The Cibola Lumber & Mining company

Got a question or comment? e-mail me at cibolalmrr@yahoo.com

Questions will be answered below if they have mass appeal. I will update the appropriate page for specific items of interest.

Comments are appreciated but will not be posted. I am running this site as a build log rather than a discussion. I am always interested to hear what other model railroaders are doing, planning or thinking.

Rivet counters, knowledge Nazis and opinion prophets please spare me your remarks. If you need to feel superior because of your huge ego or small male appendage please start your own blog. That way all of the rest of us mere mortals can easily ignore you.

Do you sell your figures or castings?

I have sold some of my resin castings in the past but I do not do it on a regular basis. I am not running a business. When I need something for a project I make masters and mold them using RTV. Finished items are cast in two part epoxy resin. The molds are normally good for about 50 copies. I will usually cast items until the mold fails. Whatever I have left over when I am done is what I sell. On rare occasions I have even sold some painted / finished items. These are normally  left from experimenting with different paint schemes or simply over estimating what I needed. When available these items are sold on e-bay.

Why is everything painted green?

Contrary to popular belief many narrow gauge and short-line railroads painted their rolling stock in colors other than oxide red or brown. Engines boilers were often black or nickel coated while the cabs and tenders were painted with elaborate scroll work or full colors. This practice backed off in the mid 1880s as a cost saving measure but some companies continued it until their demise.

One of the most prominent companies to do this was Weyerhauser Lumber. Their engines featured green cabs and tenders with nickel plated boilers. Even after they ceased railroad logging operations the company maintained its own fleet (standard gauge) of boxcars and center bulkhead flats, all of which were green into the mid 1970s.

Since my garden railroad represents a private owned company I followed in the same vein as Weyerhauser and a few others. All company owned rolling stock is either apple green for freight or Italian olive (sage) green for passenger service. The sole exception are the skeleton cars which are done in red oxide. All motive power for freight service is done in apple green cabs and tenders with dark forest green as an accent color and the boiler black except for a nickel plated smoke box. Passenger service is in the same style but Italian olive is used with red and grey stripes.

I have had many compliments on the color scheme and many laments from railroaders who have only red oxide rolling stock. At the same time I get lots of jokes about it. Alas as the great philosopher Kermit T. Frog said, “Its not easy being green”.