Railroad Artifact Society Launches New Model Railroad Project

The following article was submitted for publication by the Railroad Artifact Preservation Society president, Sam D. Teague

In the summer of 2016 the Railroad Artifact Preservation Society received a donation of model railroad equipment and supplies from an Amarillo family. The donation was the entire personal collection of Judge Don Maxwell Dean, a Santa Fe Railway enthusiast and historian who planned to build a historically accurate model railroad in his home. Unfortunately Judge Dean passed away in late 2015. The Dean Collection is of top quality and perfectly suitable for portraying a historically accurate Santa Fe Railway model railroad.

A complete inventory was done by Society members. Here is a basic summary of the inventory:

• Over $19,000.00 worth of brass steam locomotives and cars. (44 pieces)

• 200 assembled freight cars.

• 26ea. assembled and painted structures.

• 86ea structures still new in the box.

In November 2017 the Board of Directors decided to build a test/marketing model railroad to utilize the Dean Collection. The new model railroad will be the proving ground layout used to get the Dean Collection in top running condition. Many of the brass models are new in the box and have not been run. The Society plans to test run the equipment when the new model railroad is completed. Once basic test runs are made, the steam locomotives will have Digital Command Control decoders and sound systems installed. Most of the locomotives have not been painted and the models will be painted and numbered according to historically accurate standards.

Santa Fe’s Raton Pass

Raton Pass was chosen for the location of the model railroad for several reasons. Santa Fe Railway history is deeply rooted in Raton Pass as far back as 1878, and the development of Santa Fe’s locomotives, especially steam, was greatly influenced by the steep grades of Raton.

At first the Santa Fe built a switch-back system of track to get trains over the pass. The switch-back was an incredible 6% grade on both side of the pass. No railroad today can image such a step grade for a Class 1 railroad. When the tunnels were built the grade was reduced to 3%. Even then, the grades of Raton Pass are the steepest in the United States for a Class 1 railroad.

This model railroad represents the steep grades of Raton in HO scale and is the perfect location to tell the Santa Fe Locomotive Development story. The real pass is located between Raton, New Mexico and Trinidad, Colorado. The distance between the two towns is just under twenty-three miles. Our test model railroad of course is much shorter distance, but the model railroad is built with the 3% grades. This will test the endurance of the model locomotives as they climb and then descend the pass. 

The Santa Fe’s Raton Pass Model Railroad is about much more than merely having fun with scale trains. The concept of this model railroad is to fine tune the Society’s modeling skills in order bring history to life. The model railroad will also provide the Society with a testing and proving ground for the donated model railroad equipment in the Dean Collection and other collections we may acquire in the future.

The building used for housing the Santa Fe’s Raton Pass Model Railroad is owned by RAPS Founder and President, Sam D. Teague. Sam originally used the building for his woodworking shop. It is “L” shaped and has approximately 520 square feet. The plan shown on the website shows the layout design and workshop to maintain the layout and property.

Sam donated the use of the building to RAPS for the Santa Fe’s Raton Pass Model Railroad. The Dean Collection will be taken out of storage, tested and operated on the new layout. By combining the Dean Collection of model railroad equipment and Sam’s building, it was possible to depict Santa Fe’s Raton Pass in compressed form with prototypically correct 3% grades.

The layout is a tangible step toward telling the important story of the people and equipment touched by locomotive development efforts on the Santa Fe which will ultimately culminate in a facility to preserve and interpret full-size artifacts.

Keep in touch regularly on this website and watch the transformation of the old wood shop turn into Santa Fe’s Raton Pass Model Railroad at ratonlayout.com.