New Mexico, 1928. An autumn harvest of chilis colorados adorns sun-baked adobe dwellings along the Rio Grande, the strings of red chili peppers from thich the Sante Fe branch of the D&RGW derived its name.

The Chili Line is a small HOn3 layout (1.1 square metres) built by Dieter Chidel for the 6th Australian Narrow Gauge Convention. It is a composite of scenes attempting to capture the intimate way in which the little narrow gauge trains connected with the people of the Rio Grande valley. Each scene will eventually find a place in his home layout.

This layout won "Best in Show" at the Convention, and it doesn't take long to understand why. The amount of exquisite detail included in each of the many "mini-scenes" has to been seen to be believed, and I certainly have not seen such a high level of detailing in an HO layout before.

I just hope that this series of photographs can do justice to this beautiful little module.