Re: NNG: Colorado Midland ballast...such as it was.

Thanks!

Yep, I hiked the Midland RoW on Midland Hill above Buena Vista and on the Atlantic side of Hagerman Pass (like your photos). There's not a whole lot of evidence of any ballast material along the right-of-way besides some cinders. Since the parts of the RoW I've hiked are active trails and/or 4-wheel roads, it's really hard to know if what's on the ground was brought in after the fact. Some photos, particularly ones taken around Hell Gate, suggest the presence of lots of cinders. Not sure again if that was deliberate or if that's from locomotives working hard up the west side.

I'll see if anyone else has input, but going forward I'll probably do what I did for my HOn3 RGS...native dirt mixed with cinders in some places.

___________
Dave Vollmer
Rio Grande Southern in HOn3
Colorado Midland in N scale

Colorado Springs, CO