Year Five Begins

A view with my more modern CV equipment in a scene from 2010. This location is now totally updated.

Today is the start of the fifth year as a blogger. Modeling for me this fall has been next to nothing. Home renovations are taking up most of my time. Actually at the moment we are away for some down time in Florida. We began a week ago following the Atlantic coast line through places we have never visited before such as Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head and so on. I have a backlog of material on hand to post, so the blog will still see activity from the sunny south. Peter Mumby has helped me out lately with some interesting posts to help keep topics new and moving along. Don Janes has just got home from a railfan trip with some interesting photos. I hope to keep posting about my layout and modeling while away and will be back in full swing modeling for the winter before the end of the month.

Sometime within the next two or three months I will hit 1,000 posts. To start off this posting year I went through my older layout photos and picked a few as a look back to some scenes and equipment that have disappeared or have been updated....George Dutka

A CV train heads into WRJ yard on the WRD during 2009. A reflection of the caboose can be seen in the water below. This scene was my drop in module which is now a thing of the past.

This 2009 scene out front of the White River Jct. station has changed. The station is now turned around viewing the B&M side and the staging (programming) track in the foreground is now moved to the main yard as the carman's rip track.

 The view below is from Oct. 2013 with the program track removed and the Westboro lead in the planning stage. I soldered a few lengths of flex track together to figure out what I needed to cut out for the plywood road bed. The station was removed for preservation...guess I don't think much about the passengers during the construction process.

This scene is from January this year. Peter Mumby brought over some i's to photograph. Note the headlights are extinguished. This is not in the WRD rule book for waiting at the diamond it is because they are DC engines sitting on DCC tracks.

Flea Market Finds - CNR, CPR Stock Cars

The three recent acquisitions are now posed on the WRD layout.  A nice photo of similar car CP 273576 graces the rear cover of the recent Morning Sun Books release, Canadian Pacific Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment, Volume 2.

Commentary by Peter Mumby...............Photos by George Dutka

George and I attended the Woodstock Model Railroad Flea Market in mid-October.  While I was setting up my tables, George acted as a one-man reconnoitering party, searching out the deals in the vicinity.  He soon beckoned me to a nearby table where he had found three Westerfield Fowler stock cars.  According to a sticker on each box, they had been expertly assembled by John Morris of Railway Model Services of Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Now, George and I enjoy assembling and detailing rolling stock as much as the next modeller, but we are not averse to acquiring nicely-done cars from other sources.  It is especially nice when you are able to identify the builder.  At any rate, the purchase was made, and George decided to keep one of the CN cars, leaving me with one CN car and one CP car.  At an earlier show George had picked up a similar car in a semi-completed form, so this will probably provide him with the impetus needed to finish it off.  Watch for a future post on the topic!

Here we see the three new cars on the workbench.  The only change I have made to this point is the addition of a little PanPastel weathering on the lower sides and ends.  Note that each model shows differences in doors, roofs, and ends.

George's CNR stock car with box and John's stamp.

Wordless Wednesday No. 152

CP Alco 7020 on Display Toronto

CP 7020 on display at the old John St. roundhouse.

As I mentioned before my Bachmann Alco S-2 switcher turned out to be the same number as one on display at the old CPR roundhouse in Toronto. Back in August I was in Toronto and got a few detailed photos of the engine as it looks now. I will add a few details to my model to emulate what I saw...George Dutka

The re-railer location.

The ACI scanner bar is seen below the walkway.

My model of #7020 as it looks right out of the box.

Havelock - Open Air Facility

AEQX 3037 is the type of car that initially caught my interest and led to this post.  The foreground displays a colourful variety of spilled roofing granules......July 04, 2015

An Industry You Can Model

Turning Unused Yard Tracks Into Income Generators.
 

Photos and Commentary by Peter Mumby.
In some ways this essay is Part Two of an earlier post, "Southern Ontario Lading - With a New England Twist," from March 20, 2015.  In that discussion, I briefly referred to the AEQX 30xx series cars in roofing granule service that were being loaded in the CP yard at Havelock, Ontario.  This time my intention is to show how CP, with a minimum of expense, converted three unused yard tracks into an open air facility where truckloads of roofing granules from the nearby Madoc plant are transferred into rail cars.  Following this pattern, you too can create a similar "industry" on your layout - and do it on the cheap.  Later in the post I will also show two earlier uses made of these same tracks in the Havelock yard.

