From Here to There - Filliing in the Details

"Those that do not study history are condemned to repeat it. Those that do not study history are condemned to repeat it."
- Pedro

Hola, mi amigos! History es importante to building model train layout. Yes, you can "freelance" and make up your own history. But for me it is harder to make up a plausible history than to just copy the history from the real thing.

Since Senior Hoke was so kind to give us a history in good detail for such a small and remote railroad, we can learn a lot from it and guess at the rest. In this case we know the mine is at Ojeula, Mexico. We also know that the smelter was just outside Mapimi.

With the incredible power of the internet, let's go find our key locations on the map...
By using Google Maps we can easily find Mapimi and Ojeula. Here they are in central Mexico. Basically, the middle of no where, and hang a right. I hope you have gasoline...
Spock, increase magnification. Here you can see that our two points are located near Torreon. Ok, now we know where to get gas.
By shifting to satellite view, we can see that not only is this a barren place, but that it may be on the moon. Nothing but rocks. Looks like a silver deposite to me!
By zooming in even further we can see that the kind folks of the town of Mapimi were gracious enough to leave the bridge abutments for the railroad standing in the river. From careful examination of the cuts, fills and old pilings we can figure out where a railroad that is 100 years gone might be located. Or maybe its still there!
A mine makes quite a mess, and here is our mine. Notice the really nice right of way that snakes up the mountain! We'll have to include that in the layout for sure.

I'll be damned! The Suspension Bridge is still there! How is that for research!

So, we know what the terrain looks like and the locations. We even have a feel for the scenery as well. By walking through the photos piece by piece we can trace most of the right of way and figure out what kind of toll the railroad had to pay to get all that silver!