Here's the current locomotive roster, by road and type (quantities in parentheses).  Not all units are completed at this time.

   

Rio Grande	SOUTHERN PACIFIC	Amtrak
(1) F9A A modified Bachmann shell on an Athearn drive.  I built this long before the commercial F9 was available.  Absolutely essential unit for a Rio Grande layout between 1971 - 1983!	(1) GP38-2 No. 4823 in as-built configuration, before all the distinctive SP lights were removed.  My first SP unit...	(2) P-40 [AMD-103] These arrived circa 1993, but were by no means the sole CZ power. They do match well with my Phase IV Superliner cars, though.
(2) F9B See the photo above.  These are Athearn F7 shells, modified to be F9's.  One is a dummy, and the other has a Bachmann Spectrum mechanism to replace the ancient Athearn guts.	(1) GP40M These speed-lettered GP40M's appeared around 1992, and many can be found in Colorado to this day (albeit patched with UP numbers...).	(1) F40PH Walthers unit, typical Amtrak power from the late 1970's into the mid-1990's.  Mine's in Phase III paint, so it's accurate for any period when Amtrak was running on my rails.
(2) GP30   GP30 No. 3015, a Phase II unit (note the longer cab on this side). It's a project using a repainted & detailed Bachmann shell over an Athearn frame with Atlas trucks and a can motor.  I acquired the shell and chassis separately on e-bay. The second unit is a Phase II GP30 from Bachmann Spectrum, not yet painted.	(1) SD40An older IHC model (I think), acquired on E-bay.  It's pretty beat-up and needs a lot of work. Beware those low-resolution photos-- you never know what you might be getting!	Union Pacific I have made the choice to span into the post-merger era.  Adding some UP power to the roster enables me to run contemporary operations if desired.  While my main emphasis will always be Rio Grande, I also enjoy the present day.  Here are some of my UP units.
(1) GP35  A Bachmann Spectrum model that I repainted and detailed.  GP35's cannot lead trains in my era, so it introduces realistic operating issues.	(1)  B40-8 From Atlas, a typical late-date Cotton Belt four-motor that has wandered into the Rockies.  Sweet-running unit!	(1)  SD90/43MAC From Kato, my most expensive locomotive to date.  These units are well-represented from the 1996 merger through the present, though always outnumbered by C44AC's.  Huge locomotives.
(1) GP40 No. 3080, the highest-numbered GP40 with the small herald. Another GP40 (a Bachmann unit) had an unfortunate encounter with a concrete floor.  It's being sent back to EMD for a rebuild...	(1) SD40T-2 Detailed Athearn model of No. 8322, as it would appear in 1994 or later.  It has working ditch lights.	C44AC The most numerous loco type on the line, they exist in many variants.  This one, a newer Athearn unit, is a C44AC-CTE built in February 2002.  I need a few more for convincing ops, though.
(3) GP40-2 No. 3099, my first acquisition of this type, wears the stock Athearn number.  It's more heavily weathered than No. 3109 below. No. 3109 here is a fave of mine; I've seen the prototype unit several times.  It's still running today, though sadly as a full UP repaint... The newest one is No. 3126.  I've begun the weathering process.	(5) AC4400   I now have enough of these to call them a "fleet"!  These arrived in 1995, very late for my layout's era, so they'll stay pretty clean.  This shot shows Nos. 263 and 144 leading an eastbound EYCKC train at West Portal. This photo demonstrates that little oddity of remote-control units: it really doesn't matter which way they face!  It just looks wrong, but the railroads run them in strange configurations all the time. I have three blue-box units and two of the newer, ready-to-run kind.  I added a number of details to the blue-box ones to enhance the realism.  Did you know that there are 13 grab irons on just the cab of these units?
(2) SD45 No. 5320 is my oldest detailing project, from an old-style Athearn model with the too-wide hood.  The large herald is not correct for this unit number; someday I may renumber it. New acquisition is No. 5319, a new-style Athearn model.	(2) GP60 Pictured is No. 9738.  These are Athearn blue-box models, and receive the usual detail treatment.  They'll power RODVT / DVROT trains as well as the Ski Train on occasion.
(6) SD40T-2 Nos. 5348, 5376, and 5362 are seen at Winter Park.  The two end units are new-style Athearn models; the one in the middle is a detailed blue-box  version.   Nos. 5390, 5411, and 5378 in North Yard.  All three are blue-box models, detailed and weathered.  No. 5390 is the most extensively-modified, with the fuel tank shortened to the correct length, and the pilot face opening is filled in.  Also note the distinctive low-nose headlight mounted in an external box on this unit. One can never have too many tunnel motors.  I have six at present.  This is the signature locomotive of the latter-day Rio Grande.	(3) SD45T-2  SSW No. 9264 is my most extensive kitbash to date. I'm very proud of this unit! No. 9192 is an SPSF merger scheme unit.  You need at least one Kodachrome for those post-1988 operations!  Since this photo was taken, I've weathered it for realism. SP 9342.    It's a recent Athearn release.  I had to repaint it from UP Yellow, back to the original Espee colors.
(1) SD50 No. 5507 has an RPP shell on an Athearn drive.  She runs sweet, and looks great.  Hopefully my last major locomotive-building project!	(1) SD45R  A Spectrum unit  renumbered to 7504, so it represents a unit rebuilt in the early 1980's.  I saw a lot of these in Colorado in the Nineties.  It's weathered but needs a few more details.
(2) GP60 No. 3155, as she appeared after addition of ditch lights (which work, by the way).  I painted/decaled/detailed this unit. The other, No. 3156, needs to be detailed, but at least it's painted.	(1) SW-1500   No. 2578 is a nicely-detailed Athearn model that I picked up second-hand.  This unit is for yard duty in post-1988 operations.
(1) SW-1000    This unit resides at North Yard, handling most switching chores.
(1) KM ML-4000 A Rivarossi model, for those early-Sixties operating sessions.

