Windy Point
Garden Railroads
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The Cypress Canyon Railroad
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Photos by Jay Harvey and Steve Blackson
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The G-scale Cypress Canyon Railroad, built and owned by Steve and Betty Blackson of Austin, Texas,
is set in the Texas Hill Country in the early 1900's.
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While the railroad is primarily a narrow-gauge logging operation, it also serves the people
of the Hill Country with full passenger and freight service.
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Like many model railroads, the Cypress Canyon Railroad emulates an actual (prototype) railroad.
The prototype is the Michigan-California Lumber Co.'s narrow-gauge logging operation
which ran for many years in the Northern California Sierra Mountains,
as documented in Steve Polkinghorn's book, "Pino Grande".
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The Texas Hill Country
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| A modern-day map of the Texas Hill Country and the major towns serviced by the
Cypress Canyon Railroad. (Smaller towns were omitted for clarity.) |
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The Railroad Design
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The Cypress Canyon Railroad has a unique point-to-point design that features two wyes on the same end.
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The mainline runs south-to-north between Fredericksburg and Llano, then west-to-east from Fredericksburg,
past Shiner, Horseshoe Bay, Marble Falls, Lago Vista, and on into Spicewood and Balcones.
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The original branch line runs from Llano, past Luckenbach, Stonewall, across Cypress Canyon and the
Pedernales River to Johnson City, Dripping Springs and then into Spicewood and Balcones.
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There is also a local service district in Granite Shoals and Willow City Loop, to support a sawmill
and a barrel factory.
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The Cypress Canyon Railroad Trackplan
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Altogether, there is over 325' of track, comprised of approximately
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160 feet of main line,
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a 75-foot branch line,
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30 feet of local service,
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19 turnouts,
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and 66 feet of spur tracks.
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It occupies a space in the garden that is over 70-ft long from east-to-west, and nearly 50-ft long
from north-to-south.
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Photo by Steve Blackson |
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Trackwork
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| Trackwork at the western end of the railroad while under construction. |
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Operations
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Photo by Jay Harvey |
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Fredericksburg
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| Looking down the tracks from Fredericksburg towards Llano. |
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The Cypress Canyon Railroad is designed for realistic operations.
The locomotives are battery-powered with Air Wire controllers.
The railroad does have power through the rails available for friends who bring non-battery powered
locomotives over to run.
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Photo by Jay Harvey |
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Control Tower
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| Traffic heading down the mainline passes the Control Tower at Chuck Ellis Island. |
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The Chief Dispatcher, sitting behind the Control Tower, can control all the turnouts between Fredericksburg
and the mainline, and all the turnouts between Llano and the branch line.
The turnouts are currently being wired for wireless remote operation with LED dwarf signals.
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Local Service Area
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Traffic in the local service area is handled by a dispatcher at a small tower near the lower end
of Cypress Canyon.
From here, the dispatcher can control access to Granite Shoals, Willow City Loop, and the mainline.
One leg of the 2nd wye passes through the local service area and mainline operators have to secure
permission to use it from the local service dispatcher.
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All the other areas on the railroad operate on visual rules until the signaling system is completed.
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Photo by Jay Harvey |
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Local Service Area
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| Locomotive #178 crossing the viaduct bridge at the bottom of Cypress Canyon.
The small Control Tower controls access to the mainline ahead, and to the Granite Shoals -
Willow City Loop junction on the right. |
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