Elvas Tower: New England Kitchen - Elvas Tower

New England Kitchen
Arrow, Colorado
1912

Located on the Denver Northwestern & Pacific Railroad (Moffat Road) later the Denver & Salt Lake RR, 1900 - 1946

Historic Colorado Series

Model by Chris Gerlach
Texture by Chris Gerlach

This is a small false front store built in Arrow (originally Arrowhead) Colorado along the Moffat Road, the railroad line built by David Moffat between Denver and his eventual goal, Salt Lake City to open a alternative Rail route to the West from Colorado. The early years of the railroad, in the early 1900s saw a number of small towns spring up along the route of the railroad as its construction pushed west over the high peaks of the Continental Divide. After passing thru Rollinsville, and Tolland the Route rose up in a steep series of switchbacks, tunnels and trestles to the high slopes and there at one point the line stopped at the small town of Arrow. Arrow had been built on the location of a small spring on a high ridge with panoramic view of the distant mountain ranges all around.

The Town flourished as a location for the railroad workers, and small businesses that sprang up to serve them and then later the trainloads of Tourists who came on Special trains to view the acres of wildflowers that the region was famed for. At one time Arrow had 200 people served by the local post office, five saloons, a number of hotels, cafes, restaurants, lunch rooms, boarding houses, sporting houses and homes and shops. Most were supported by the tourist and Rail trade and when the center of the Railroad and its main yards moved west to Tabernash, Arrow began to dwindle so that by 1916, there were barely 60 people in town, and soon only a few remained. The post office closed, the main hotel, the Arrow Hotel closed, and the Elk Saloon finally closed and the town died. In 1918 a mysterious fire, some say started to get insurance money, burned down the entire town in one night. Only a couple of buildings remained and the station for the Railroad, and a coal tipple that had been built in 1918 to fuel the trains carrying war freight for the First World War. Now only a few scant remains show where Arrow was.

The New England cafe, this building was located on Spruce Street next door to the Arrow Hotel, and served lunch and dinner and remained active throughout the years of the town's life. This model was created using historic photographs and is as close to the original as possible with only a few records to go by.

I owe many thanks to many who have helped me learn the craft of modelling for MSTS and Open Rails including Tim Muir, Barry Munro, Jeff Farquar, Larry Mullet and many others. I am glad to be able to give back to the community and to help preserve the unique history of the Denver Northwestern & Pacific Railroad and the Moffat Road. This structure is intended for a project to restore the Moffat Road in both MSTS/Open Rails and Trainx to show the route as it existed between 1915 and 1918.

Rights and Restrictions:

This is an Open License Model and you may use it freely I would prefer it be used non commercially and within appropriate uses but you are free to repaint, alter and convert this model to any format you may wish. I would appreciate notification of any use you may make, but it is not a requirement. There is no liability for use, you use at your own risk.

This model has night and snow textures.

The TSM and main texture files are included.

Chris Gerlach (CrisGer)
Elvas Tower
Feb 2015
Chrisgerlach9@yahoo.com

For history of Arrow and the Moffat Road I recommend the Denver and Salt Lake Historical Society which may be found here,

and the Denver Public Library digital collection.