"Howdy Folks! Welcome to the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge, the gateway to Nature's Wonderland"

This is my documentation of my miniature re-creation of the long-gone Disneyland attraction: Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland. This is a selectively compressed model railroad, in On30 scale at 5' X 7.5' that has been in progress since September 2005. In May of 2016, I finally got the layout to a point where I declared it "finished".

I started the layout when I was a sophomore in high school with basic skills and over the years the layout has been improved and reworked in drastic ways to match my ever improving model making skills. In fact, since I started rebuilding the sections to better quality and standards, I've actually created a whole new layout, piece by piece.

This is a stand-by basis project without a deadline, so it tends to hit the back-burner a lot due to other things with higher priorities. But whenever I can, I'll give an update when there is something worth talking about. All of my updates since day one are here, which include photos, videos, and plenty of rambling notes and descriptions.








Progress Report: 7/31/08

I have recently acquired another 0-4-0 which will be converted into another NWRR. However, after the disassemble, the main frame that holds the motor is difficult to get off. Not risking breaking the new porter, I'm leaving it on, and that means that the metal supports for saddle tank with still be in place. To disguise those, I'll make those into running boards. Sure, those are prototypical to the real thing, but its a compromise that makes somewhat makes sense.

Progress Report: 7/30/08

So it looks like I may be working backwards in the future. After having problems with the 90 degree cross level cross in the Living Desert, I'm considering removing it. My little porters never seem to have enough power to get across the cross with half their power contacts cut off when one set of wheels rolls onto the plastic part of the cross when running at crawling speeds. The only solution is to remove the cross, and re-grade the entire desert which includes ripping up the track right down to the masonite foundation. Then I have to create a new graded sub-roadbed so the track can pass over itself. Though, in such small space, the grades may be pretty tough for the little porter, but we will see when I give myself the green light to do. An ambitious project just got more ambitious!