Fiddletown & Copperopolis Railway

Fiddletown & Copperopolis was one of my favorite childhood comic strips. It still is! But alas the wacky railroad no longer finds print ... with one exception: The Village Gazette. Every issue has the latest Fiddletown & Copperopolis comic.

The cartoonist, Carl Fallberg created animated feature films and T.V. cartoons for Disney Studios, Hanna-Barbera, and Warner Brothers. As much as he enjoyed his work, his lifelong passion was his love of the narrow gauge" railroad lines connecting the mountain mining towns of Colorado. This passion was expressed in his Fiddletown & Copperopolis comic strip in Railroad Magazine through the 50s into the 60s. "The Gregarious Railfan" has am excellent, well-worth reading essay on the Fiddletown & Copperopolis Railway with comics in his blog (external link)

A model based on the Fiddletown & Copperopolis Depot built by E. L. Moore (Model Railroader, 1964). [Source: 30 Squares (J. D. Lowe | External Link)]
Fiddletown and Copperopolis:
The Life and Times of an Uncommon Carrier

This last image is the cover of whimsical collection of railroad cartoons by Fallberg. It is 144-page, softbound, 9-5/8 x 6-1/4" book illustrating the trials and tribulations of a narrow gauge "uncommon" carrier. As "Denver Todd" says in "The Gregarious Railfan," To anyone familiar with the lore of America's three-foot railroad lines, the feeling persists that within these pages lies a disguised pictorial history of prototype narrow gauge railroads in a very humorous vein." 75 black and white illustrations.
ISBN: 978-0-911581-04-1

Although published by Heimburger House Publishing Company at $14.95 it is hard to these days to find a copy under $40.00. Abe Book Sellers does sell a facsimile copy.