Year 10

At the diamond it looks like it is the B&M turn.

Today the WRD blog moves into its 10th year. It is hard to believe it has been anywhere near that long. My layout is into its second redo in that time and the Bellows Falls yard has been finished. When I first started this blog the WRD was loop trackage with hidden staging and has grown into a point to point layout...a loop addition might be in the long range future. 

I have to thank both Peter Mumby and Don Janes for their help with many interesting posts over the years which gives the blog variety of topics, not just a look at the WRD. There is a lot more to come so please check back regularly. Oh one more thing, this coming year will see the blog hit the one million page view...maybe that one might be you...leave a comment if it is.

Happy Halloween from the WRD...George Dutka

Here is a STRANGE looking car in the Palmer, Ma. yard on June 2, 2019. Don and I stopped by during the spring 2019 NERPM get together.

Bruce Douglas would measure the prototype for future use while modeling...this is one of his drawings.

Here we have the CN family versions of the heritage units that will be seen shortly.

I have the small structure in this kit and was wondering which manufacturer it was from...now I know.

I purchased and posted about this structure a year ago. I found it at an area train show. This is my version of the Rail Scale Models kit.

I am running low...canopy glue...so an option is WeldBond. I believe they are a Canadian company. Anyhow the glue is said to hold almost anything together. Modeler friend Dick Walker asked me about this glue. Others have told me it is a lot like canopy glue, now I will know for sure. Will fill you in shortly as I am using it on my current FOS build.

I was at Paris Junction Hobbies this week picking up a few things when I came across these disposable micro brushes. The tip is very fine and can be pulled up or shoved into the tube for better control. I tried them on Friday and they worked really well for fine touches.

My desk is a mess at the moment with a lot of projects just beginning or about done. Thats a FOS kit of the month in the middle that will be in my Bellows Falls scene shortly.

Also while at Paris Junction I saw this Accurail kit of a CV boxcar. I did not think CV had any Fowler 36' outside braced cars...but I was not totally sure...maybe they had a couple that I did not know about. Anyhow when I got home I looked through my frt. car material and could not find any. It will become a CN 1960's work car by changing the numbering, logo and a few details. I have a photo to work from for this project...so it will not go to waste.

The current RMC had a great article about kitbashing a general store. On the end of the building was this great ghost decal. The article mentioned Dave's Decals, so I looked them up. There are some really nice offerings there for a not bad price.

I found this new offering on Dave's site. Kind of a neat way to make fun at some of the big boys.

A B&M Trailer at Westboro

Looks like the Westboro shop staff could not fit everything into the trailer.

The Athearn trailers come in two packs. One was used in Bellows Falls while the second is found behind the Westboro sandhouse...George Dutka  

Throwback Thursday - CP Business Cars

 

CP business car "Assiniboine" was basking in the evening sunlight in front of the Havelock station on July 4, 1992.  The marker lights and ditch lights would be nice details to add to a model.

By Peter Mumby.

Three CP business cars were in attendance at the 100th Anniversary celebrations for the Village of Havelock.  (See August 16, 2018, "Celebrating 100 Years in Style").  Each of these cars had been constructed in the 1920s.  CP 70, "Assiniboine," was named after the Assiniboine Tribe in Western Canada.  CP 73, "Mount Royal," had been named after Montreal, the original home city of Canadian Pacific.  Car 83, "Lacombe," had been named in honour of Father Albert Lacombe, who had negotiated a right-of-way for the railway through Blackfoot lands.  Built in 1921, Lacombe was the oldest member of this group of veteran business cars.  

 

CP "Lacombe" was photographed early in the morning of July 05, 1992.

CP "Mount Royal" was built in 1927.  It still looked pretty classy on July 04, 1992.

 

Wordless Wednesday No. 397

 

June 21, 2016

Snapshot - October 2020

October 12, 2012

A couple of views that I took following a train from the Strasburg museum back in 2016 when Don Janes and I attended the Fine Scale Expo in that area...George Dutka   

FOS Soda Shack

 

My finished model waiting for a new home.

