Welcome to Widow Creek Railroad
AN INTERACTIVE HO SCALE SWITCHING RAILROAD
Marshall Pass Route from Salida to Sargents
Widow Creek is an HO scale switching railroad inspired by the Denver & Rio Grande Western and the rugged high country around Marshall Pass, Colorado. Built on an 8 foot floating shelf only 6 1/2 inches deep, the railroad expands on the classic Inglenook switching puzzle with detailed and weathered rolling stock, mountain scenery, and operations loosely set in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
At the heart of the railroad is IRROD, the Interactive Railroad Operations Dispatcher, an ongoing electronics and software project built around independent Arduino based modules. Rather than simply automating trains, IRROD is being developed to interact with the operator visually and vocally, while detection, identification, sound, lighting, switching, and other systems turn a simple switching puzzle into a changing operating challenge.
Widow Creek brings those two interests together: a working model railroad rooted in the Rio Grande and Colorado high country, and a practical platform for developing the IRROD modules I’ve wanted to build for years. The railroad may be compact, but what happens on it won’t be.
On the Workbench
Creekside Timber & Milling
60″ x 13″ T-Track Switching Module (N Scale)
Current Blog Posts
T-Trak Universal Wiring Plates
Three interchangeable T-Trak wiring plates provide clean cable management for Anderson Powerpole connections, wire pass-throughs and unused openings using one standard mounting pattern.
T-Trak Module ID Tag Kit
What started as a simple way to identify my Creekside Timber modules turned into a flexible T-Trak Module ID Tag Kit with interchangeable tags, spacers, backplates and even support for standard business cards.
Creekside Timber & Milling
Creekside Timber & Milling brings a mountain sawmill, short freight cars and an eight car switching puzzle together in a five foot T-Trak module, with plenty of room to grow.
General Documents
Photos from the D&RGW
The Dispatcher
Tell us your thoughts, and ideas, or just say "Hi."
If you would like to share your Arduino ideas I am very active with the system
I lost my layout due to down sizing but I am still writing code to finish some of the projects I have developed
I was wondering when you were going to get back into the Arduino projects. It seems like most model railroaders have abandoned the idea, but I’m excited to see where you go with these.
Joseph, that was actually a big part of the reason for scaling everything down. The switching layout gives me a much better place to develop and test the Arduino projects without trying to build an entire railroad around them. I’ve got several of the older projects coming back to the workbench, along with some new ideas I’ve wanted to experiment with for a long time. I think this smaller layout is going to let me do a lot more with the electronics than I ever did with the larger railroad.
I have not considered a modular for a more permanent layout. I love the idea, and my husband and I are rethinking our plans for our basement. Where did you get the corner clamps?
I’m in a rental and also chose the modular benchwork. It’s much easier to relocate when we buy.
They are on Amazon ( https://amzn.to/3mvKcJg ) and are $28 for a pair or $55 for all 4. I have built many different tables and modules, and these clamps are the best way to get a true corner, especially when working alone.
probably the best website I have seen on a model railroad
Thank you!
Long time since I have seen your name around. Back in your Colorado Springs days. Glad you’re still active.
Happy to meet you at Plano train show! Looking forward to you coming by
Texarkana in the summer to see the progress on my 8X16 layout.
Always cool meeting new modelers. How’s your layout coming, have you started yet?
I tried this same Smart Dimmer last year and could not get it to connect with Google Assistant. It works with the Smart Life App only.
Right now, I am working with SmartLife on trying to figure this out. They advertise that this dimmer is Alexa and Google controllable. Alexa sees the device through the SmartLife Skill but reports “Device Unresponsive.” In my last email this morning, SmartLife stated:
I am still determining what a Bluetooth Gateway is, but I am looking into it.
Well, the Smart dimmer, while it does work with the App by itself, it does NOT work with the Virtual assistants as advertised. You need a Wireless Bluetooth Gate device to get it to work. The smart dimmer is a Bluetooth-only device, and something else needs to be the “go-between.” I found a Moes Wireless Smart Gateway ( https://amzn.to/3yvrlAP ) on Amazon that did the trick! Luckily the Moes were in the US, and I didn’t have to wait months; unluckily, there were no directions. But it didn’t take me long to figure it out. If you need help, email me.