The Abandonment of Doug's Northland RR

The Abandonment of Doug's Northland RR 

Recently Doug sent me a very sad message with regard to his wonderful Northland Railway.

Doug, we are all thinking of you, my friend!

The remaining text and images in this blog entry come from Doug himself.

The Canada Day storm was the final blow from Mother Nature that has led to the abandonment of the Northland RR.

The Northland was begun in 2003 and tracklaying on the main line was completed by 2006. 

Operations began almost immediately and continued uninterrupted until 2018.

Here is the entryway to the Northland and Rosseau station as it was in 2008. 

Main line was operational and gardens planted.

Live steam was frequently run. 

In this 2009 photo, the late Ralph Dipple operates his live steam shay.

(Ralph Yard in Firgrove is named after this fine gentleman who is no longer with us.)

The Northland featured two car sheds for storing cars in an easily accessible way. 

These sheds were serviced by LGB 5 way sector plates as shown in this scene from 2011.

That same year 2011, the Northland suffered its first blow from the weather. 

Fortunately, it was minor and the railroad continued with only a short break for clearing the tree.

Meanwhile the gardens grew and began to take on their final form.

The Northland normally hosted one day of the event known as the "American Invasion".

What follows are a few pics from Invasions over the years.

Bruce Chandler and I each scratchbuilt a model of the Tweetsie parlour car The Azelia. 

Here Bruce shows off his nicely built car.

Gaetan Charette poses with a train at the return loop.

The Invaders relax on the patio in front of Rosseau Station.

 In the forefront, Jan Golding chats with Ken Brunt.

In 2017, the Northland hosted a layout visit from the St Lawrence Division of the NMRA. 

Pete Conroy was in town from Wolfville Nova Scotia.

 Pete and Mike Hamer helped me run trains and chat with visitors. 

In the photo, Pete lifts a string of cars from a car shed with a CN SD70. 

That same car shed did not survive another year!

But Mother Nature was lurking in the background. 

In 2018, a large tree started to lean against one of the car sheds. 

The stored cars were removed and a couple of weeks later, the tree fell...crushing the shed. 

That event brought on the abandonment of the return loop and the removal of the car shed.

Operating a garden railroad in the shade of trees is very pleasant but it does have its hazards. 

Every year since 2018 brought additional problems. 

Between winter ice storms and summer t-storms, downed trees became a regular occurrence.

Here is an example of damage after a summer thunderstorm.

 Removal of the broken tree is essential for safety but is challenging to do without damaging the track.

This year, the Canada Day storm affected several trees in the interior of the railroad. 

Their removal is very difficult if the track is not to be damaged.

This is another example of one of several problems from the Canada Day storm. 

That broken branch is caught on branches of a pine tree up fairly high.

Rosseau Station, built in 2005 from Jigstones, is now a scale 90 years old (if we use the square root of the scale as a time corrector!). 

Last winter it was uncovered for most of the season and the Jigstones suffered some damage. 

The Canada Day storm with its high winds and torrential rains finished the job – the station is now condemned and will be demolished.

The task of lifting the track was begun. 

Rails across the 16 ft deck girder bridge have been lifted as well as the turnout to the Rosseau station track and the main line track through Rosseau.

The plan at this time is to complete lifting the track by the end of the summer. 

Some of the elevated roadbed will also be removed but the gardens will remain.

Here is the man himself, Mr. Doug Matheson.

Doug is a pragmatic fellow...but this sad news of his layout is difficult to swallow.

Doug, I have operated on your wonderful Northland Railroad a number of times.

I was always impressed with the flow of the track lines and how the railroad married perfectly with the gorgeous woodlawn setting you created. 

Look for another blog entry in the future with images from the past of Doug's magnificent Northland Railroad.

We are the OVGRS of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Pics From Bernie & Dilip From Session #6

Bernie's & Dilip's Pics From Session #6

Bernie worked the RP&M Railway with Al yesterday which kept the two of them firmly planted on the western front of the property where there is less variety of scenes.

Dilip ran the IPP&W with Doug and was rather busy with operations - thus we have images from him mainly of the setout of equipment before the session got underway.

Nonetheless, these are great pics for our broader audience across the planet to view - and they are greatly appreciated.

We average between 1000 - 1500 blog views daily which offers a glimpse into the popularity of large scale train 'operations'!

While my explanation of locations and trains may be 'old hat' to our regular attendees, they are greatly appreciated by our larger global audience across many countries of the world!

Since our session took place on July 4th, 2026...on behalf of our greater OVGRS family I would like to wish all of our American viewers all the best on this, their country's 250th Birthday!

Here's to 250 more!

We'll begin with Bernie's images.

Nelson Yard finds two RP&M trains awaiting clearance to depart the yard.

The CP locomotive is in care of Train 61 nicknamed 'Rat 61'-  as it will head over to Rat Portage and turn back to the main yard area having conducted work at Anderson en-route both ways.

Their train will back out of Nelson Yard in order to 'forward' itself into Glen Hammond.

The TH&B diesel will run its consist to Rat Portage as Train 71 and then up to Bell/Stuart before returning as RP&M 72.

Henk has the yard organized with his co-partner Bill - so Henk can confidently take a seat and look out over the big yard spread out before him.

And...here is his colleague Bill - ensuring all cars are on their correct trains.

Bernie manages to snag a picture of Pat snagging a picture of the yard happenings!

Pat will run 303 out from Glen Hammond in a westward direction in short order with his crewmate...the other Pat!

Much later in the AM hours, Bernie has found Grant & Malcolm aboard their third trick train; IPP&W Train 322 at Bell.

In the distance we spot RP&M Train 73 working the town of Stuart.

Bernie's final pic is of Pat flipping the burgers!

Thanks for these great photos Bernie!

These next dozen images come from Dilip and are mainly of the 'pre-ops' category as equipment is being set out by the crews.

Bernie & Doug have placed cars in Bell & Glen Hammond to the left of the image while Grant, Al, Malcolm, Bill & Henk deal with the cars in Nelson Yard.

Garry is wearing a sensible hat - if one is to be in the sun for long periods of time.

George is observing Bob as he sets out the ore cars in Ralph Yard.

That's Rat Portage to the right hugging Fred's foundation.

Henk gets his stretching in as he leans down to rail a car at the Lyon Supply spur in Anderson.

More ore cars can be seen across the way residing along the ore spur to the east of Firgrove.

The cars have been set out and its time for the short pre-ops briefing.

We have a decent crowd of some 20+ operators on this day!

The industry in the foreground is the cooperage known as Brewer's Barrels located in the lower Peter's Pond neighbourhood.

The ops have begun and Steve & Seanna have reached the town of Spruce aboard eastbound Train 304.

Malcolm & Grant have made their way into Ironwood aboard westbound Train 301.

Dilip has found me videoing the action around Glen Hammond and Nelson Yard.

That's the dispatcher's cabin in behind which looks directly over the four tracks in the Glen.

Nelson Yard looks pretty clean at the moment as Bill studies his paperwork.

Garry & Chris have arrived Glen Hammond aboard Pool Train 33.

They have some setouts and lifts to conduct on the house track there.

I am busy videoing their efforts while Doug mans the dispatch booth.

Bill has found some shade at Anderson.

The big curve is the loop around Lilly.

Bill is looking out over the long peninsula here thinking about all of the hard work we still have to do during our next Workday Wednesday session in this area of the railroad!

Gerry & Phil are found down in Rat Portage aboard their third trick RP&M Train 74.

 George looks on from his seat at the far end of what appears to be an empty Ralph Yard as we are nearing the end of the session.

They continue with their efforts here.

Paul was seen much earlier setting out traffic up in Craig Leigh.

Thanks Dilip for these great looking images!

I'll add a few pics that I took from the session.

Because I had to leave early I chose to sign up as an 'observer' and take pics and videos for the blog.

Due to the large turnout of operators I always took care to stay out of the way of the operations.

