Workday Wednesday September 20th

WDWD September 20th

With our dedicated WDWD crewmate Bernie overseas at the moment, we were most impressed with other volunteers who managed to make it out this morning to help conduct maintenance on the railroad.

With the autumnal equinox falling on September 23, 2023 at 2:50 AM we will officially be in the fall season when we begin running our trains this coming Saturday morning!

The cooler weather is here and it seems the grass and the weeds do not grow as quickly...although soon enough the leaves will be falling from the trees and scattering themselves all along the right of way!

Upon my arrival I meet Pat and Steve in conversation with Father Fred.

They are discussing the inner workings of one of the steam locomotives.

Before I get into the sharing of our WDWD efforts, moments ago I received this image and the e-mail below from fellow OVGRS member, Terry Rowsell, Joel Racine's friend who recently came out to our session and ran trains with me.

You will recall that Terry recently moved back to Ontario and now lives in Casselman, not too far from Ottawa.

He had been living in Victoria, BC before making the move.

Here is Terry's message our way!

Hi Mike, Trains are up and running. There are still boxes to unpack in there as you can see. The ceiling of the garage is 9.5 feet high. The layout has a long interchange track which fictionally connects to a big railway. So from there I can switch cars in and out of the sidings. 

I need two more industrial buildings and a flat facade warehouse for on the wall adjacent to the track which is down right in the picture. 

The loop acts as a passing siding for the loco to get to either end of a railcar. 

The layout is 16 feet by 12.5 feet. The lift out bridge was completed to this rough point today. It needs finishing with a rasp and sander before painting. 

So this is the new Pencross Railway of Eastern Ontario. 

Speaking of Terry(s)...initially I had thought the e-mailabove  had come in from another Terry...our other OVGRS member by the same name...this other Terry who lives across the big pond!

We love Terry and wish he lived on our continent instead.  And speaking of another OVGRS member who we love dearly...how about the lad taking the photo of Terry?

Why...it's our dear friend from the United States, Mr. Bruce Chandler...the originator of Chandler's Sludge!  Yes...Bruce built this amazing facility from scratch and offered it to Father Fred as a gift.  

Bruce, we all get a chuckle each time we "high tail" it up to the end of the Cedar Rock Branch and witness the comings and goings at the Chandler's Sludge Works Factory!  

We don't believe the beverage in Bruce's hand came from the Sludge Works Factory though!  😎😋😎

Fred listens in on Terry's conversation intently.

Here we have three wayward souls - Tac Foley (Terry), Ken Brunt of Brunt's Brewery fame and little old me!

Yes, Terry will agree with me that we all miss Ken so dearly.  Rest assured, he's watching down over us every Saturday morning when the rails of the IPP&W and RP&M come alive once again!

Back to the real Terry who sent along the image of his developments...Terry of the Rowsell clan!  Here he is on the right with Chris on the left.  It's great to have you as part of the group, Terry!

Doug arrived with a structure he wishes to donate to the railroad.

Doug tells us it needs a few minor reparations before it can be placed on the model railroad.

Doug also indicates that many years ago Lawrence had built this for Doug's outdoor garden railroad.

Here's Doug.

Another glance at the structure.  Pat notices the door hiding inside...

 ...so we temporarily hoist it into position.

She's a mighty fine looking structure, Lawrence!

Lawrence offers up the idea of placing it alongside the other structures at Brewer's Barrels.

And...we think it's a brilliant idea!

Indeed, it fits perfectly there!

"Doug" has "dug" up some more of the Jigstones molds at his home.

It's these molds which were used to make most of the stone and brick structures on the layout.

You can pour resin or a mixture "similar to" plaster/concrete inside the molds to create the individual sections.

To make a large structure like the ones found in Craig Leigh and at various other locations around the layout it is a very time-consuming process as it takes a full day for the solutions to cure inside the mold and each mold is good for a small handful of brick or stone.

Here are a few "misfits" made of resin that didn't quite work out.  For the windows, you have to score and remove the area where the glass will be.

Some of the interesting building decorative details are found in this mold.

Looks like a brick mold to me.

How about this door?

Plenty of action here!

Here's Pat and Doug.

The curved decorative area stands out here.

Doug painted and weathered these structures found in Craig Leigh after he had assembled the myriad castings Fred would have had to make throughout the week.

The crew would then gather in the garage/office on Wednesday mornings throughout the offseason to create the structures...a tedious and time-consuming project as mentioned earlier.

Great design work there, Doug!

The Brunt's facility in Craig Leigh.

Another lovely structure.

Love the Scobie building!