While posting today's entry I by mistake deleted my weekend post on how to built the shack. I have re-posted it once again similarly to what was originally seen.

 

The FOS soda shack was a pretty easy build. The free kits do not come with instructions but the part assembly is pretty straight forward. On line FOS has posted a good number of photos to work from. These additional photos should help one if this kit is on your new kit shelf...George Dutka

 

The main structure is assembled

The walls are well braced. The base is painted a concrete gray and coloured with PanPastel.

The roofing is spray bombed primer gray and cut into 3' strips. The walls are given a coat of india ink alcohol mix.

The main structure is sponged with Pullman green while the small one is Floquil grime then PanPastel white. The windows and ledge is PanPastel gray. The doors and trim are coloured using PanPastel green.

 

FOS Soda Shack - Another Look

A tiny little structure, but neat.

 A few more views of the finished soda shack, a free kit fro FOS...George Dutka

Visit to Sarnia

Don and Jim discuss railroading awaiting the CIL job's power heading to the shop.

Last weekend I contacted Don Janes, Jim Sloan and Peter Mumby about meeting up at the Sarnia VIA station for a social distancing get together. Peter could not make it. So on Monday I followed the CN main line from Strathroy to Sarnia in the rain. I did catch a CN EB at Kerwood. Once at the VIA station most of the action was transfer jobs coming and going out the CIL spur behind the roundhouse. We did photograph two of the three movements. I guess we should have met in the wye area as we did not see any mainline runs through the tunnel. We each brought something to show and tell...so a mini RPM meet of sort. We might be able to squeeze one more in before the snow gets heavy this year...George Dutka

CN eastbound at Kerwood, Ont. in the rain on Oct. 19, 2020

The EB at Kerwood had 5 of these ex-B&M hoppers in tow.

The CSX transfer job which was a good size uses a CN engine in the consist. It had arrived before we had but we caught it on its way to the CIL spur.

Don and Jim discuss Jim's Walthers built which Jim posted about last week on his blog. What Jim likes about the structure is it is a block wall build.

One of Jim's engine creations.

 

The rain began once again so Don and I set up our displays in the trunk of my PT Cruiser. Don's Rapido RS rebuild is in the foreground. I brought along my B&M switcher and a couple of small FOS structures.

What's in the box No. 44

 

The FOS free kit comes packaged in a sealed bag.

This is what one gets in a FOS free kit...George Dutka 

Everything needed was included and well packaged. The signage is nice. I photocopied the sheet to use saving the original.

Throwback Thursday - A Face Only a Modeller Could Love (Part Two).

StL&H 5448 is leading its train westward across William St in downtown London, Ontario on March 18, 1999.

By Peter Mumby.

Back on August 27 of this year I referred to the small 5447-5449 group of SD40-2 locomotives that CP leased from NRE and later purchased outright.  Like the 5449 featured in that post, 5448 arrived on the property wearing an unadorned coat of primer grey paint.  The cab side had the unit number and, at various times, either a hand-lettered "CP" or a stencilled "CP Rail."  When applied later, the StL&H logos actually added a little character to this pair of locomotives.

5448 and 5449 differed in a number of small details, but the major identifying feature of the 5448 was its lack of a dynamic brake.  This may have made the unit unique as far as CP's large roster of SD40-2 locomotives was concerned.  5448 had been owned by MP as its 3130 before being acquired by NRE.

StL&H 5447 had previously been identified as CNW 6910.  It entered service on CP in an uninspired coat of primer red paint with only its new road number and a stencilled "CP Rail" on the cab side.  Somewhat later a crudely drawn "CP" was painted on its flank.  Mercifully this was eventually covered with the StL&H logo that appears in the accompanying photo.

StL&H 5447 East is approaching the west siding switch of Nissouri on the CP Galt Subdivision on November 22, 1998.

Wordless Wednesday No. 396

 

October Railfanning

 

Fall Rail Scenes In Northern Ontario....by Don Janes

     On Oct 7 my wife and I headed up to Northern Ontario to take in some of the fall colours in and around Algonquin Park. We stayed in the town of Huntsville and took day trips to different areas.  The day we left was overcast an rainy but we soldiered on hoping the weather would break.  Our first stop was the small village of Washago, a once busy railroad junction. It is still a junction but a majority of the trains traverse the CN Bala Sub between Toronto and Capreol and points west.  The line to North Bay is still there but sees very limited traffic, only one train a  day and a switcher out of Huntsville on the Newmarket Sub which used to go all the way south to Toronto but now ends at Washago. There is still a section between Barrie and Toronto used by Go transit.

      The reason I stopped at Washago was to get a few photos of the old concrete coal tower that still stands there.  Last time I was there I was apprehended by the CN police for walking on railway property so this time I was much more careful.  As we arrived at the coal tower the sun came out so I took several photos.  We waited a short time but no trains came so we headed up to Huntsville.

Here are a couple of views of the old coal tower at Washago. It is still in good shape considering it is very old.

     Our next stop was at the old CN Huntsville train station which is used for something else now since no passenger trains call on Huntsville anymore. It was getting late and the clouds were moving in again but I managed to get some photos of the CN locomotive assigned to the roadswitcher out of Huntsville.

CN GP38-2 4790 is currently assigned to the Huntsville roadswitcher

An image of days gone by at the Huntsville station

     The next day we spent touring around Algonquin Park, one of Ontario's most famous Provincial Parks.  The scenery was awesome and it was a great day. Last year we camped there but opted for a hotel this year.

     On Oct. 9 we headed over to Parry Sound.  After some shopping we headed out to one of my favorite railfanning spots, Lawson Bay Road where the CN mainline passes along a nice little lake. I have never been there in the autumn so was hoping the leaves would be colourful and I was not disappointed. It was cloudy but the colours were still nice and there were no harsh shadow like on a sunny day.  It wasn't long before a northbound CN freight train came around a curve and into view along the lake.  It had on unit on the front and a DPU in the middle.

The first fright we saw at Lawson Bay Road was a mixed freight.

Here is the DPU about half way back in the train

   As we sat by the lake drinking coffee and enjoying nature we heard a rumble in the distance.  It is hard to tell if it is a CN or CP train as the CP tracks are not too far away.  A few seconds later the crossing bells started and another northbound train came into view.  This time a heavy intermodal train headed up by three engines. After this train passed we packed up and headed to Mactier, a CP division point about twenty minutes south.  I wanted to try and get there while we still had fairly good light in case we were lucky enough to see a train there.  On our way we saw a third northbound CN train at Dock Siding.  I didn't get a shot but it was another heavy intermodal train.      

 

Three units lead a northbound intermodal train at Lawson Bay Road

     After the second CN train passed we headed to Mactier, a CP division point about twenty minutes south.  Mactier used to have a large yard and roundhouse but today has only a few yard tracks and a small yard office for incoming and outgoing crews to use.  There was some MOW cars sitting in the yard so I grabbed some shots. A few minutes after we arrived a northbound CP container train pulled up to the yard office and stopped to change crews. Within 10 minutes they were on their way again.  It was a very long train with one unit up front and another DPU about mid way back in the train.  Once the train cleared we headed back to Huntsville taking in the beautiful scenery as we went.

               

A MOW caboose and cars were parked in the yard

The CP container train departing Mactier with a DPU placed in the middle of the train. The sun popped out just as he started to move.

This CP wide vision caboose has been in Mactier for years but it has been recently repainted and looks very nice.

     On Oct.10 we headed for home, making a stop in Barrie to visit out daughter and granddaughters.  We made one final stop in Palmerston, a once busy CN terminal that now has no rail service but there is a small steam engine on display and the the station is now a Museum. Unfortunately it was closed account the Covid19 pandemic.  The old CN steamer #81 had just been repainted and looked great.  

     It was a great trip and it was great to get away after spending months sticking close to home. Hopefully next year the world will be in a better place.

CN #81 has been recently restored and looks great.

The old CN station has been turned into a very nice museum with several old pieces of rolling stock on display. Note the old walkway that used to go over the entire yard so people didn't have to cross the track in this once busy terminal