New beginnings


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History Archive of all previous posts from the beginning of time! 

Reality

I try to include family and friends in the life of Cuspidor and you’ll find references to them below.  I endeavour to fit them tongue-in-cheek into the most suitable positions, such as our dear friends Malcolm and Cathy who once treated us to a disastrous grand weekend tour in Derbyshire.  In the spirit of never letting a good turn go unpunished I conceived of them running the world’s worst bus tour company.  I enjoy creating little vignettes that bring the viewer into my strange little world.  Building Cuspidor is a long term retirement project and I will try to keep adding to the story. 

My World

The little known Rocky Mountain town of Cuspidor lies at an elevation of 8,639 feet somewhere between the Uncomphagre and San Juan ranges. It sits in the Rio Bozo valley amidst hard granite  cliffs.  It’s pretty hard to find nowadays as the valuable metals ran out in the fifties and people mostly just drifted away leaving what was a once prosperous town to just fade into obscurity. Diehard exploring types have been known to stumble across it when following the old abandoned narrow gauge railroad line through the brush or hiking along the Rio Bozo up to the fabled Plughole Falls.

Here we view it in 1932 at the end of the glory days but while the railroad still ran serving the almost played out gold, silver and lead mines.

The upper town of Cuspidor sits on a series of steep, narrow switchback roads reminiscent of Jerome AZ.  A fairly recent addition is the magnificent stone City Hall and Courthouse built in 1918, at great public expense, by over ambitious and short sighted city fathers.

Notable buildings include the Golden Cuspidor saloon and hotel up on the bluff, the aforementioned City Hall, Miss Anna’s Pleasure Palace, the Miner’s and Cattlemen’s Association Hall and a magnificent F W Woolworth store.  Dan Webb’s auto repairs does a good trade thanks to the awful roads and Miss Sarah’s little car is seen there rather frequently causing tongues to wag.  The Lady’s Temperance Group, if not protesting about miner’s and stockhands carousing and frequenting the saloon and Miss Anna’s on a Saturday night, often speculate that it’s about time young Dan did the right thing and popped the question.  There are still some tiny miner’s shacks in and around the town along with a few old shops that struggle to compete with a Woolworth’s that won’t stay long once they check the turnover at head office.  Below the town you can just see a corner of Wiggin Field where Captain JJ Wiggin valiantly tries to keep his old biplane flying with air circus shows and crop dusting duties.

Overlooking the picturesque Plughole Falls is Desport’s tiny diner where the occasional, intrepid tourist takes ham and eggs along with miners from the Rio Bozo Mine.  The poor chaps up at the Devil’s Drop goldmine don’t get down there too often.   Now and then you can see the Pritchard’s Intrepid Scenic Tours (PIST) charabanc approaching the view point, usually with their last passenger hurling herself out of the open window in a desperate attempt to escape.


The Cuspidor and Southern Railroad depot and yard bake in the summer sun and freeze in the winter along with everyone else (work in progress).  many mines and related mining industries keep the old line rattling on. Enjoy.

 My Musical Adventures

 My other hobby - only for the brave: https://barrykingsbeer.bandcamp.com/releases

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Tuesday, 25 November 2025

From the bottom of my treasure chest, arrrr!!

 Time to add another loco to the roster.

Several years ago I purchased a Roundhouse kit for a two-truck shay. I opened the box, looked inside and hastily put it away.  After a while I had another look and thank goodness with some foresight (not one of my usual traits), I bought the NSWL upgrade kits for the drive train.

Yesterday I pulled out the box and took a deep breath. Quick as a flash I realised that I only had the original 5 pole motor. Blast! Tonight, though I bagged a new old-stock Sagami can motor for £25 on Ebay and it's on its way. That should help with the drive train issues, although I still expect it to be a bit of work to get it up to snuff and eventually fitted with a decoder. That will happen in time as I'm now waiting for my new dcc controller to arrive and provide hours of fun trying to make head or tail of that.

I've started fettling the components and have undercoated the metal chassis and boiler and next up is the cab and bunker and assorted other bits. That's for tomorrow. 

Here is a couple of pics of the work so far and to do.....................





I've also just purchased a dpdt switch so I can energise the turntable in two directions. That should lessen the number of derailments in Cuspidor yard and am about to embark upon a major illumination onslaught to brighten those long winter evenings that the residents dread so much. 

To that end, I bought a large bag of smallish, low power LEDs and will be installing them progressively in or outside as many buildings as I can. I intend to have a selection of lighting scenarios so that the whole valley doesn't just explode into light when I throw a switch. I look forward to making lots of very small tinfoil lampshades and getting my fingers superglued together. Happy Days!


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4 comments:

  1. Neal M.25 November 2025 at 23:19

    Any type of progress, no matter how small, is good for the mind and of course, the trains! Looking forward to see your progress!

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  2. Barry Kingsbeer26 November 2025 at 11:43

    Thanks Sir Neil, At least the train loft offers an escape from the doom and gloom that is budget day Britain. Anyway off out to lunch, (while we can still afford to dine out), to celebrate an old friend's 90th birthday. Yuo don't get many of those! Cheers. BK

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  3. John R.26 November 2025 at 12:15

    The C&S railroad and its customers will benefit big time once that Shay is up and running. Good idea for the DPDT switch to control the turntable and the lighting will add another level of scenic interest. Good luck with the building and fine tuning of the Shay!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Barry Kingsbeer26 November 2025 at 16:59

    Thanks Sir John, momentum is building....

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