Doug's Northland Railroad

Doug's Northland Railroad

Doug dispatches Fred's railroad along with me as we alternate on Saturday mornings.

These images were taken during a special midweek session at Doug's marvelous railroad just south of Manotick on the Rideau River.

What a treat it was for me to bring out my recently purchased GP 38-2 in D&H colours (ex LV 316) to Doug's magnificent Northland Railroad to put her through her paces in such a woodlawn setting.

 

 

My apologies in advance as many of the pics in the blog will follow the train I ran with Paul and you'll be seeing a heavy amount of this lightning striped angel.  Halfway through the session we switched diesel locomotives to a CN six axle that was equipped with larger couplers for the heavy cars Doug runs on the layout.  You will note that I still have to place the end steps and lower footsteps on the unit after the new sound system has been installed.

 

 

Indeed, Doug's railroad is a magic carpet made of steel in a lovely garden.
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H-e-r-e-s Doug!  The "Matheson Mastermind" behind this masterpiece.

 

 

Let's see who else was in cahoots with me on this day.

We catch Doug and Paul Norton.  Doug must be scratching his arms from those pesky mosquitoes that survive in close proximity to the Rideau River.  Paul had a serum for them.  One flew in his mouth...he bit down on it and spit it back out...the message made it quickly through the mosquito population and I was thankful to Paul as I was his crewmate.  Yup, not a bug in sight around us for the rest of the morning!  Hehehe!

 

 

 Steve Mackenzie and Moe Cote were in attendance as well.

They are in command of Train 210 eastbound captured here at a location known as Rosseau.

 

 

Paul Anderson in the checkered shirt was on the crew call as well.

Paul will be running a train down the Vernon Lake Quarry Branch.

 

 

Then there's "little ole me"!  Why the long sleeved shirt and jeans on a warm summer morning, you ask?  Well...to keep those nasty flying critters at bay, I say!  A little bit of Deet helps too!

 

 

Some of the equipment we railfanned on this day were these two Canadian brethren, a CN six axle job and a CP unit.

 

I've placed my locomotive on a track and am running it over to the car apron.

 

 

Moe checks his train list while I back my unit onto our consist at a location known as Crown Point.

 

 

Indeed, she's a beauty in the dappled shade.

 

 

Moe and Steve have their locomotives working in MU service.

 

 

Paul reviews our train list to verify if all is a "go"!

 

 

Under Paul's direction, I ease our train out of the yard in an eastbound direction.

 

 

An overall view of the lovely gardens.

 

 

We are downgrade from Crown Point heading for Seguin Falls.

 

 

Paul offers great camaraderie between towns when the running allows for opportunities for conversation.

 

 

Arriving Seguin Falls we check the sidings for any lifts we'll need for our train.

 

 

We will also have a number of setouts here.  With both trailing and facing spurs, we will have to use the runaround track.  I love that Delaware and Hudson hopper car!

 

 

Paul takes a brief moment out of operations to perform the latest yoga move he has learned.  With the shaded garden, who wouldn't want to partake in a relaxing yoga session out here!

 

 

With our work done in Seguin Falls we continue upgrade with Rosseau being our next destination.

 

 

First we encounter the lengthy trestle.

 

 

Into the iron.

 

 

And, with one more span to go, it will be out the other end!

 

 

Paul is all smiles as we arrive the outskirts of Rousseau.

 

 

We travel beneath the pedestrian footbridge.

 

 

And into the beautiful station Doug has built.

 

 

It will soon be downgrade once more toward Stone Lantern Junction.

 

 

Over another sky-high bridge.

 

 

Past the lattice fence work.

 

 

Over a lattice bridge.

 

 

And through the lovely trestle Lawrence had built for Doug.

 

She's a real beauty, Lawrence!  The trestle spans the gap where the branch line flows below.

 

 

Continuing on from the Lawrence Trestle.

 

 

Past the lovely foliage.

 

 

A close-up shot of the Delaware and Hudson.

 

 

Over some more lattice work.

 

 

And into Stone Lantern Junction where the lantern governs all movements.

 

 

Paul is all smiles as Doug looks on.  Our train is departing the junction and heading towards Huntsville. 

 

 

We have a number of trailing and facing moves.  We handle the facing moves by utilizing the large loop comprised of Huntsville and Haliburton combined.

 

 

Arriving Huntsville.

 

 

Part way through the morning we alternate locomotives.  This six axle behemoth has couplers which are more compatible with the couplers on the heavyweight freight cars.  We are running around the loop in order to facilitate our switching moves.

 

 

We've left a section of our train on the Haliburton line to the left in order to switch out the Ministry of Transport dead-end spur out of sight to the right.