In the late 1800s Havelock was created as a division point yard on the original Toronto/Montreal mainline.  Its importance declined following the construction of what is now the Belleville Subdivision.  In the early 1950s the Nephton Subdivision was constructed from Havelock to Nephton and Blue Mountain, two producers of nephthalene syenite, and in recent times this has been the traffic which has justified the continued operation of the Havelock Subdivision.  The 3M roofing granule plant at Havelock contributed a lot of traffic, but it closed about ten years ago.  Quaker Oats and a few other customers in the Peterborough area still add some traffic to the mix.  From a railfan perspective, this latest venture at Havelock has  certainly added some interesting variety to the parade of traffic into and out of the yard.

Ten years ago the yard was busy enough to justify five trains per week out of Agincourt, Monday through Friday.  About five years ago business slowdowns caused this frequency to drop to Tuesday/Thursday.  For the last few years the railway has settled down to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday pattern.  In the late 1980s there were rumblings about the Havelock Subdivision being spun off to a short line operator, and to this end, on Sept. 30, 1990 it became an internal short line of CP called the Kawartha Lakes Railway.  As long as it continues to make money, I guess CP is happy to hang onto it!

The three yard tracks under discussion have their own separate lead.  A derail keeps these tracks isolated from the rest of the yard.  Fine crushed rock was spread in the area to be used by truck traffic and the portable loader.  New timbers were installed to create level crossings where the empty trucks loop around to exit the yard.  This appears to be the extent of the modifications- easy for CP, easy for the modeller!  Two bay cement-style covered hoppers should be easy to locate; the trucks and the loader might prove to be the biggest modelling challenges.

This view shows one of the trucks in the unloading position......July 03, 2015

If you are modelling Havelock in an earlier time-frame, I am aware of two previous uses of these same three yard tracks.  The summer of 2002 brought drought conditions to northern Saskatchewan and food supplies for large herds of cattle were jeopardized.  Ontario farmers responded by donating time, effort, and hay to a programme referred to as Hay West.  CP donated box cars to that effort, and made these Havelock tracks available as one of the loading points.  The adjacent field became a staging area for the hay bales and the agricultural equipment used to load the boxcars.  Large circular bales were packed into each end of the 50' boxcars up to the door area, and smaller rectangular bales were stacked between the doors before they were slid shut and sealed.  The field in question has now been fenced off and finished as a municipal soccer pitch.
The previous tenant for these three tracks was GE Railcar.  During the 1990s they operated an open air car repair facility, both for their lease fleet and for other customers, in this location.  Boxcar doors were repaired and safety appliances were brought up to code.  Trucks were changed out or repaired.  GE dealt primarily with box and covered hopper cars in Havelock.  This facility would allow the modeller to showcase a colourful variety of rail cars and service equipment.

So, have we provided you with any useful ideas?  Hopefully, we've suggested an industry YOU can model!

ACFX 44827 stands with hatches open ready to receive its load.  Note the crushed rock surface applied to this recently-opened facility......July 03, 2015

NCHX 38761 is one of the more unusual cars in this service.  With its faded lettering from Indusmin syenite service, however, it is certainly no stranger to this yard......June 13, 2015

This close-up of the loader shows how the conveyor fits under the truck hoppers......July 03, 2015

Here we have an overall view of the three tracks used in this service.  Note the new timbers used to create level crossings for the departing trucks.......July 03, 2015

  This is a look at the top end of the loader as it rests over the weekend........July 04, 2015

In this view of the Hay West operation we see a small loader being placed in one of the 50' boxcars.  It will pack the large circular bales into either end of the car before being removed......Aug 30, 2002

Large rectangular cross-section bales are being loaded in the central portion of the car.  Several such cars are being loaded simultaneously.......Aug 30, 2002

This line of boxcars typifies the era when GE Railcar used these three yard tracks.  Doors were replaced and safety appliances were repaired year-round in this open air facility.  This is how the ground looked before today's crushed rock was applied......Oct 1994

All three tracks were put to use by GE.  Boxcars and covered hoppers were the norm, although I remember seeing an autorack here once......Aug 23, 1993

The "Railcar Services" lettering can be seen on the side of this service vehicle......Mar 12, 1996

NAHX 45673 is on jacks awaiting truck repair or replacement.  This illustrates the appearance of cars such as NCHX 38761 (seen earlier in the post) when they were leased by Indusmin.  Indusmin operates the facilities at Nephton and Blue Mountain which provide the principal justification for the existence of the Havelock yard......Aug 01, 1993.

