Garden Railroading: 2026

Mike's Views From Session #3

Hi folks! I'd like to thank both Pat & Dilip for sharing their pics and vids from our most recent session which you saw in recent blog entries.

What follows are some of the shots I snapped during the same session.

This was the 'narrow-minded' train ops! 😀😁😀

Pat was thrilled to run his recently purchased steam locomotive from Steve McKenzie.

We find his crew underway eastbound out from Bell bound for Wellington Lake.

I would continue to argue that railroading in the steam era was just as colourful as it became in the modern era! 👌

And the characters were as colourful back then as well...

...just as they are today!

Of course, that was "Bill of the Scobie clan" in the previous image...one of our two Nelson Yardmasters.

Bill & Henk have the early 'first trick' trains staged and ready to head out of the yard in the wee hours of the morning.

They label each of the staged trains with a single marker as noted above.

The operating crew arrives Fred's early to set out the traffic.

Here in the town of Stuart there are multiple sidings to keep crews occupied while switching to the west of Bell.

The town of Anderson, located adjacent to the junction offers up two spurs.

Switching here can be a challenge for the RP&M crews as they often have to split their train into two sections to keep the junction clear.

Smart crews place their setouts for Anderson at the front of their train while awaiting clearance out from Rat Portage.

This ensures that their front end stays as far out from the western throat of Nelson Yard as possible.

This town is named after our Craig Leigh Yardmaster, Paul Anderson.

Ralph Yard up in Firgrove isn't simply a series of parallel yard tracks.

Some of the farther tracks are labelled as industries even though there is no room for their physical plant to exist.

This offers the Firgrove crews some interesting switching opportunities between their main role of making up eastbound trains and breaking down westbound arrivals.

The IPP&W is really a 'bridge' route, so cars are meant to travel on to further destinations to the west here at Firgrove and to the east at Craig Leigh.

The Northland Interchange track in Craig Leigh actually sends cars to Doug Matheson's Northland Rwy (on paper only).

The Northland Interchange track is off in the distance along the fence line in this image taken at Craig Leigh.

Here's Doug now...

...along with his Ontario Northland cap - The Northlander.

In this earlier photograph taken from Session #1 we see beyond the locomotive the Northland interchange track that sends cars over to Doug's Northland Rwy.

Video from Session #1 of Passenger 1 departing Craig Leigh, passing alongside Douglas Yard and then the interchange track.

More video of the train departing the eastern terminus of the railway.

Al, Pat & Phil are all smiles pre-ops!

Doug & Pete chat it up after setting out many of the cars for the session.

The pre-ops safety briefing is about to get underway.

The gathering listens in as Father Fred goes over a few safety procedures.

Then it's time to get to our stations.

The radio chatter begins as trains get on the move...including Rat 61.

Video effort just outside my dispatch cabin.

The parade gets underway at 'The Ledges'.

And...a colourful parade it is!

The two Pats and Pete make up the 302/312/322 troika on this day.

302's descent into Bell is captured on video.

302 gets noticed by this camera man upon its arrival into Bell.

Indeed, the railway is a veritable hive of activity!

Arrival video at Bell.

301 has heavy power on this day.

The tail end of 301 has paralleled the Northland Interchange track and will find its way onto the main - heading west to St. Helens in short order.

301's exit from Craig Leigh is found in this video footage.

It is now Passenger 1's crew's turn to get up on the horse!

Engineer Phil 'threads the needle' on departure out from the terminal area.

Soon he will pass Douglas Yard and be out on the high iron.

Passenger 1 will meet a number of way freights en-route as will Passenger 2 heading from the other direction out from Firgrove...with Number 1 now captured on video.

In my chatter with the road crews, Train 304 will actually meet Train 1 before encountering Train 2.

Steve & Seanna's locomotive has escaped its carrying case and will head to the west end of the yard in the Glen to board Train 303.

From my perch in the dispatch booth I spot Malcolm working 304 in the Glen.

301 reaches the siding track at St. Helens.

The train has been given orders to protect itself against the 'soon to be arriving' Passenger 1.

Looking across the shaded valley from St. Helens we spot the Cedar Rock Branch.

The large structure in the background is the Ellens Crusher.

The track leading out over the trestle belongs to the Culham Coal Company.

That's the shorter Vant Aggregates spur in the foreground rising above the lower branch line.

George has brought the short 'hop' down from Firgrove and he will spot the baggage car on the east house track.

George's short hop was seen earlier passing the ore siding up in Firgrove where four loads of ore are awaiting delivery to the Northland Ore Dock far to the east in Craig Leigh.

John has brought Passenger 2 to the junction in this previously viewed image from my last blog entry.

Before making it to his designated meet location with Passenger 1 in the Glen, he must first conduct a station stop at Bellamy after exiting the junction trackage.

Trains 301 & 304 meet in Ironwood.

We see Dilip & Gerry working 301 while Mark & Malcolm have just arrived with 304.

Off in the distance Seanna (with Robin in blue ball cap) are working 303 along the Bell sub with their train out of sight along the fence line at Wellington Lake.

Passenger 2 reaches Wellington Lake in search of the (now gone - but later found) station! 😎😡😎

Train 2 overtakes 302 at Watkins Siding on video.

The crew aboard 304 tackles Clarke Grade located on the 'Long Reach' between Glen Hammond & Spruce.

While it may be uphill all the way into Spruce, the sanders are working just fine and the crew makes a strong go of it!

Here is an upgrade ascent video reel for your viewing pleasure!

And now...for something completely different.

I have already shared a number of images of this Western Canadian Grain Elevator I built for our OVGRS friend Mark Christopher in HO Scale.

It is a Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Grain Elevator.

These structures were nicknamed "Prairie Skyscrapers".

I delivered the structure to our very own Bill Scobie for decaling and he did a fantastic job!

The structure is a Kanamodels kit offering and the decals come from Monashee Laser Engineering...decal set 117A-HO & 117B-HO.

Video showcasing the grain elevator!

Train 304 makes its grand entrance into Ironwood...

...while 301's crew switches out the windmill siding (sans Windmill - but later found)!

Ironwood video fun!

Dilip leans into his uncoupling role at Ironwood as John pulls the passenger train out from Spruce in the background.

304's power has found a shady spot!

The two wayfreights stay safely away from the routing I have set up for the passenger train - along the near track to me.

Much activity is found in this video at Ironwood!

Passenger 2 has taken the routing assigned for its station stop in Ironwood.

Meanwhile, barely a foot or two away...yet miles in perceived distance along the route of the IPP&W, we find Passenger #1 arriving Wellington Lake after tunneling below Mount St. Helens!

The crew holds the main at Watkins Siding as passengers detrain and board at the lakeside resort.

A photo snapped mere moments earlier.

Video work conducted in Wellington Lake.

Train 1 reaches Bell.

The interchange track parallels the main line here.

The meet at Bell between the IPP&W and the RP&M Railways is captured in this video effort.

We welcome our guests, Renata & Joe to the session!

Joe is a good friend of Moe's and it's great that he (a CPR fan) & Renata were able to make it out!

Joe made it over to my dispatch booth for a visit.

He is wearing a cap in honour of Renata's homeland.

Good on you, Joe!

Dara brought out his mallet.

It is still under development, but Dara is proud of this specimen nonetheless.

She'll be a true beauty, Dara!

Here's Dara now!

As Phil was leaving for home I noticed he had another interesting looking item in his stable.

Indeed, a PPJ caboose!

Way to go, Phil!

I was recently gifted back this model I built from a George Sellios FSM kit for my good friend, Professor David Gardner.

Due to health reasons David must move out of his home and his layout that I had been working on with Carl Lindon will be dismantled.

I built some 15 or so Craftsman Structures for David, but I have no room to take them all back so they will go towards Carl's future layout and that of his brother's.

All modelers will recognize with great fondness these "yellow box" kits offered by Fine Scale Miniatures.

It was with great joy that I was able to build this and the other craftsman kits for David.

In total I kept three of the 15 builds.

I brought the structure out to the OVAR June meeting where many other amazing models were on display.

Did I say 'many' other models?

Yessirree, and their owners are very proud of their prized possessions, including the McEwen cars of which one is presented each OVAR season to a member who has made an outstanding contribution to the railroading community here in Ottawa and its surrounding areas.

This year our renowned railfan & author, Ray Farand, was the recipient of the award.

Here is an image of the cover of Ray's first book on trains of the Ottawa Valley.

And...his second book offering on the same subject.

My daughter Karen teaches at Nepean High School.

She organized the "Doors Open Ottawa" tour of her high school.

Many students volunteered two Sundays ago when the event took place and they expected somewhere between 150 - 200 visitors on the day.

By the time the first hour was done, they had already toured 100 people throughout the hallways and classrooms of the school!

Nearly 450 visitors took advantage of the tour!

On display were vintage photographs of the various sports teams and club members.

I was a member of some teams in high school but we didn't wear this attire!

The cafeteria from days of old!

Our Canadian readers of the blog may recognize this alumnus of Nepean High...whether you agree with his points of view or not...he certainly has made a name for himself!