Sunday, October 15, 2023

Railroad Shut-Down For the Season

Railroad Shut-Down For Another Season

With the cooler weather now upon us and with city-wide rail activities going on for the next couple of Saturday's the determination was made to close up shop at the railroad for the 2023 season.

Workday Wednesday would have been the day we gathered to tuck the railroad to bed, but the weather forecast did not co-operate.

We gathered on the Friday with a nice contingent of OVGRS members who were able to lend a hand.  

Thanks to those who also wished to have made it out but had other commitments.


Thanks to Seanna for sending along these first three images.
To enlarge the images click on them.
To return to the default look of the page click outside them.


Many of the structures were gathered up and placed on the benchwork in Craig Leigh.  Bernie looks over to Seanna as Doug screws the boards into place while Bill, Marcel & Moe look on.


 The lads are in the process of boarding up the entire area.


Before we continue with the closing up of the railroad, let's take a brief look back at two of our sessions.  Starting with Session #1, all of our odd numbered train sessions were of the Narrow Gauge variety where steam ruled supreme.


Video footage from Session #1.
To engage the video click on the white arrow once and then again a second time.


Beginning with Session #2, all of our even numbered sessions were of the standard gauge variety where diesels ruled the roost!


Video footage from Session #2.
In a future blog entry, I will showcase a brief image and video from each of our 16 sessions!
For new visitors to the blog, you can check the blog archive in the right hand column near the top of the blog entry where you can scroll down through the past months to see entries from each session.
You can even scroll through the years to see sessions from way back in time!


Back to our packing up day last Friday.  Moments before the plywood went up, the many structures were brought to the east end of the railroad.

These puppies will be stacked carefully in a few moments.


Other structures have been gathered momentarily on the work table and near the engine shed.


They will be placed along the terminal area in Craig Leigh to be covered up with plywood.


This is but a fraction of all the buildings.


Moe lugs one of the buildings across the landscape.  Lots of lads & lasses pitched in!


They have been stacked carefully.  Doug follows the action as Marcel lifts another board in place.


Looking good lads!  Sid joins in to lend a hand.


Getting there!


The structures begin to hide for their winter hibernation.


Doug & Marcel have worked hard to bring the canopy down off its infrastructure to be stored in a dry area for the winter.


Marcel's smile brightens our overcast morning!


It's an "open ceiling".


The bar fridge and cabinet go in to the dispatch hut.


Our friend who resides in Wellington Lake at the little depot looks forward to his long winter's nap!


Here's Steve...


...and his lovely wife, Seanna!


We are so blessed to have this dynamic duo in our midst!


Here they are hooking up the pedestrian level crossing signals.


Video of a train traveling through the crossing.


Felicity is dressed for the cooler temps.  She diligently removed the creeping vines from along the fence line off in the distance.


That's a full bucket of vines, Felicity!
Hmmm...any way we can make a salad from them for the crew!


Ralph is all smiles as Bill tells one of his many humorous stories!


Here's Bill's Narrow Gauge shirt.


Moe & Doug look on.


Bernie lines up an end board.


Sid is enjoying the action.


Coming along fellas!


I won't tell you what we were all chuckling about!  Heh heh!


Ralph and Bill lend the lads a hand with the tarp over the plywood.


Marcel takes charge at this end.


We are winter ready!


We're in Fred's shop in the office/garage.


Lots happens here!


Some of the Jigstones buildings have found a home in here.


Cool!


More delicate structures end up in the front of the office.


Sid and Doug discuss their winter plans.


Bernie gives a final clean-up before the snows come.


Marcel and Doug are but some of our early birds who made it out in the wee hours of the morning to get things started along with Bernie and our other Doug.


Fred is happy that the railroad is now safely tucked to bed before the snow flies.


Early birds Doug and Bernie pose for a picture.


I brought out the O-scale model of the Dolbeer Donkey which I have recently built for Doug to show him the model "in person".


I snapped this photograph of a Dolbeer Donkey while out on Vancouver Island.


These donkey engines revolutionized both the logging industry and the steamship industry.  Lumbermen used them to haul heavy logs out from the forest.  The engine would pull the log on a cable.  Then it would attach itself to a tree and use the tree to winch the engine along and the process would start over again.  At shipyards, the donkey engine was used to load the ships.

Seanna & Steve sent me the link below to Great Big Sea's version of the song "Donkey Riding"
Copy and paste the link into your computer's browser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&app=desktop&v=zFxjhK_UKwk

Here are the lyrics to the tune:

Way hey and a way we go donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey and away we go - riding on a donkey

Was you ever in Quebec launching timber on the deck
Where ya break a bleeding neck - riding on a donkey

Way hey and a way we go donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey and away we go - riding on a donkey

Was you ever round Cape Horn where the weathers never warm
Wish to God you'd never been born - riding on a donkey

Way hey and a way we go donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey and away we go - riding on a donkey

Was you ever in Miramichi where you tie up to a tree
Have your girl sit on your knee - riding on a donkey

Way hey and a way we go donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey and away we go - riding on a donkey

Was you ever in Fortune Bay, hear the girls all shout, "Hurray...
...here comes dad with ten month's pay - riding on a donkey

Way hey and a way we go donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey and away we go - riding on a donkey

Was you ever in Fredericton seeing the king - he does come down
See the king in his golden crown - riding on a donkey

Way hey and a way we go donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey and away we go - riding on a donkey

Way hey and a way we go donkey riding, donkey riding
Way hey and away we go - riding on a donkey


Recently Barry hosted some visitors to his railroad.  Here we see him with Nicholas O'Reilly.  Nicholas has asked to be added to our group e-mail list so that he can view what we have going on here in Ottawa as well as what Barry has on the go up in Belleville.  Welcome Nicholas.


Barry encounters similar problems as we do with the fallen leaves and vines landing atop the rails.


We catch a Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo train on the move.


The foliage has already turned colour to match the freight equipment found trackside.


The train is through the trestle on its way to Kamaron City.
Thanks Barry for sending along these great pics!


Another of our newest members, Terry Rowsell, has been filming some rather creative videos on his developing operational layout in Casselman.


Just this past week he posted a new video (among the hundreds he has created) showcasing how he made these wonderful large scale flags.


Looking great, Terry.  Terry also informs me that as his layout continues to evolve with structures and scenery he will soon be available for folks to visit him in Casselman to check it out.  

Copy and paste the link below into your computer's browser to see how Terry made these wonderful flags.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ01Y0Dr_jg


Kris has shared another video of the developments of his HO scale railroad.


He is building the railroad alongside his young son!
Copy and paste the link below to watch a video he has created where he showcases some of the outdoor train running at Fred's place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9p0Xanvbtc


Joan Soehner wrote in with these railfan pics he took at the Mud Lake Trestle.  Here's the story in his own words. 


This was the first time for Charlie to visit the site! 


 After a wet weekend for Thanksgiving 2023, Old Sol tried his best to get the Orb out late Wednesday afternoon.  There had been light monsoon rains "Bolingbroke way" for several days; with Charlie Quinn paying a visit to the cottage, with some videos to view during the light dew that was falling!  


When we got the heads up that CPKC was on the move out of Smiths Falls from The Telegrapher in The Falls and seemingly no Eastbound Trains to meet, we headed to Mud Lake Trestle and walked in from Feldspar parking lot.   


The train had a short delay, but about an hour after leaving The Falls the train eventually rolled through...say 16:10 h!

Thanks for sending along these great pics, John!


This past week at OVAR, John gave us a tremendous presentation entitled "Morant's & Mountains" where we saw plenty of action in western Canada...mainly Alberta with some BC shots.

 John included some 10 shots from MRL (Montana Rail Link) in the former BNSF area from two trips he took with Bob Heathorn of Smiths Falls.  John tells us that Bob has guest presented at AltaMont (Alberta Montana Rail Photographers) at Essex Jct. Montana in 2009 and then they made another jaunt west for Missouri June Floods 2011, up and around Mullen Tunnel.


We find John west of Helena, Montana.


Later, they headed into the Badlands of Dakotas on their return.
Great pics once again, John!


Here is Garry's Gipsy Moth.


Dave Hadfield flew it up to our region recently.

Copy and paste the link below into your computer's browser to see some of the flying action with Dave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DuMHrL3lp4

This has already been shared within our OVGRS group, but we thought viewers from "all over" would appreciate the video footage!


As for me in this off-season it will be back to my model workbench to work on another project for my good friend, Doug Matheson...not unlike the scratchbuilt machine shop I built a while ago.


The machine shop was built in O-scale from scratch for Doug.  The next big project at my workbench will be an O-scale sawmill with that Dolbeer Donkey Engine being the kick-off to the modelling.


Or maybe I'll find time to run some Maine Central traffic on my B&M/MEC HO scale model railroad.


Or perhaps a Boston & Maine train.  
This is the image that appeared on the cover of Model Railroader's annual Great Model Railroads 2004.  
Charls Gendron painted, lettered and detailed this puppy for me!
I brought this RS3 out for display at OVAR this past week.


And...when I'm not running the B&M or the Maine Central, I love to watch my little shortline railroad run across the system painted in Pinsly colours for my St. Clare & Northern.


One thing is for certain...I'll be heading out to our monthly OVAR dinner meetings and I'll be sure to bring along a large scale car from Fred's railroad each month!


We have a great banquet hall with superb quality food and service...plus wonderful guest speakers who cover a broad range of railroad topics and themes!


Or...you may just find me playing in a gig around town throughout the winter season!


On behalf of Father Fred, thanks to all who joined in on the train running this year.  
We enjoyed 16 sessions, eight of the narrow gauge variety and eight standard gauge ones.
Stay safe in the off-season as we look ahead to 2024's outdoor train operations!
All the best, the OVGRS family
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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