Putting the Railroad to Bed for the Winter

Bedtime for the Railroad

The temperatures have dropped dramatically since the heat of last week.

Canadian Thanksgiving is in the 'rear view mirror'.

This means that it is time to put the railroad to bed.

I'm all decked out in hat, scarf & gloves...ready to work in the single digit temperatures!

I'm not the only one holding a big stick!

Yes, we have utilized the passenger terminal area at Craig Leigh as a perfect shelf for storage of many of our structures. 

They will require protection from the snows we know are bound to arrive as the snowflakes do every fall and winter!

Let us backtrack a little bit.

Moe snipped all of the plastic strapping which holds the canopy to its supports.

Ralph began delivering various structural elements to the area around Craig Leigh...

...as did Pat...

...Henk...

...and Chris & Robin too!

This is probably somewhere between 5% and 10% of all the structures which have to be dealt with.

George & Malcolm assist with the folding of the canopy...

...along with Skipper Ralph who is all bundled up!

George & Fred are in conversation as Neil checks out the locomotive he has been working on for Bill in the distance.

Indeed...the Scobie Man has his own steamer!

There's Bill now!

Steve will be taking the Watson Electric facility home with him for the winter to create new roofs that deal with the sun better than the originals.

He has the two freight cars out to determine the tolerances for the platform he will build around the Electric Works.

Steve showed me how much the roof 'swayed' as a result of the heat from the sun.

The new roof will be made of thicker material.

He is making use of this trusty gauge to determine the track tolerances.

Here he is using the pencil to make his marks.

I reminded Steve of the K27 steam locomotives that require even wider tolerances so he has taken those locomotives into account as well.

Check out the clips Steve designed to ensure the roofs of the factory would remain in place!

The structure is well braced on the interior...perfect for carrying!

Some of the nicer structures have found a winter hibernation spot in the warmer garage.

So has Fred's tractor...

...and his scooter in back.

Check out this ancient relic of a stepladder!

It continues to serve its purpose even though it could very well be put to rest in a museum!

Neil had arrived to deliver Bill's steam locomotive and Bill is a happy camper!

"Fiddler on the Roof", Moe, is found hard at work between the two storage sheds.

Video of the Moe man at work.

Our standard gauge storage shed can certainly house its fair share of equipment.

That would include rolling stock, structures, ore car bins and our maintenance trolley!

Standard Gauge shed video episode.

"At attention lads!"

Attention video!

Quite the working team!

Working team video effort.

Henk tiptoes through the needles!

Tiptoe video.

As we have just seen in a couple of earlier videos, it was time to get down to business over in Craig Leigh.

Malcolm, Steve & Robin begin handling the power drills.

Here is an aerial view of the proceedings.

Henk delivers another tote box from beneath Bell which will 'over-winter' in the narrow gauge shed.

Indeed, there is a good many of them for sure!

And in the shed they go!

Other structures will surround the tote boxes here well as surrounding the ore bins in the standard gauge shed.

An aerial view of the Northland Ore Dock in Craig Leigh sitting empty with a lone branch hanging down from the tree.

Finally, we place the protective canopy material over top the plywood sections which cover the Craig Leigh terminal area and protect the structures below.

Like sentinels, the lads stand at attention.

Jeff made it out to lend a helping hand.

Photo bomb alert!

Here we see again Henk carrying some of the excess plywood to the back of the sheds.

Once again, check out the millions of pine needles on the ground...considering Pat had cleaned them up just five days earlier!

Can you imagine!

Yes we can!

Bill has tipped the tables for the off season so snow doesn't accumulate atop them.

Here is the same view in...shall we say...quieter times!

For our OVGRS members who attended the OVAR meeting last night, we were surprised to find tables and tables full of the late Bill Crago's magnificent structures...all free for the taking by OVAR members.

Angus oversaw the set-up.

Because I worked closely with Bill & Barry during many Railfair expositions, Angus came up to me and asked me to select my favourite structure before all the crowds arrived.

There were so many to choose from.

I remember sitting beside Bill at an OVAR dinner many years ago when he brought out this scratch built Burlesque House based on one offered by one of the major manufacturers.

This was the structure I selected as it had a smallish footprint.

I really have no more room to house any more structures, but it is nice to have one built from scratch from my late friend.

Some folks managed to receive two structures as the evening wore on and there were still some left over.

There were even some 20 or 30 plates of various sizes...both diesel & steam.

This one shows off a sawmill.

And...for Doug...our finished sawmill was a huge hit at the dinner!

Here we see our very own Bill with Bob Moore examining the diorama.

Bob was particularly interested in Best Sixty Dozer & Hyster Logging Arch.

Our very own OVGRS friends, Mark, Jeff & Robin join Carl and Dave to check out the model.

For Doug...I had to cut up even more lumber scraps to make a couple of sufficient piles ready to be thrown in the boiler!

I even added another character to this particular scene.

A look at the log dump where the crew is operating the Russell Hi-Way Patrol Grader pulled by the oxen.

One last look at the full diorama under the warm lighting on the display table.

Lisa carefully placed a couple of rather large foam pieces in the back of the RAV-4 to cushion any bumps en-route from home to OVAR and back!

Thanks Lisa!

Here's a fun shot of John Soehner, Father Fred, Henk, David Moat & Bill!

Hi Paul & Garry!

Here's Mark & Malcolm!

Love those French steam locomotives!

Christian DesRosiers brought this lovely example out for us to drool over!

I won't share any more display images as Mark & Bernie do so in our newsletter, "The Interchange".

The renowned rail photographer, Bill Linley, gave us our presentation of images around, but not in, Ottawa over the past decades.

He is on the left about to shake hands with Dan who ran the AV equipment in a hybrid manner so folks at home could hear and see the presentation as well.

I purchased this wonderful book from Bill which has images of many places I have visited in the Maritimes.

Well, we have the Craig Leigh engine house all covered up for the winter.

And for Freddie to remember, the shed keys are hanging out in the green room!

Short "Green Room" video footage.

The locomotives will find places on the shelves where they will reside over the winter months.

As for me, I may try to build a snowman resembling this mammoth found a few streets over from me a couple of winters ago but I don't think my puppy, Lilly, would like someone watching her every move all winter long!

Image taken of Lilly & me by Lisa.

And...here we see Pat & Fred in warmer times on one of our Workday Wednesday mornings earlier in this operating season.

Fred has asked me to create a blog entry "every now and then" to help keep the juices flowing over the coming months when the railroad goes down for its long winter nap.

Rest assured, I have plenty of unseen pictures and videos from this past season to keep myself occupied for some time to come.

We are the "Clean-Up Crew" of the OVGRS from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada bidding everyone a safe and healthy seven months until we open up for the 2026 season of train operations!