Norm Levert's NORD Railway
We are well into the 'off-season' from garden railroading which gives me the chance to visit indoor layouts belonging to friends in our greater Ottawa community.
Yesterday I visited a wonderfully designed model railroad which offered up a wide variety of train operations.
I ran passenger trains, long manifest freights and conducted some heavy industrial switching.
These first few images were taken by Norm himself and sent my way.
Norm has made use of rock molds most effectively and he has captured the red hues of the rock layers found along the route of the railway he runs.
To enlarge the images simply click on them.
To return to the default look of the page click outside them.
Norm's livery for his NORD Railway is based on the Algoma Central and the Erie Lackawanna 'dress' which I find quite handsome as well. 😀😎
A wide variety of Canadian power can be found on the NORD railway.
Indeed, both CN and CP diesel locomotives are at home in this neck of the woods!
While standing in the layout room, trains heading to your left are southbound.
This train has departed Cabonga Junction, which houses the main yard along the route and the crew are about to enter a cavernous tunnel.
Daylight is found further south!
Railfan Mike managed to capture video of the southbound NORD train on its departure out from Cabonga Junction.
To engage the video simply click on the white arrow once and then a second time.
I rather like the appearance of Norm's van which utilizes a favourite Canadian Pacific newsprint logo of his...the encircled tree.
I snapped this shot in the yard at Mattawa...which plays host to active staging activities during an operating session.
This is the active staging area of Mattawa in the crew lounge area.
Normand hand laid all of the turnouts.
Most impressive, I say!
The track diagram shows the active staging area in the outer room as pictured in red.
Norm followed some techniques I used on my B&M/MEC layout where you see some "surround staging" in back at the locations of Murphy Junction and Ouestrie.
He has created special viewing areas where operators can see the progress of their trains in behind the scenery.
As you reach Oustrie, you can see the rooftops of the train's consist moving along above the background scenery.
Before operating sessions Norm sends any newcomers some wonderful diagramed images for reference.
As a former teacher, I appreciate this "homework" as Norm calls it!
In the above image you can spot the staging tracks off to the upper left where trains run behind the background scenery.
The main yard at Cabonga Junction contains three tracks for the NORD Railway and four tracks for the Algonquin Railway.
The Algonquin Railway services a massive pulp and paper mill and its trackage is denoted in green on the main schematic you saw earlier.
The same major yard, this time looking south.
The operators always face west when working these two many yards.
As with our model railways, there always seems to be another project "on the horizon".
Norm cleverly built up "mockups" of the massive Algonquin paper mill in order to demonstrate to visitors during a recent Ottawa model railroad tour how his paper mill will eventually turn out.
He placed an aerial photograph of the proposed mill which is seen to the immediate left the above image.
This gave visitors a very good idea of the possibilities facing Normand in the future construction of the mill.
Working the paper mill proved to be a real treat for me!
Norm's trackwork is highly detailed here at the mill.
The NORD railway does not switch the mill at all...this is the purview of the Algonquin Railway.
As part of the "homework" package, Norm offers this detailed map of the region in which he models.
What follows is Norm's explanation of his reasoning for modeling this area of the country.
The
NORD Rly is an imagineered Canadian resources railway, running North – South
from JAMES BAY and CHIBOGAMEAU, QC to OTTAWA, ON and MONTRÉAL, QC. The four end points result in main lines
forming a pair of "Y"'s; one inverted from the other, joined in the middle by their stem through the
La VÉRANDRY Park QC (About 200 Km north
of Ottawa). The alignment of the NORD
Railway is a combination of lines that were actually built and in use until the
mid 1970s including sections purely 'imagineered'.
From OTTAWA, the NORD Rly goes to MANIWAKI (former Pontiac &
Gatineau / CPR) and then on an imagineered alignment to the main junction of GRAND
REMOUS.
From
MONTRÉAL, the NORD climbs to ST JÉROME and MONT LAURIER, QC (a colonization
railway nicknamed “Le petit train du Nord” – ” CPR and then on to
GRAND REMOUS. GRAND REMOUS is a small
village on the Gatineau River, which flows south to HULL – OTTAWA.
By the
time the various railways are brought together, the investors want a French
company name. In typical Canadian
fashion, they retained one that is both French and English, hence “Le Chemin de
fer NORD Railway” and emblazoned only “NORD” on the rolling stock.
While in the military I
served in Senneterre for two years. The
CN subdivision, or perhaps division HQ is in Senneterre.
Were
I to re-draw the map, I would connect to Senneterre and have running rights to
Barraute, where the Nord crosses CNR.
Let's review the layout schematic once more.
It is shaped like a letter Q, with the tail of the Q going through the wall
into the crew lounge.
The main room is a 'twice around' oval, with over/under crossing.
Most of the outside loop is hidden or semi hidden.
This southbound NORD train is passing by the hotel at Cabonga Junction on Norm's railway.
Lorne Munro from the St. Lawrence Division of the NMRA scratch built the hotel for Norm.
This is the image Normand provided to Lorne as he went about the build.
The hotel is under development at the time this image was taken.
Lorne created a 'schematic' drawing to use as a template while soldering the metal railings which included rather ornate decorative curvature below.
Here is Lorne working very patiently on the railings for the Hotel Cabonga during one of our NMRA workshops.
I managed to capture this image while a train ran below me out of sight.
Indeed, patrons of the Hotel Cabonga can hear the squeal of the wheels throughout the night as the building is located on a bluff above the main rail yard.
A pair of Rail Diesel Cars have arrived the station in Cabonga Jct.
Norm currently has the depot mocked up in cardboard which offers up the idea of the future prospects for this location.
Norm runs a wide variety of equipment on the railway.
Note the billboard 50' plug door boxcar (bottom left corner of the image).
Norm tells me that in late 1970 CN painted four different styles of cars with paint
schemes to show typical contents carried by their cars.
Photo Courtesy of the Trackside Treasure blog created by our good friend in Kingston, Ontario, Eric Gagnon.
Norm went on to explain that the train was part of a
marketing effort to show that CN freight service was an innovative
developer of resources in the Canadian economy, including photos of the
cars in a marketing brochure.
Only one side had the intricate paint scheme, the other was ordinary.
One car was a covered hopper in multi-colour bands and a chemical formula for hexamethylene di-isocyanate,
The boxcar from Norm's layout with the Canadian Papers
banner showcased each Canadian city's newspaper masthead image on the car side. Each banner was
reproduced two feet high. Notice how the modernistic French-language
mastheads near the car door really stand out among
the largely Gothic-lettered mastheads.
There was also an insulated boxcar intended for shipping of foodstuffs with an apple image on the flank.
Finally, there was a refrigerated car with beef
This image courtesy of the Trackside Treasure blog showcases the train in all its glory.
And...the more colourful shot from the rear of the train courtesy of the Trackside Treasure blog.
To learn more about this fascinating train, copy and paste the blog link for Trackside Treasure below into your computer's browser.
https://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com/2015/04/cn-billboard-cars-1971.html
Video of the departing northbound train.
Norm tells me he won this white Canadian Pacific van at Ottawa's Railfair many years ago.
The white vans were known as "Angus Vans" having been built at CP's Angus Shops.
They typically were found in MOW service...but if you like the look of them, hey...why not run them on the tail of one of your manifest trains! 😀😎😀
With its tail end exiting Cabonga Junction, the headend crew find themselves in the 'undecked' area known as Anse aux Grues.
My research tells me that the French term "Anse aux Grues" literally translates "Cove of Cranes" or "Crane Cove" with Cranes being the bird and not the manmade lifting device! 😎
Isle aux Grues is an island; one of 21 in an archipelago of islands located in the St. Lawrence river to the east of Quebec City.
With a small population of 130, it is a tourist destination.
I imagine Norm will have to add a few cranes around the layout at this location!
Hey Norm...you may have to get a few blue herons to match the cranes in your neighbourhood.
This one was found 'fishing' in a nearby stream on my layout!
Or perhaps a few seagulls to fill out the scene!
This train under power by CP is bypassing the paper mill.
Norm's blue tones in the mountains conjure up the notion that they are far off in the distance.
Video footage of the train's progress north.
Once again through Anse aux Grues.
The train will reach staging as it heads under the backdrop.
Norm has a handful of side dump cars for ore.
Northbound video footage.
A southbound NORD train arrives town carrying wood chips.
The yard becomes busier!
Normand removes ties from the rails and spaces them further apart on the secondary line to distinguish it from the main line.
While this amounts to a great deal of effort, the effect is well worth it!
My crewmate for the day...Taegan!
Southbound video work!
The sergeant stripes surely do stand out against any background and this locomotive does not disappoint.
Norm shared these next two images of the Canadian National diesel hauling the ore train.
Unit trains manage to grab this railfan's attention every time!
Norm's Erie Lackawanna endcab switcher is used along the route of the Algonquin Railway.
I used it to switch out the pulp and paper mill.
The myriad tracks make switching fun!
While Norm still has much to do in the way of scenery, what he has accomplished thus far is nothing short of outstanding!
Earlier I had made a run to the pulp and paper mill to work the 50' boxcars.
With tonnage restrictions along this secondary line, I had to make a second trip to set out and lift the cars carrying the various chemicals...thus the shorter train!
Video of my return from the paper mill.
Norm is a masterful modeler and a key member of the St. Lawrence Division of the NMRA here in Ottawa, serving on the executive for many years.
And...here's the man himself!
Thanks Norm for the wonderful visit to your incredible model railroad.
I will create a second blog entry over the next few days showcasing many more pictures and videos from my visit!
We are model railroaders from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada!
