Argo Gold Mine

Argo Gold Mine

Note: This is not a 'How To', but a display of a completed 'Scratchbuilt Project' showing what can be done with some materials and time. It does not have to have been judged for AP Points.

September 3, 2004
I first saw the Argo Gold Mill in Idaho Springs, Colorado, in January 1980 on my way to the ski slopes. I took a few pictures and then decided to build a model of it for my Nevadun Railroad. The next month, I went back and took a whole roll of additional pictures. It only took me another 23 1/2 years to get around to starting on my scratchbuilding project. I scaled drawings from the photographs, mostly by estimating how big I thought the windows appeared to be, and then transferring those measurements to the rest of the structure.

A couple of months into the project, I realized that there were still a lot of details I couldn't resolve from my pictures. Armed with my new digital camera and no film cost, I flew to Denver, rented a car, and took another 151 pictures from ever possible angle. By that time the huge cribbing structure used for loading the concentrate into railroad cars was gone. The pictures taken in 1980, plus some drawings in Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette in 1982, provided the basis for the construction.

With the exception of the Shay in front of the mill, everything, including the small passenger combine, was scratchbuilt. The Argo was closed in 1943 when a massive flood filled the tunnel. The scene depicts a group who have come in the fall of 1948 to tour the now closed mine and mill.

The main mill buildings were built of photo mounting cardstock, covered with corrugated sheet metal made from individual pieces of heavy-duty aluminum foil embossed over a wooden form and fastened in place with contact cement. I built all windows from styrene. The cribbing was made from cotton swab sticks and all other strip wood was cut on a bandsaw from basswood.

The model earned an achievement award for Master Builder - Prototype Modeler

Jim Packer, MMR.