 I have installed homemade constant-intensity directional lighting circuits in a few locomotives, and more will receive these as time permits.   Five units are (or will be) dummies.   In one of these, the Cotton Belt SD45T-2, I installed a battery-powered headlight system that allows it to lead trains.

Passenger Equipment

I'm a huge fan of passenger trains.  The Rio Grande ran them right up the the end, so it's a great opportunity to model several.
 

especially and the Ski Train, and I have equipment for both on the layout. 

Rio Grande Zephyr

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Rolling Stock- Freight

I have a growing roster of freight equipment, and I've been trying harder to make it realistic (i.e. cars that actually existed on the Rio Grande). 

I run a mix of freight cars from all the major manufacturers.  There's enough cars to represent the typical Moffat traffic between the '70s and '90s.  I have a couple of unit coal trains, including a 27-car CSDU/CSUX  train and a PSCX unit coal train (Public Service of Colorado). 

I do keep a few older cars for 1960's operations, but don't really have enough equipment to support that time frame.  Frankly, it's mostly an unwillingness to part with some old favorites...

(By the way, a 27-car coal train with a few locomotives and a caboose make for a HUGE train on a garage-sized HO layout!  Hee hee...)

 

	Here's a Thrall coal gondola from Roundhouse, lettered for PSCX.  I created the artwork for the decals and had them custom-printed.  The coal load is also homemade, using real coal.  I did this before the factory-lettered cars were available.  I'm also modifying some Walthers Bethgons for the same purpose.
	My pride and joy-- this totally-scratchbuilt model of caboose No. 01489.  It's a welded-seam car that has had the side windows plated in.  There is no accurate commercially-available version of this car.
	Here's a wide-vision Athearn hack that I detailed.  I realize that it's too short for a proper DRGW caboose, but it'll do for a stand-in.
	I scratch-built this lumber load for a UP bulkhead flatcar.
	One of my Rio Grande quad hoppers from Walthers.  I've been working on building up the fleet, but it's slow going-- especially since they are out of production at present.  This class of car was the signature coal hopper in the last decades of the Rio Grande.  I've been changing the factory numbers so they're not all the same, and have repainted/decaled several others.
	UTLX tank car from Walthers.  I have three similar cars, and they're a pain to build.  It's even more of a pain trying to keep the parts attached!  Sure look nice, though.
	Front Runner spine car, from Front Range.  I have several of these two-axle cars, to support my mid-1980s piggyback operations.  The Preferred Pool trailer is from Con-Cor, with added paint.
	Insulated 62' boxcar (beer car), an Eel River kit.  These are my most detailed models-- I now have five.  The Grande ran many of these cars on the Moffat in the 1980's and 1990's, hauling beer from Coors to the western market.

In the 1970's and 1980's, the Rio Grande offered trailer-on-flatcar service for the City Market grocery chain on the western slope.  I've kitbashed a couple of trailers to represent these, creating the artwork myself and printing the decals.

	First variation: aluminum sheathing, curb door, slanted lettering on the trailer body.  It has a roll-up door on the rear-- see below.
	Second variation: white siding, no curb door, yellow sill stripe, logo on bolt-on signboard.   It's sitting on an Accurail WTTX twin-45 flat.  Note the roll-up rear door (scratch-built).

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