Garden Railroading: Unseen Views From Early in the 2026 Season

2026 Views From the Early Spring Season

We enjoyed a successful 2026 season here at the OVGRS.

We managed to sneak in 18 sessions this year.

Indeed the weather was in our favour most Saturday mornings!

This blog entry will showcase images that were not used in other entries this season.

The baggage car at the house track in Spruce indicates this session as being of the narrow gauge variety.

It is May 23rd, 2026.

Grant's locomotive is seen using the main to run around his train at Bell on the same morning.

Grant & Phil ran 303 between Glen Hammond & Firgrove on this day.

Some narrow gauge specimens reside on the Ironwood Brick siding at the eastern end of town.

Marcel, Bill & 'observer' Mike ran the passenger service during the first session of the season.

Here I am found aboard Passenger 1 - right hand running through Mercer Siding with a destination of Peter's Pond.

That's Marcel to the right in the white cap.

Al is beside him observing Marcel's train, Passenger 2, out of the picture to the left.

Gerry & Pat are running Rat 61 and have now backed out of Nelson Yard to head into the Glen seeing as my train, Passenger 1, is now departing that location - freeing up space for them.

Trains 1 & 2 had just met moments earlier at the pre-ordained location of Glen Hammond.

Here I am aboard Passenger 1 heading over to Bellamy, then through the junction and on into Mercer Siding...then Peter's Pond.

You can see RP&M Train Rat 61 advancing into the track from where I have just departed.

Meanwhile off to the extreme upper left corner of the image you can just make out the last two passenger cars aboard Marcel's train - Passenger 2.

The train is headed east toward Spruce.

It will first navigate the "Long Reach" which is the longest section of track where no sidings exist.

Dispatcher Doug Matheson had earlier cleared the train to Spruce.

Video of Passenger 1's departure out from Glen Hammond.

Meanwhile Al has joined me aboard Train #1 as we make our entrance known at Firgrove.

The Ralph Yard switcher is busy making up second trick Train 314.

Video of Train #1 on its approach into Firgrove.

The following week, the Ralph Yard switcher takes on a different appearance.

George has brought out his CN endcab diesel.

Work had begun at the Fallentree Mine area...thus the rather Spartan appearance.

Second Trick Train 312 gets all its horses moving - heading railway east.

Gerry is in the righthand seat with Doug M. in the cab with him.

Shooting to the south is always problematic in the morning hours.

That's a better angle facing west.

This string of cars resides on the interchange track at Bell.

Turning to the northeast I am truly able to catch the colours in the equipment here at Glen Hammond and over in Nelson Yard!

It's always great seeing unique liveries along the route of the IPP&W and Marcel's Seaboard System Geep #5000 sure doesn't disappoint!

Pool Train 33 finds daylight at the bend at Lilly.

Check out this AB tandem heading west!

These lovelies belong to Doug Culham who has been assigned to the passenger service today.

Train 33 demonstrates action in this video effort.

Before Doug C. brings Train 33 into Glen Hammond, he must first navigate his way through the Fred Mills Trestle.

Short video work at Goodie's Gulch.

Earlier, Gerry & Doug Matheson arrived the junction aboard eastbound 302.

302 carries the load in this video.

302 enters the big yard at Nelson.

In the audio for this video you can hear Henk & Stu Moxley catching up on old times...as Stu made a surprise visit to the railway.

Train 312 has just departed Nelson Yard and now makes its way east to Spruce.

"Eastward Ho" on "Video"!

This Borden's car indicates we are into a new operating session of the narrow gauge variety.

A quartet of cars reside on the sidings at Anderson.

The power for 302 is busy 'steaming up' for its run eastward.

Pat, Pete & Pat - yes...three operators will run 302.

This Rio Grande yellow & silver car has always been a favourite of railfans.

Pat Brewer's locomotive is spotted in front of the engine house at Craig Leigh.

This locomotive will run the third trick Train 321 later in the morning.

Video of the locomotive backing onto the engine house track.

It's Saturday, June 13th, 2026 and we find Passenger 1 arriving the yard at Spruce.

Depot arrival on time!

A video taken at Spruce.

I will continue this entry with some great J-Train shots from our dear friend, John Soehner.

My captions are formed from John's message my way...and are not relative to the image found above them.

To read John's message within each photo, simply enlarge the image by clicking on it.

You can return to the default look of the page by clicking outside the enlarged image.

John is one of our great railfan photographers here in Ontario.

He has encouraged me to share these images with our OVGRS friends.

John tells me that he typically railfans the freight trains.

John also mentions that the VIA GE "toasters are slated for retirement...

...most likely they will be 'morphing' into razor blades...

...or maybe Toyota bumpers!

Too funny, John!

John is concerned that "with these engines finishing their lives" it is time to share some shots of them!

And great shots they are John!

The VIA J-trains of course are found only in the Toronto Brockville corridor.

For at Brockville the "J" (Joint) Train from Toronto splits...

...with one train continuing on to Montreal...

...and the other portion heading up to Ottawa and then on to Montreal.

Now and then John caught on film a few "emergency westbound J- trains"!

No-o-o...no snow yet!

That's better, John!

In other news...at my workbench I have been spending a good week or so scratchbuilding a horse stable for our Wainwright Shop diorama.

A stable needs a tack rack!

And, of course, a second story hayloft is required.

The simple task of constructing this staircase took the better part of two hours alone!

But...you've gotta have some way of getting up to the hayloft!

A ladder could have sufficed but our stable is a tad more sophisticated! 😎

And you need flooring for the hayloft and railings to protect the workers.

You need hay bales...so a long, broad section of balsa will act as the base...while...

...sawdust saved from a recent sawing job will act as the hay!

Yes, they do look like Rice Krispie Squares...but these ones aren't for eating!

They will adorn the hayloft!

In some stables the loft is above the horse stalls for ease of dumping hay directly below...

...while in other stables the farmer prefers to have the hayloft 'clear' of the horse stalls for improved ventilation for the horses which also lessons the risk of ailments from the staler air from less ventilation.

This photo from earlier on in the build shows the two mangers; one for each stall.

Note the bars atop the stall wall which also aids in ventilation.

Even though this is an O-scale scratchbuilding project, I had some old HO scale railings which I used to create the upper bars.

The tricky aspect of this part of the build was the fact that the railings weren't very long.

For each wall I had to incorporate three lengths of railings which meant carefully cutting the spacing to accommodate the three where they join.

To create the three stall walls took a full evening at the workbench.

In the above image you can see the hay laid all over the stall floor.

A 'must have' tool for use when scratchbuilding any structures is a "square".

Here I am ensuring the second wall is 90 degrees perpendicular to the floor.

Here I am using the square to ensure the stall wall is square to the stable wall.

For the image above I hadn't yet lined the square up against the wall...but I share the image to underline the fact that the square is necessary for scratchbuilding.

(Yes...we all know that even in our own homes not all walls are 'perfectly' square!) 😁