Oxford Automobile Company - HO Scale 1965 Mustang

This scene looks a lot better with a 1960's era car in place. Although it could be the 1990's as there are a good amount of these cars restored and roaming the country side on any nice sunny day.

During Peter Mumby's last visit we spent a few moments looking over the layout...Peter had not seen the updated era that I had setup this summer. We talked about what should be added and changed for this era swap. Adding some era correct vehicles Peter thought would be a good start and I agreed. Shortly after he left I remembered purchasing a 1960's auto that could fit into my contemporary scenes at Palmer Hobbies this spring. A neat looking red 1965 Mustang offered by Oxford Automobile Company....George Dutka

Here is my vehicle haul from this spring's trip with Don to New England. The Mustang will fit well into my modern scenes.

The 1965 Mustang is a nice model and a car many of us would love to own...so having one in miniature is great.

Seems like the car needs a driver installed before the next train arrives at Northfield Falls.

Throwback Thursday - The King's Highway

This type of sign was used on Ontario's public highways from 1960-1993.  Similar signs with larger printing were in use between 1930 and 1962.  This particular sign was photographed at Memory Junction Museum in Brighton, Ontario on August 01, 2015.

Photo and Observations by Peter Mumby

One thing that can be said about today's digital culture is that it has turned almost everybody into a photographer.  If you need accurate road signs for your modern-era layout, take a few photos, download to your computer, re-size them, and print what you need.  If you want to document the colour of City of London service vehicles, wait for the next construction slowdown, lean out the car window, and grab the shot you desire.  If, however, your layout is set in the 1950s or 1960s, data collection is not quite so straightforward.  Just what did road signs look like at that time?  How were highway maintenance vehicles decorated?

You'd think you could ask someone like me anything you needed to know.  Since my years from birth to high school graduation spanned the 1949 - 1967 era, I should be a fount of all such knowledge.  But memory only goes so far, and back then cameras were only brought out for "special occasions."  How often have I wished that I had photographed the mundane items of everyday life?

My hometown of Port Hope, Ontario was the site of a District Office of the DHO (Department of Highways, Ontario).  During the season of winter road conditions (mid-November to mid-April), the provincial highways were patrolled around the clock.  The year I was in grade 12, (1966/67), I was one of three high school students hired as a telephone/teletype operator for weekend shifts.  We were responsible for dispatching snowplow operators and preparing district road reports every four hours for forwarding to headquarters at Downsview.  If you remember radio commentators saying things like " highway two between Cobourg and Grafton is bare to centre-bare with slushy sections", this is the jargon that was my stock in trade.  I saw lots of equipment around the district office, but taking photographs never crossed my mind.  DHO vehicles as I recall were yellow with black lettering, but what shade of yellow? and what type face in black?  These are the little details that can really set your layout apart!

Ontario's public highways have been numbered since 1925.  The DHO was formed in 1930, and since then all primary highways have been designated as "The King's Highways".  There was never a Highway 1, but the numbers 2-427 have been used.  In 1972 the DHO was re-branded as the MTC (Ministry of Transportation and Communications); in 1987 this morphed into the MTO (Ministry of Transportation, Ontario).  Through it all, the name "The King's Highway" has remained, although this slogan disappeared from the actual road signs starting in 1993.  The size of the provincial road system shrunk dramatically between April 1997 and January 1998 as approximately 4980 km of highways were downloaded by the province to local and county governments.  Much of the actual maintenance work previously carried out by the DHO is now done by private contracting companies.

So, the era you model can have quite an impact on the roadside signs and maintenance equipment that you apply to the layout.  Fortunately, local museums and private collectors have been good about preserving such items and information.  Take that digital camera with you, and photograph your way to a more realistic highway setting.  The accurate vehicles available today deserve that kind of attention to detail!

For those of you interested in more research on the signage and history of Ontario's provincial road system,  check out the website on "History of Ontario's Kings Highways".

