Interesting Happenings on Doug's Northland Railroad

Interesting Happenings on Doug's Railroad

Our good friend Doug Matheson has a beautiful outdoor large scale layout on his property located south of Manotick on the Rideau River.

The railroad is set in among the trees in a woodlawn setting.

Recently the railroad was a victim of Mother Nature!  Let's check it out!

Doug's magnificent Northland Railroad located just south of Ottawa is definitely a "Magic Carpet Made of Steel".

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It is a joy for me to bring out my diesel for a good run when the weather allows.

If the mosquitoes become numerous, I have no problems especially if I stand close enough to Doug and Paul...for as you can see in the image, Doug will just swat them away for me...and if that doesn't do the trick for all of them, Paul will simply grab a few of the remaining ones flitting about with his quick tongue!  Hehehe!

Let me draw your attention to a specific area of Doug's glorious layout.

Note the white arrow pointing to the tree standing beside the car shed.

This is a critical area of the layout as Doug uses the shed for storage of rolling stock.

Yes, that tree is a beauty for sure!

Until the day in August of 2017 when the weather was not "permitting".

Strong winds blew the tree over where it found a resting place aside the car shed.

Piercing the side and roof slightly.  As Doug states,  "I removed all the cars to safety and good thing I did, as shortly after, the tree fell crushing a portion of the shed roof.  The tree came to rest against another tree with the branches entangled about 10-12 metres up (approximately 33 - 39 feet).  Our operating season on the Northland RR was effectively ended."

Upon closer examination we note just how severe the situation became.

Doug continues..."The problem of course was how to get it out of that spot.  I lifted the track and cut a big section of the benchwork out to make room to drop the tree and at the same time removed the balance of the car shed.  The benchwork under the car shed was too heavy to move especially with the tree leaning on it so it was left.  The ground froze and snows came ... after a long wait most of the snow was melted leaving bare but frozen ground to support equipment.  My two sons (see second pic below of the tree cutters) were enlisted to do the job.  Murray brought his big 4x4 along with a heavy duty winch.  Don placed a long extension ladder against the tree and the winch cable was wrapped around the trunk of the tree high up.  Then Murray pulled forward with the truck and the tree came down with an enormous crash that shook the ground a bit as it fell.  It landed perfectly in the prepared opening in the benchwork.  The trunk of the tree also landed on the benchwork where the car shed used to sit damaging it but hopefully not beyond repair."

"After the tree was safely on the ground it was bucked for firewood.  With spring coming also comes the big job of rebuilding the benchwork and restoring the trackage in this area.  A bit of luck with weather and some hard work should have the railroad operational for the 2018 season."

Doug's sons...the two handsome tree cutters!

We have every confidence that Doug will have the necessary amendments completed and we will be able to enjoy running trains once again on his magnificent Northland Railroad!

Here's to another season of train ops!

Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada