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The Aspen and Western RYRed WittmanBackgroundThe Crystal River Pictorial by Dell McCoy, produced bySundance Publications Limited was the starting point formy On30 version of the Aspen and Western Ry. The short13 mile long A&W that ran up Thompson Creek caught myeye for two reasons: coal mines and coke ovens. However,the A&W lasted for only about six years from 1887 – 1892,because the coal seam ran out and the coke ovens were notbuilt. On my version, more coal was found and the cokeovens were constructed.A one commodity railroad does not offer many on line customers.So we poked around in some side canyons off Thompsonand found some oil seepage. Conoco Oil Co. sent inpeople to test drill and found enough oil to supply a small oilterminal on my only passing siding (Photo 1). The Conoco OilCo. is a three car loading facility with three large storage tanks,1a pump house, and office. There is an off-loading area with anoverhead crane, and an operating oil well from Walthers. Thebalance of the pumps are further afield and out of sight.We needed more industry to prosper and we went uphigher on the mountain side and located a source of high qualitylimestone, which along with the processed coke, would beused by the iron industry at Sopris, Colorado, located on theDenver & Rio Grande R.R. Photo 2 shows Fraser Limestone,located above the town of Ellen on the mountain branch of the24 • O Scale Trains - July/Aug ’09A & W RY. The crusher and tipple here are loosely modeledafter the Denver & Rio Grande’s Monarch Branch in centralColorado.The tipple complex is a cedar wood timber frame, coveredwith sheet plastic and Grandt Line windows. The wholestructure is covered with Paper Creek Model Works corrugatedmetal roofing and siding sheets. The two dump trucks