 

 

With moves complete, we depart Huntsville and Paul brings his train into the vicinity.

 

 

We've backed onto the line at Haliburton in order to set-out and lift some cars from this locale.

 

 

We round the big curve out of Haliburton.

 

 

We pass Stone Lantern Junction where we will conduct some work.

 

 

Our train is quite long, so the mainline becomes our lead.  I catch a glimpse of our engine now piercing Lawrence Trestle with the Vernon Lake Quarry Branch rails in the valley below.

 

 

Can't get enough views of that gorgeous bridge!

 

 

With twelve cars in tow, that six axle handles the moves with deftness and authority.

 

 

The sight of the Canadian Pacific GP30 unit tells us that Paul is in the neighbourhood.

 

 

He needs to cross over the mainline to retrieve the four hopper cars to the right.

 

 

So we back into the siding.

 

 

Paul also uses the mainline as his lead.

 

 

We wait for him to complete his moves.

 

 

Then we depart up to Rosseau.

 

 

Before moving too fast, this railfan has to catch a few glimpses of the newly installed trestle.

 

 

From a few angles.

 

 

Great job on the bridge, Lawrence!

 

 

We must hold to the east of Rosseau.

 

 

Due to the fact that the eastbound 210 crew were working the area and required both tracks to complete their moves.

 

 

Here's 310.

 

 

With a glorious shot of the depot at Rosseau.

 

 

With the clock in the tower.

 

 

And the railroad logo.

 

 

She's a real beauty, Doug!

 

 

Moe works the back sidings at Rosseau.

 

 

Love the garden pathways Doug has built.

 

 

When a visiting railfan checks things trackside.

(See his little back just short of the turnout)

 

 

Aha!  He rears his cute little head!

 

 

310 continues with their work at Rosseau.

 

 

Moe checks his lists.

 

 

While Paul and I finally get clearance into the town.

 

 

Over the gorgeous trestle.

 

 

Rounding the bend.

 

 

Past a cut of cars.

 

 

CN meets CN...Big Brother meets Little Brother.

 

 

Rounding the curve to the west of Rosseau.

 

 

On approach to the long trestle.

 

 

Through the trestle.

 

 

And out!

 

 

Coming into Seguin Falls.

 

 

Nice overall view of the tracks west of the bridge.

 

 

Man, I could run trains here every day!

 

 

Upgrade from Seguin Falls bound for Crown Point.

 

 

Paul has his train in Seguin Falls where he will lumber downgrade to the Lake Joseph Quarry.

 

 

Meanwhile 310 has reached Stone Lantern Junction.

 

 

Paul and I are almost finished our run.

 

 

While the other Paul provides an assist as we have to spot a couple of cars to the siding at the other end of Stone Lantern Jct.

 

 

Yes, it's a thrill to run in such a lovely environment.

 

 

Who could ask for a better setting.

 

 

With a well-designed railroad that recreates history.

 

 

Thanks, Doug!

 

 

Time to put the cars to bed.

 

 

Under the roof.

 

 

With the big door closed.

 

Post-ops, it's indoors to the HO layout.

 

 

Where I get to view the two towers I built for Doug's layout.

This one, Lyon Tower, in honour of Chris Lyon.

 

 

And this one Hamer Tower in honour of yours truly.

 

 

Which guards the entrance to the room...hehehe!

 
Doug's trestles are simply gorgeous.

 
Chris did a superb job on the river.
Chris and I also helped with the scenery and trees.

The large station I kitbashed for Doug.

 

 

Then I showed Doug the 24" engine lathe I built for him in O-Scale.

We place it against the 1:120 larger model Doug had built earlier.

This time Little Brother meets Big Brother!

 

 

We also check out the O-scale version with other machines Doug has built previously.

 

 

And we take a look at another of his 1:120 gems.

 

 Thanks a ton to Doug for hosting, to our good friend, Gord Bellamy, for letting me have this beautiful diesel locomotive (named the Ralph Dipple in honour of our late friend) and to Paul Norton for converting her from boxcar battery power to a stand alone power unit with Phoenix sound!  What great friends we have in this hobby of ours!
 

 

Before heading home, I couldn't resist snapping this lovely shot of the river that runs through our nation's capital, the Rideau River...given its name after the waterfalls that drop into the larger Ottawa River over a dramatic limestone precipice.  When explorer Samuel de Champlain first saw the falls he noticed that they looked like a curtain...which in the French language is the word "Rideau".  Champlain was the first European to encounter the falls.

 

Thanks again, Doug, for hosting a fun-filled session on your fabulous Northland RR!

 

All the best,

Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada