News From Barry in Belleville

News From Barry in Belleville

I recently received the following e-mail from Barry in Belleville.

"Hi Mike, I have been doing a lot of upgrading and maintenance on my railroad, slowed down by intermittent weather and other issues, in the past two months." 

Thanks for sending this pics along our way Barry!

Barry is happy to welcome the group to his railroad in Belleville on Thursday, August 15th.  

Hopefully we will be able to get a couple of carloads of folks willing to attend.

Our new bird bath fits into its environment beside Moe's Siding very nicely.  Note the track reconfiguration to join up with Rogers (Trista Bypass) Pass.

Soil conditions seem to favour Milkweed plants, and we are beginning to see Monarch butterflies frequenting the area beside Golding Enterprises.

My waterfall developed a leak right at the top so the mountain had to be totally rebuilt.  I took it as an opportunity to make it better and am pretty happy with the result.  You can get a glimpse of the new artificial turf there.  The landscaping for the building is not yet completed.  More to follow on that grass.

There is still a lot of finishing to do in this area.  Installing the turf has been one of the most difficult task I have ever done on the railroad, with the slope towards the mountain causing it to want to drift, and the irregular area.  The step-over to the back of the mountain is yet to be finished.

I brought this new building by Tom Legel when Robin Hornstra and I visited him in Morgantown, PA earlier this month.  We had continued to his place after visiting Roger Ciazza at Live Steamers.

You will notice how the weeds are getting ahead of me all over.  This is another angle on Legel's Storage building.  It is made of concrete wallboard, as was the Hayes Fuels building he made for me two years ago.  The metal roof he bought in a 100' roll at a flea market.

We finally got the sign fastened for Kurt Vollenwyder's Cheese Factory building.  The thin laminate roof started to curl, and I will be fastening this piece of real roofing when I get some grommet for the edges.

The turning "Y" at Cora's Corners has been relocated a couple of feet further away from Ottawa Station and extended a little.

 Another shot of the waterfall.  The 7' Juniper was transplanted from beside "Quinte West" when it was about 10" tall about 5 years ago.  The float valve on the waterfall supply hose has been a wonderful thing.  No more running dry or overflowing - always in the middle of the night.

A profusion of flowers across from Hayes Fuels.  That cedar hedge must love its surroundings, since being planted only about 6 years ago.  

Everything except the Kamaryn City yard has been built or rebuilt this spring, including the third track with Naismith Logistics on it.  You can see the artificial grass that was so difficult to install.  The two passing sidings (Sandra Bypass) were moved a couple of feet closer to Kamaryn City to reduce the amount of artificial turf needed.

The revised "Rose of Sharon" garden was expanded.  Rebuilding Sandra Bypass on the sweeping curve was quite a challenge.  You can also see the complexity of the artificial grass.  The light colour was where the pattern was opposite the rest, due to the need to avoid having to buy another roll.

This is the new "Naismith Logistics" siding.  It provides another passing track parallel to Sandra Bypass.

The approach to Naismith Logistics siding from Cumberland.  

The pictures that follow are taken at "Live Steamers" in Clyde-Marango NY.  Roger Ciazza hosted Robin Hornstra and me.  It is an amazing place.  I can't tell who the two guys are.

This locomotive has been hand-built by that gentleman.  I am watching at the far right of the picture.

That handsome fella - Roger, a super host - might be able to fill in some names. 

I was able to run that gorgeous NYC Hudson for a while. (G Scale).  That afternoon, we left Roger and friends and headed to Morgantown, PA to visit Tom and Gina Legel and see his new garden railroad.

We arrived at dinnertime and were treated to a fantastic salmon and chicken BBQ by Gina.

Looking past the grandchildren's play area you get a glimpse of his amazing garden railroad.

Tom bought a "fixer upper" property and turned it into an amazing place.

There are big live catfish in that pond.  The heron is a decoy to keep other birds of prey away from them.  

Tom has built a phenomenal raised garden just beyond the fish pond.  Now to some pics from Tom's railroad:

Many of the buildings have been handcrafted by Tom for his grand kids.  

They are intricately detailed.

Still some property available in town!

Tom's skills are obvious. 

Robin and I are operating a train each, passing in opposite directions.  In the background you can see the hydroponics greenhouse and another outbuilding.

Passing completed, each train heads to its next destination.

River Crossing - not always dry, I'm sure!

Tom's front yard.

Tom lives very near Reading, PA.  Hence the emphasis on that railroad.

A successful farming operation outside of the village in the background.

At the bottom of the picture are the two tails of a reversing loop.  In the distance, just south of the farm, it appears that some kind of quarry or mining operation is taking shape.

Another branch of the reversing loop circles the mountains.

Three features pictured here.  

1. The copper coloured stones used to be part of a retaining wall along his driveway; 

2. The switch stands are being built for him by someone else and are being installed for most switches on the railroad;  

3.  The viaduct on the left was hand-built of concrete using forms made by Tom himself.

Many of us will remember seeing a viaduct like this on our way to the train shows in York.  Tom has a fully equipped metal working shop and built the bridge himself.  The entire railroad so far has been built since just before COVID.

It looks like a real 1:1 scale picture, doesn't it?  Masterfully taken by Robin.

Tom is showing us his greenhouse.  Those are real lemon and orange trees out front.  You can see their chicken coop in the distance behind.

Another look at the farm.  

Mike, that concludes our set of pictures from my railway and Robin and my trip south in late June.  Back to Live Steamers again...

The marshalling yard.  All the buildings are owned by members of the club for housing their locomotives and rolling stock.

Those rails lead off into the 15 acres of beautiful property, with forests and meadows.

And of course, there are always more tracks to be laid.

And finally, Robin behind me took this picture as we entered the yard after a wonderful trip on the rails.

Oh, one final picture from Tom's: A great shot of two trains meeting.  Robin's train is pulling into the passing siding before I can depart with mine.

In summary, Robin and I had a wonderful trip in just three days, starting with an overnight with Eric and Diane Belusar in Oneida, NY before heading to Live Steamers Saturday morning and then Tom and Gina's place in Morgantown, PA for another overnight.  

We arrived back home Sunday night as it was just getting dark.

BB

Thanks Barry for sharing all these wonderful pictures and stories of your railroad and of the railroads you and Robin visited on your trip south of the border!

All the best, the OVGRS of Ottawa & Belleville, Ontario, Canada