayed the rail yard of Raton survived. It is a beautiful section of railroad - museum quality actually. This layout is very much a work of art and deserved to be preserved.

I don't model the Santa Fe railroad, the 1950's or N scale, but nevertheless ended up purchasing this section of railroad and moving it to our home with the idea of donating it to a museum that would appreciate the incredible accuracy of Mr. Haines modelling.

I'm happy to report the Raton Historical Museum has now accepted our donation of the railroad and will make it a portion of their transportation exhibit.

The following images show a bit of our February 2016 trip to Raton to transport the railroad to the museum. They expect to have it ready for display by November of this year.

The sun was such that it illuminated the insulators on a segment of power poles making them appear to be illuminated

Heading into Raton

New home for the layout

These are the new caretakers of the model railroad and will incorporate it into their transportation history display

 

Getting ready to leave for the trip home

They have 170 wind generators out on the plains - pretty impressive

First ride of the year

Today was a beautiful day and just perfect for a ride along the Arkansas River bike trails in Wichita.

We parked in the Exploration Place parking lot and headed onto the bike trails. Wesley used his Raleigh Rowdy geared bike for the first time on the bike trails and pretty quickly found the advantages of having different gears to choose from.

We rode for an hour or so and then stopped by the Art Museum and went in for a bite at the Cafe in the Museum.

One portion of the museum has art glass under a glass floor you can walk on

The Chihuly art glass sculpture is pretty impressive

View of the grounds

Julie at the Keeper of the Plains

The Keeper of the Plains is located in the middle of the river

Educational material is on display and the entire area is adjacent to the Indian Museum on the river

Fresh Snow

This is a very peaceful place to be in a long lasting snow storm. The snow is a very fine powder, but when it comes down for days it can really build up. Very pretty as long as you don't have to go anywhere.

This is the start of the snow storm

This is after it really got going. Birds kept one side of the feeder open.

There is a tractor and snowmobile under this powder 

Nice day to be inside

Coming down

Ready to dig out - maybe tomorrow

Waiting for the next storm