The "Cliff Hanger Mine" Down the Historical Rabbit Hole

 Back in 2025 there was a photo and an article in the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette for a structure the author referred to as the Cliff Hanger Mine. He couldn't find out anything about it and just opted to build the structure, which is great all model railroaders do that. However, I found it so intriguing that I started digging into it, and the hole is deep.

Here is the photo, it is literally built into the cliff side, this photo has cut off the drop off directly under it. 

And some other views I found online, these came from a Facebook Group:

Its missing a couple of key features; there is no apparent adit where the ore would come from and there doesn't seem to be a way to get the ore from the bins to a wagon or truck below it. In the background of the last photo you can make out a structure on the left. That's a set of massive ore bins for the Commodore #5 mine in Creede CO.

In the end I discovered that this is an Ore Sorting building. So it has ore bins, obviously, and then the chutes would be open slightly and ore would be poured out on to a sorting table. The good ore went into a plank chute coming out the open side and down to a waiting truck (this building was built in the early 30's). But where did the ore come from? Looking at the last photo again you can see a pile of waste rock (tailings) running from the complex, with the big ore bins, to this sorting building. There is a rail tram running along the top of that pile and it would dump ore into another chute that feed the ore bins from above. So ore was provided by rail. Apparently the building was not part of the Commodore complex per say but was used by a company that leased a portion of the Commodore mine. The Amethyst vein runs through that mountain and there are literally miles of tunnels in there.

I learned a lot more about the complex but its this little structure that might find a home on my layout.

Return to the Brushes

While I have been slowing down on everything it felt like the perfect time to add another project to the list and start it!

I received some new figures from the Cumberland Shops on Etsy and I had some Woodland Scenics pre-paints that I wanted to "fix" along with some other figures from Shapeways. This is kind of where things are a the moment. Everything is in different stages of painting so I'll have to adjust my normal sequence a bit.

Miniatures are a new addition to the Cumberland Shops line on Etsy

And one of the better Woodland Scenics figures, going to completely repaint this one.

And the whole gang waiting for paint,

The Roger Malinowski Tribute Part 4 - The Bakery Still Under Construction

As I stated previously life has changed and we are still struggling around schedules and getting everything back in a balance. We have made a couple of decisions that have really required a lot of focus to pull off. Anything I have been working on has seen very little progress, but I finally got the siding on.

The back wall will actually be removable so I can slide out the roof and the ceiling to mount lighting circuitry up there.

Cartoon Wednesday

 Yea, I have been slacking, life has been ... interesting.

The Roger Malinowski Tribute Part 4 - The Bakery Under Construction

I pulled out a box from the unbuild pile and I managed to selecxt the three kit set. The one on top was the Bakery so that's on the bench now.

Once again, the roof will be removable so that I can add lighting later on if I need it. This one also has a pretty big display window so I need access to that so I can fill it after I decide what the store is for. 

I used the wallpaper with wainscotting, wood floor, and a ceiling from Clever Models. Of course that delayed construction quite a bit waiting for glues to dry. Since it has a slanted roof, I was trying to think ahead to the lighting and added a regular flat ceiling and the light should all sit up in that "attic" space. 

I'm happy with how things are coming together. Trying to apply all the lessons learned from the first three kits. However, once again I managed to mess up the windows. I found a better glue to attach the clear styrene to the wood, but I somehow managed to smear contact cement across the windows. I got most of it off but there are still very well defined "streaks" on the "glass". Hopefully I can hide some of that later on with weathering and posters and such.

With the holidays fast approaching, I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to finish it so it may be a workbench queen for a while.

I probably should have run the floor planking the other way. I doubt that anyone will notice. I went ahead and added crown molding, baseboards and the top edge of the wainscotting to give things a little depth. You can see the roof and ceiling supports here as well. 

Here is the ceiling slid into place. Any lighting stuff should fit up here.

Still looking a lot like a small box at this point.

From here you can see the space available between the ceiling and the roof.

And with the back resting in place. Not how I carefully marked which side should be on the inside...oops