Welcome to the Double Diamond Railroad Website! We Have Moved! The DDRR is now located on our Home Property in Woods Cross, Utah and is going to become a “ConTrax” Railroad (see other Pages on this Website for details about ConTrax).
Thanks for visiting, Superintendent Robinson.
(Updated 10/11/25)
The construction of the Double Diamond Model Railroad started in January of 2013 by Jon Robinson. It is an HO-Scale “ConTrax” railroad. The throttle system is Digitrax DCC with both tethered and wireless Radio Cabs. The railroad currently consists of (1) “half” Container (37′) and models Randallville (see other Pages on this Website for details about Randallville). The visible mainline track is code 83 with a minimum radius of 40” and Atlas turnouts with a minimum #6. Computers are used extensively for Traffic Management, Crew Management, Layout Controls, Throttles, Signaling, and Dispatching. We have occasional Open Houses and hope to get back to regular Operating Sessions in the next few months.
The DDRR is a Protolanced, Bridge Railroad, connecting Denver and Salt Lake City thru the Rocky Mountains. Only a portion is modeled, from the Denver Portal, thru Randallville and the Granary Area, to Salt Lake. Because of the time savings and overall outstanding performance of the DDRR, other Western Railroads (UP, BNSF, Amtrak, etc.) regularly use the DDRR for overflow traffic. The Era is modern, but the DDRR celebrates the Fallen Flags of days gone by and has purchased, restored, and placed back in Service a large roster of Locomotives and Rolling Stock from those gone but not forgotten Railroads.
How the Double Diamond Railroad came to be:
Since 1874 the Little Moccasin Mine had used mule teams, over a treacherous high mountain trail, to move ore from their mine to the closest railroad, 4 miles away. There had been many accidents over the years but in 1888 there was a tragic loss of an entire mule team and its driver. Hearing of the loss, Wayne Robinson, a local businessman, approached the owner of the mine, Melvin Rigby, with a proposition to build a railroad to replace the mule teams. A deal was struck, and design of the railroad began. Building a railroad in such rugged terrain proved difficult and much of right of way had to be blasted from the canyon walls. At the mouth of the canyon leading to the mine, the terrain was so steep that a complicated double crossing had to be designed to make the bend up the canyon. Because this track work became such a significant engineering feat for the construction crew, the railroad was dubbed the “Double Diamond” (DDRR). The canyon was re-named “Six Mule Canyon”. With rail access to the mine making the movement of people and equipment much easier, the miner’s camp was moved down the mountain to a more hospitable location. The camp grew and eventually became the town of Randallville. As the West grew and railroads started to spread, the DDRR extended its right of way both east & west until eventually connecting Salt Lake City, Utah and Denver, Colorado. The railroad was finally double tracked the entire distance in 1975 and today is a popular bridge route used by most western railroads. The railroad is privately held by Jon Robinson, the great-great grandson of Wayne Robinson. The complex double diamond at the mouth of Six Mule Canyon has long been removed but the railroad’s name is still: