St. Mary's and Stratford road trip

VIA 84 arriving St. Mary's

Don Janes and I got together on Tuesday for a bit of a road trip to the St. Mary's area. He had two engines to drop off for a weathering job at the St. Mary's railroad club. We planned to arrive just ahead of VIA 84 so we could see and photograph it at the station. This was the second time in a month that I caught a train stopping at the station. There was a nice crowd waiting to board that day.  

Next it was over to the local community center to drop off the engines at the Stonetown Railway Association Club. The HO layout on the left side of the room is all new. It is DCC powered and also signaled and a long way from what once was there. The membership is really small though, only 4 members...but they seem ambitious. It will be interesting to see how the layout turns out.

Next stop was the station in Stratford. We got lucky as the GEXR power was tied up out front of the station. It appears it did not run this day to Goderich. The last few times by here it was quite and empty., so seeing the power was nice. From there we headed over to Paris and the CN main line which did not result in any action. With the afternoon almost gone and a bit of a drive home we called it a day...George Dutka

Don checks out the Stonetown modeling groups layout which is double and triple decked in areas. Their is an old O scale layout seen to the right which is operated and owned by one of the members father. I think the group has been here for over 40 years.

Although the layout is far from complete there is a good amount of detailed and weathered equipment there.

One can see the old sign when the club was open to the public. Today with the rebuild an appointment is required.

GEXR power on layover in Stratford,