Wordless Wednesday No. 151

CNR Public Timetable Sept. 30, 1951

An electric line which ran from London, Ont. to the Lake Erie port of Pt. Stanley.

Here are a couple more pages from the general area I live in as seen in a 1951 CNR public timetable...George Dutka

Snapshot - October 2015

CNR 5345 is seen leading CV train #323 on Oct. 1, 1994 at Brattleboro. The crew is on duty and will be leaving as the sun comes up. The train had laid over most of the night waiting for the crew on rest.

I got up extra early the Saturday of the 1994 CVRHS convention in Brattleboro, Vt.  I wanted to get some photos of the power and train laying over at the station and yard at dawn. Actually dawn the first of October is not that early anyhow. I think it was worth it as I came away with a few nice views. This one I took in B&W. I used to carry three cameras. One for slides, another for colour prints and the third for B&W...boy things are easy these days with digital images...George Dutka

Wooden Bridge End View

A good look at the end of the bridge looking into the scene.

Thought I should have taken a few views from the isle. So here they are...as one can see the bridge does not go anywhere but does a good job hiding things...George Dutka

An overall view showing the CV line side shanty, Elwell's General Store and the main line heading under the bridge.

Wordless Wednesday No. 150

Fall Update

A Rutland freight is seen passing the pumpkin patch on the WRD during harvest season. Have a great fall season modeling and railfanning!

Happy Thanksgiving from Canada!

What happens down in the basement when you get your hardwood floors refinished?

I am still not in modeling mode yet as our house renovation are nearing an end. Our kitchen cupboards go in next week and the counter tops arrive and electrician finish off the week after.

Looking down at my desk/workbench last week.

Here is something to think about if you get your hardwood floor re-finished as we did about two weeks ago. We expected to find a good amount of dust on the main floor which we did and not all that much upstairs on the second floor...which was the case. After a full week of washing windows, wiping down walls and dusting fixtures I went downstairs to begin hauling up doors and trim to be re-installed. To my surprise there was more dust down there than anywhere else in the house. It appears anywhere there is a gap such as heat vents and fresh air vents and even the joints in the flooring dust fell down. Also with the sander vibrating away I am thinking any dust in the rafter (no finished ceiling down here) fell down. Well there is a ton of dusting to do in my workshop and grand-kids playroom. I was lucky with the layout room as I have heavy  plastic sheeting attached to the ceiling...the dust was minimal there. I guess that might be something to think about if you are doing your floors soon...George Dutka

This area got the worst of the dust while most of the room had some degree that needed cleaning. All is well now.

Thinking along the same line

Funny thing happened the other day blogging. I spent part of Monday evening working on a post about my wooden bridge that hides the scenic divider. I was getting tired and had a very early morning planned at the lake so I thought I would finish the post another day. To my surprise when I closed it I noted a draft post about Don's scenic divider. He had been working on it the same day. We had not talked about posts in sometime now but it appears Don and I had a similar idea for a post selection...how about that...George Dutka

Modeling a Wooden Overhead Bridge

The gravel roadway climbs up to meet the wooden overhead bridge. The isle-way is inches away on the other side of the bridge so I built that side shorter. The trees I planted help hide the fact that the tracks carry into another room.

To hide the hole to the next room last fall I built a wooden overhead bridge following plans of a B&M prototype. The plans are from the  May-June 1984 Narrow Gauge Gazette. They actually showed two versions found in Massachusetts.  I used all my leftover lumber from the kits I built over the last two winters. Some kits had a lot of leftovers such as the BEST Elwell store (or maybe I forgot to add some somewhere along the way). Due to this the bridge supports varied in thickness from side to side. The bridge was giving a coat of Hunterline weathering mix followed by Bragdon powders....George Dutka

This bridge is built totally of left over and scrap stripwood from other projects. The bridge decking although all looking the same do vary with most being 10" wide.  Once stained and weathered it is not really noticeable.

I did not follow the plans exactly but the flavour of the prototype is clearly seen.

My bridge next to the article photos.

Here we see the bridge begin test fitted. There will be a lot of trees to blend the bridge roadway and wall together. The concrete footings are HO-West SF 4002 sure footings.

An overhead view looking down at the scene.

A Bellows Falls bound train heads under the scenic room divider.

Wordless Wednesday No. 149