A Working Visit to Angus Palmer's TH&B "Hamilton Terminal Railways" Currently Under Development
Last week I paid a visit to Angus who lives west of Ottawa in the town of Carp, Ontario.
Angus is an executive member of OVAR (Ottawa Valley Associated Railroaders).
He is currently developing a substantial model railway depicting the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo located in southern Ontario.
He calls his railway, "The Hamilton Terminal Railways".
Keep in mind, there is still much to do on the railway...but a work session with model railroading friends is just as much fun to me as the running of a completed railway!
That's Angus Palmer to the left with Stan Conley to the right.
Yes, this is a double-decked railway!
We see John Mitchell (seated) with Bruce Kerr standing in back.
We are listening in on Angus's most recent developments since the previous work session the week before.
Angus tells us he spends three to four hours working away each day on either the railway itself or on locomotives, rolling stock or structures.
Angus also mentions that he was fortunate enough to acquire a number of structures made by our dear friend, the late Bill Crago...and the flour mill you see to the left is one of many Angus purchased from his estate.
Angus also purchased a great deal of structures and rolling stock from Tom Hood as Tom has shut down his operations after some twenty or more years of running his massive Canadian Northern layout.
I like this scene Angus is creating where the tracks 'pierce' the buildings where trains will eventually travel over the bridge in the distance.
The bridge is placed directly in front of the amazing helix he and friends constructed.
Scenery will eventually mask the helix.
For each work session, Angus prepares a 'to do' list and the 'worker bees' then get to work on their various tasks...often in pairs or alone.
John & I were tasked with taking pink styrofoam and carving it to fit into this triangular area between the helix and the lower section that descends down the far wall of the room.
We didn't have to be 'precise' as final scenery work will look after that issue...although we had to take care not to imprison the various wires leading to the track and the switch machines.
Angus also managed to pick up a number of cars from David Steer as David was moving into a senior's home.
One car was this Michigan Central beauty.
John Mitchell models the New York Central and the Michigan Central so Angus offered John a potential 'swap' of cars should John wish to take this little puppy home with him.
Angus did agree that the car is a little too early for his railway...but he purchased it because...it's a beauty!
Yet another of David's cars which Angus picked up from the sale.
David had tons of Westerfield and Funaro & Camerlengo kits for sale...which he put many hours into their construction, painting, decaling and weathering...including this gorgeous milk car I couldn't pass up!
And...this was David's rendition of this kit!
I have a lovely passenger train residing atop my wainscotting in my crew lounge with a variety of milk cars on the headend.
This particular car I picked up from David via Grant Knowles who spotted it and put it aside for me at a recent flea market.
While not a 'high quality' kit, it still is a lovely specimen for this milk car fan!
Thanks Grant for thinking of me!
Currently I have a variety of some twenty of so milk cars in my collection.
Here is yet another beauty I picked up from the sale of David's items...this Seaboard ventilated boxcar.
While not in my era for my model railroad...nor my location...I still fell in love with its appearance...and just had to have it!
The car is in the care of a Maine Central local on a diorama showcasing the first structure I ever built from scratch.
Angus also purchased this CASO car...yet another line John Mitchell operates on his home layout!
As I look around this developing railroad, Angus tells me that he feels so lucky to have been able to purchase so many of Tom's 'backdrop' style structures...saving him valuable time down the road!
They certainly bring the layout 'to life'!
Yet another huge facility nearby the helix.
Still more structures from Tom's layout.
One portion of a complex...
I spotted this baggage car which ran on John Licharson's SB&LK layout many years ago.
When John moved to Kingston, Ontario, he gave his regular operators each a portion of his famed passenger train.
Angus has a couple more of John's passenger cars from his St. Boniface, Lac des Bois & Kaministiqua Railway including this gorgeous dome car.
Even though I was not a regular at John's due to my teaching commitments I do have one of his chemical cars...seen crossing Stanley Bridge over the Salmon River between the states of Maine and New Hampshire on my model railroad.
Yes, receiving cars from friends for your layout is pure pleasure.
My dear friend, Trevor Marshall, gifted me this car when he switched scales.
He actually began modeling the Boston & Maine RR after he helped me design my railroad!
I recently received this Rideau Valley & Finch hopper at OVAR, gifted to me by Robert Peck.
Thanks Robert!
And...when Allan McLellan visited Ottawa I was able to receive this tank car!
I got to run one of Allan's hopper cars which he brought along as a 'door prize' for OVAR.
When Tony Koester visited my layout I was able to run one of his Alleghany Midland hopper cars as well.
This car was also given out as a door prize at the OVAR dinner when Tony gave his presentation.
It was a great thrill visiting Angus with a few other friends to work on his incredible TH&B layout!
In this video Angus describes how he uses this novel method to throw his turnouts.
When I went higher up to locate the turnout at the end of the video, it was much further down the line...so I missed it! 😎😨😎
I brought along the tower I made for Angus (on the right) along with my Boston & Maine version of the same structure made many years ago.
This is an American Model Builders kit - and with the 'tab & slot' design it is a rather easy build which can be accomplished easily in a single day...providing you allow the paint to dry!
Speaking of paint, Angus researched the colours for TH&B structures and he learned that they followed the same paint scheme as the New York Central with the two tone green along with a darker green roof.
Disregard the lack of clarity of the image...as I want to share this lemon yellow and grey station Angus has temporarily placed at this location.
It is not in the colour scheme for the railroad...so I offered to take it home with me to see what could be done!
Here you see the station already painted alongside the end building which will reside beneath the canopy section which is still in the yellow and grey colours.
You'll note too that the station did not have any roofing material, so I managed to scrounge some Campbell Scale roofing from my 'stash' off the shelves.
To paint the structure I first had to remove all of the remaining windows doors and eaves supports.
I had to scrape off a few areas where glue had bled out from these openings before painting.
As the roofing was progressing I teased Angus with this shot of another great railroad, the B&M taking advantage of the depot for a short while! 😀😁😎😁😀
I had to 'scratch' the divisions between the roofing edges and joints.
It has been my experience over the years that when you wish to add capping to a roof from scratch, it is best to simply fold a larger segment of paper first then run your razor blade along the desired width with a metal ruler as a guide.
This method produces a perfect cap...or the inverse for those tricky joints between two different roof angles where you simply turn the cap upside down!
Then it was time to tackle the canopy section.
The yellow walls will morph into a light sage green with the trim a deeper tone.
I will also repaint the grey canopy supports the same deep green colour.
While I do not have enough shingles to continue along the length of the canopy, I will simply create long strips of roofing material out of black construction paper and adhere them to the roof before painting the darker green colour.
Et voila! The job is done!
I will glue down that one strip that has lifted a tad on the canopy section which you will see in a few more images.
My final task in this project is to repair the baggage cart Angus had found in the same box the structure came from.
This was a simple two minute assignment using Crazy Glue.
But alas...there was no handle for the cart in the box of parts...so...
It was a simple task to scratch one from some left over lumber! Heh heh!
The canopy area effectively doubles the length of the station.
I have addressed that single roofing strip along the canopy as well.
You'll note that there is no station platform at the moment as Angus has it back at his place.
I'm wondering if we want to lengthen the wooden platform and incorporate it beneath the canopy as well and remove the concrete platform there.
(I have not glued the canopy supports and outer building to that platform as of yet...just in case!)
All the while I was having fun with Angus's station and canopy extension I continued my work in another scale...the O scale white wagon you see in the distance.
I have now built some ten or so O scale wagons and buggies...along with their respective 'horsepower' for Doug.
By far, this milk delivery wagon was the most challenging of the bunch.
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