Milliken is a small agricultural town at the end of southeast leg of Officer Junction. The
model is arranged very much like the prototype but with a few extra industries
and a switchback added for interest. It is large enough to require its own local.
After leaving the Johnstown beet factory, the GW tracks curve around and head to Milliken. Hillsboro is just outside of Milliken and has a large alfalfa products plants with a complex of elevators and storage bins.
 Jon Sawyer photo |
The Union Pacific has an interchange on a pair of tracks in Milliken, known as the Long
and Short Circle tracks since they curve away from downtown. The UP interchange provides a
way to get more traffic moving on the Grest Western without extra staging tracks. On the prototype,
coal loads for the Loveland factory were delivered here.
Milliken is packed with seven industries: Colorado Alfalfa prodicts, Milliken elevator, Milliken stock chute, Texaco Oil, Farmers Coop, the freight station and a sugar beet dump. The freight station requires a run-around move just to keep the crews interest at a fever pitch. |
Two trains switch Milliken during an operating session. The Milliken local does all the
normal freight while the beet local will switch the beet dump.
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| The UP interchange provides extra traffic and a number of varied loads for the Great Western. | The elevator and Texaco deport are at the end of the line in front of a mirror. Dave Zamzow photo |
Downtown building and the depot. The Weld County Whiney Gazette proclains "All the news that fits in print." | . |
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| The Farmer's Coop with a pair of famous and no-so-famous historic souvenier cars. | Colorado Alfalfa Products in Hillsboro is a photo backdrop of the real thing. Too much to model! | A couple of scurilous teenagers attempt to race the Milliken local on its way out of town. |
The first model of Milliken was minimalist - just Colorado Alfalfa Products (lower right), two UP Interchange
tracks and two other random sidings. Chuck Hagermeister provides a sense of scale during the first
anniversary operating session.
Later on, this was expanded into a more complex area based on John Allen's Time-Saver switching puzzle. I modified it slightly with a removeable track section that made it easier to switch. Even with this change, it too much fun for most operators and the concept was abandoned.
The third Milliken looked more like the real thing and was expanded into a wedge shape with
the Circle Tracks going off to the left (into Chuck's head). It was then moved intact as the
final Milliken when the GW was redesigned in 2000.