Doug also mentioned that once you build up a few layers and glue them one on top of the other, they begin to lose their stability.  To overcome this, the group backed the walls with plywood.  But...then another problem would present itself.  Depending on the "pour" of the wet material, the individual pieces would not cure to the same thickness all the time.  Creativity must have gotten the crew around that issue as well!  Great job all around, Doug!

Doug tells me the roof is made of wood.

I particularly enjoy that patina look the group managed to achieve.

Doug also said that on his railroad he used actual copper foil as the roofing material for his structures and his roofs weathered to this similar appearance just as we have seen on the buildings at parliament. 

Here's Steve with the 44-Tonner Doug Culham had worked on so diligently over the winter.

She runs beautifully...but at the moment she does not "charge" properly.  The group's consensus was that the issue could very well be with a faulty double pole/double throw switch where when you flip it to run - it runs...but when you flip it the other way to charge - nothing happens.  Doug, Lawrence and Steve all indicated that they had encountered faulty DPDT switches over time.  Let's hope that this is all the problem is as it would be nice to see this little feller at work on the railroad once again!

Fred is enjoying the camaraderie of the morning!

Steve, Pat & Doug.

Doug and I do an "inspection walk" around the layout to check on the condition of other structures made a long time ago.  The depot in Glen Hammond has seen happier days although structurally it still stands proud.  Indeed, the roof needs some repair work and the ornate gable end (on the right) has warped slightly.

Doug shows me another cookie cutter ornate gable end which he found in the box.

This one has not warped seeing as it was backed by some wood and then painted that wonderful patina colour.

Aha...what's this little gem doing here?

Of course, wherever there is a little gem we learn that Lawrence is behind its creation!

Looks great Lawrence!

Lawrence likes the look of it here in Blockhouse and we couldn't agree more!  It's a perfect fit!

Lovely!

The blue colour makes it stand out proudly Lawrence!

Lawrence creatively "kitbashed" the single structure using wall sections from three different Pola kits.

An aerial view looking east.

An aerial view looking south.

Passenger trains will continue to make station stops here at Blockhouse.

Outstanding modeling.

Chris takes a break with the other lads.

Discussions abound.

Then...it's back to work time for Chris...

...for Pat...and...

...for little old me!

The Craig Leigh yardmasters will be happy to know that their floor has been swept of debris and they'll have a clean slate once more for Saturday's operations.

Fred dug this puppy up from inside the office/garage somewhere.

Well...we know the perfect home for it!

Indeed the coal trestle.

It's looking right at home!

The Culham Coal Trestle will be visited often now that refurbishments have been made...thanks to Lawrence once again.

I can just see into Lawrence's mind...hmmm....what new structure can we make out of the Jigstones materials this time around.

Hey...it's Chris Vernell!

Chris has brought Fred a wonderful gift!

It's a full box of curved track.  Thank you so much, Chris, for thinking of the OVGRS when you wished to make this donation of track...your gift is greatly appreciated! 

For those of you who do not know Chris, he is one of the leading ambassadors of our great hobby when it comes to sharing railroading with young children and their families. 

 Over the decades he displays a wonderful "Thomas the Tank" railroad at train shows "near and far" which he sets up at a perfect height for the youngsters to enjoy the trains.  

Chris tells me he has a couple more shows lined up in the next little while where he will once again be able to bring pleasure to young families around the region.  

Kudos to you Chris for all you do in this great hobby of ours!

The last three pictures of Chris's remarkable setup were snapped from the front page of OVAR's Interchange from this past June which OVGRS members Mark Christopher and Bernie Goodman co-produce!

Nearer the end of the morning Pat was arriving to pick Fred up to take him to the History Circle.

Fred was taking some of the documents you see above to the group for discussion purposes.

This one appeals to me from a dispatcher's perspective.

Fred also had a binder of information compiled by Ian Wilson on many things railroad related.  This will make an interesting read for sure!

Fred prepares for his History Circle meeting which we know he will enjoy.

Fred is a happy camper as his garage/workshop is looking neater and tidier all the time.  You've put a lot of effort in here, Fred!

On behalf of Fred, we wish to thank the WDWD crew today for their efforts today.  Any maintenance did not seem like work at all when you share the morning with train-loving friends!

In a later blog entry this week we will see more pictures from Grant taken during the National Narrow Gauge Convention that he and our good friend, Bill, attended.

A further posting will showcase more of the train running from this past Saturday's session!

Here's to good weather for this coming Saturday when we meet to run narrow gauge equipment.

All the best, the Workday Wednesday Crew of the OVGRS

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada