Lex A. Parker, MMR, CRC
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Phantom Curve stretches from milepost 312.20 to 312.50 on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, originally known as the Denver & Rio Grande Western. This scenic wonder is just north of the border between Colorado and New Mexico and just west of Mud Tunnel. The pedestal rocks and tall pinnacles, also known as "hoodoos,” are formed from breccias of the Conejos Formation. Breccia is a rock formation of broken angular chunks of rock cemented in a matrix of fine sand and sediment resulting from a volcanic eruption. This material tends to be susceptible to erosion and weathering and because of its source, has many shades of colour from grey to red. A pinnacle typically evolves when protected by a harder material or cap rock that remains intact above it while the exposed material below is slowly eroded and washed away. An excellent photograph of the curve showing the tracks winding through the pinnacles is on page 19 in the publication Ticket To Toltec, by Doris B. Osterwald. During a photo runby on a rail fan trip, I took numerous photographs of the site for future reference. Two of them are above.
Forms
I was extremely fascinated by these formations when I saw them during a train ride I took on my way to the last Narrow Gauge Convention held in Durango. I was looking for a unique scenic idea for one corner of my Denver & Rio Grande Western layout and decided this was it. I wondered how I could do it. Rock moulds would definitely not work. I had not seen these formations modeled before. After much thought, I began by planning the locations for the pinnacles. I had used corrugated cardboard profiles successfully for the last few years to form the general base and support for my scenery and rock walls. I thought this would be the best method for what would turn out to be very heavy scenery. I cut out a general outline to the height required for each spire and attached it to the base of the layout framework. I cut out a similar profile next for each spire, cut it vertically in half and glued half to both sides of each form, creating an 'X' in cross section. Some of these would flow together and some would carry on down below the layout framing for a sloped embankment. Spires located in front as well as behind the tracks added visual dimension. I glued one inch strips of cardboard horizontally around these forms at about 4" on centre to hold news paper balls that were stuffed inside. I occasionally sprayed the papers with water to stop their tendency to spring out of shape.
Shell