I even encouraged folks to walk in front of my camera as I was filming videos as I didn't want my video work to hold any crew member up in traversing the territory where they were switching.

We spot the crew aboard 302 dealing with Brunt's Brewery at Bell with the industries in the town of Stuart in the foreground.

Doug's OCR unit was a recent purchase from our good friend Steve McKenzie.

Ralph Yard is filled with traffic ready to head east along the IPP&W and west along a different Canadian road.

We have this closer look at the traffic in the big yard at Firgrove.

Once Henk & Bill get the early trains on the roll out from Nelson Yard, there is some respite before the onslaught of Trains 301 and 302 arriving along with the ore train.

Indeed, time to rest for these hard working gentlemen!

The two Doug's and I arrived early enough to get all of the trays of cars over to Nelson Yard for these two handsome lads to spray out across their vast expanse of rail!

Another T-shirt shot means...

...Mr. Scobie is nearby!

And...you've just got to check out his hat.

Yes, Mr. Bill traveled to New Zealand for this air show...and then again a few years later!

Malcolm brought along his Conrail unit which we spot nearby the interchange track for Doug's Northland Railway.

Ore has reached Peter's Pond and has taken to a siding as Bob has had to switch out his power from his CP unit to this lovely CN cab.

Train 303 has arrived Bell.

This is Pat's prized endcab he purchased a year or so ago.

She's a beauty, Pat!

And...Pat's a beauty himself!

So say the ladies!  😎😃😁😄😎

Check out the variety of equipment found in all locations of the railway - this image captured at Bell.

Here is a perfect example of the double ladder which Henk had requested being built a few years back coming in very handy.

The IPP&W crew to the left aboard 303 are riding along the IPP&W ladder while the RP&M crew to the right aboard Train 71 have just arrived the town of Stuart following their work down in Rat Portage - taking to the RP&M ladder.

A more elevated view shows the twin ladders at work...with the train movements causing the slight blur to the image along with my hand movements!  

Yikes!  👀

The ore train arrives Bell from Firgrove as the RP&M crew continues their work at Stuart.

The power from both roads is captured in this overhead image at Bell.

We check out the video at a very "Busy Bell"!

303's crew confers with dispatcher Doug outside his cabin as to the best routing into Bell.

Ore heads east while general manifest comes west.

A low angle view snipped from the next video showcases Pat's locomotive on the move.

We catch the tail end of both trains.

303 has taken Track 3 at Bell while ore glides atop the main line heading down to Watkins Siding.

Entrance and exit video work at the eastern end of Bell.

RP&M conductor/brakeman Al works the town of Stuart with Bernie in the cab...

...while over on IPP&W rails Pat & Pat work the interchange track.

Continued video work at Bell & Stuart.

We continue with our 'watch' over the proceedings at the east end of Bell.

Indeed, there is plenty of action here to keep this railfan busy all morning long!

More colourful cars in the yard.

Did I just mention colour!  👍👍

Final video action at Bell for this blog entry!

Our area just suffered a terrible storm on Canada Day, July 1st.

This tree was just one of many that fell to the ground following either lightning strikes or ferocious winds where the fully leafed tree branches acted as 'sails' to bring the trees down.

This is two streets over from my home in Alta Vista.

Two huge trees went down on this street alone and two more on adjacent streets.

Fortunately there were no injuries or loss of life.

And I didn't mention the terrible flooding of basements to hundreds and hundreds of homes in the west end of the city!

Now we understand why insurance premiums are climbing while trees are falling!

This will be a shorter blog entry for now seeing as I've got to spend time putting together the OVAR Power Point presentation for September when we will be celebrating OVAR's 65th anniversary.

There is quite a lot of research that must go into the evening's presentation.

That's it from me for now.

Lisa & Mike circa 1980.

Thanks to Fred for hosting such a fine Saturday morning's worth of train running!

And...thanks to Bernie & Dilip for sending along their photographic contributions for this entry.

We hope that this coming Saturday's weather offers up an equally nice morning!

We are the OVGRS of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada