A Second Look Back at Session #4 From 2023

Session #4 From 2023 Continued

As you will recall, our fourth session of the season took place on July 1st, Canada Day!

We gathered in Fred's backyard to run diesel units on the standard gauge trains.

As always we enjoy the vibrant colours of these little (or rather big) puppies which help to brighten our train operating sessions.

And...Santa Fe #647 does not disappoint as it stands at the ready for its day's work ahead.

The stainless steel takes the limelight on Canada's birthday.

The session is underway and we catch up with Bernie & Pat aboard eastbound Train 302.  They departed Firgrove a while ago and made it through Bell and Wellington Lake before arriving Peter's Pond where the Cedar Rock Branch diverts from the railroad.  Their power is seen sandwiched between two pairings of cars as they switch out the Watson Electric Company siding.

Marcel & Pat are making great time - now on their second run of the morning aboard the Pool Train.  The crew is underway out from Ironwood and will find Spruce in short order.

As the sun continues to rise we take no notice of its ascent in the ever-shaded regions around Craig Leigh.  The Northland Interchange track is full to the brim with traffic heading to locations well beyond Algonquin Park.

Our Douglas Yard Yardmaster Paul has made up the consist for Train 313 which will be 304's crew's second trick of the morning.

Bernie makes an adjustment to the crusher facility up in Cedar Rock as Pat looks on.

The remainder of their train awaits their return as it resides momentarily on the Cedar Rock holding siding back down in Peter's Pond.

In this screenshot we see Gerry returning with the TH&B Geep from the Fallentree Mine area as the ore train has made its appearance known in Nelson Yard.

Gerry has spotted the "ore lifts" on the nearest yard track to expedite the ore train's efforts here.

Meanwhile, RP&M train Rat 61 arrives back in Nelson Yard and has taken a clear alley off in the distance under the care of a duo of F-units.

Nelson Yard video footage demonstrates the variety of action that unfolds here everyday!

Ore is once again on the move eastward bound for the Northland Ore Dock.

We see the power aboard the RP&M train.

The Nelson Yard switcher sure looks handsome in another great looking Canadian livery!

We get a greeting from our comedic dispatcher!  Big grin!  🙈🙉🙊

Departure of ore traffic as captured on video.  Check out the "Rube Goldberg" coupler arrangement between the power and the first car in the consist!  👀 

The large locomotive handles the big curve at Lilly.

Continued video efforts of this magnificent unit train!

Train 304 departed Glen Hammond early in the AM hours.  The crew is nearing the end of its run as they get underway from St. Helens bound for Douglas Yard in Craig Leigh.

We saw this train earlier arrive the big yard at Nelson.  This is Rat 61 having been cleared through the junction.

They pass the depot on final approach to the big yard.

Moments earlier we found RP&M Train 72 making its return run out from Bell bound for Rat Portage.

Mark and Bob (behind the umbrella) confer as to their next moves with the ore train as Doug has uncoupled his power from Rat 61.  Marcel is seen standing beside the dispatch hut as he eyes the trackage ahead of his passenger train - not shown.

Far off to the right beyond Glen Hammond we see Malcolm working 303 on the eastern fringe of Bell.

Doug runs his power over to the turntable.

Now he is positioned and ready to take RP&M Train 73 out from the yard.

Here's Marcel having passed through Glen Hammond and now on his way to Spruce.

Looks like he will meet 301 making its arrival into Nelson Yard.

Seanna looks on as the two crews come together - but do not touch!  😄

With 301 having cleared the switch, Marcel lines the turnout for the main.

In an ongoing procession of trains for the Nelson Yardmasters, 301 powers through and into the yard.  They have been lined up for the arrival/departure track and will disappear shortly with Train 311.

Nelson Yard active video footage.

The parade continues!

RP&M 72 is cleared into the yard.

While the scene appears "heavy" there are still plenty more tracks available for further incoming trains.

We continue with the video work here.

In a very typical scene, we check out 311's departure as it snakes down the ladder and escapes the big yard.

Video evidence of 311's escape!

The Algoma Central unit is "highly thought after" and "highly sought after" by railfans in Canada! 

Steve & Seanna bring this gorgeous locomotive out quite regularly for our standard gauge sessions.

Once past the signal, the aspect goes red.  Dispatch has offered up a green over on the Bellamy main with the understanding that the next train (safely far away) will be cleared through the junction next.

Junction video work.

RP&M 73 gets an assist from the Nelson crew in switching out their facing siding on the way out from Nelson Yard.  

The crew could wait and conduct these moves on their return journey back from Bell.  Then the siding would be trailing!  Perhaps the Nelson crew was looking for "something to do" in a moment of serenity from the busy yard!  😋

Doug & Moe are spotted off in the distance enter Spruce aboard their second run of the day, Train 313.

Dispatcher Scobie looks on as 313 meets Passenger 1.

A quick glance over at Bell.

RP&M traffic in the big yard.

Rat 63 backs out from Nelson Yard.

Robin gets the turnout that will take him into Glen Hammond as Henk looks on.

Arriving Glen Hammond.

Train 322, the crew's third trick of the day readies to depart Peter's Pond.

A "going away" shot of their train.  The appearance of the caboose roof in the lower right of the image tells us that two crews had been working here.

Colourful stock!

Paul relaxes with Fred in the shade offered up by our canopy in the crew lounge.

Doug & Marcel confer on the gravel patio area.

Later in the morning Doug & Moe are found up in Cedar Rock with 323.

Douglas yard continues to evolve throughout the session.

Hey!  Let's check out the famous rust garden!

Some lovely Hosta specimens are in place and growing like mad!

Yet another Hosta along with the "waiting to bud" lilies.

Fred's statue.

Oscar the Grouch rarely grouches when we are running trains nearby!

Another look at the Red Shirts on this very special birthday!

Post-ops the lads and lasses await lunch.

Now, get that cover off the BBQ and get cooking!

In my last blog entry I left you off with some images of my latest build in HO scale - a "backwoods junction station" offered by Laser-Art Structures by Branchline Trains.

I find great joy in placing structures within realistic looking scenes even if they are on a small footprint like a cigar box.

I started out by placing the structures on the box lid and tracing around their footprint and figuring out the positioning of the paved area.

Looking good so far!

I cut a length of old HO track that had been hanging around...code 100, not my desired code for my layout but good enough for the diorama.

An aerial shot.

I then painted the road surface black.

The station platform was not fully level so my good old friends - those heavy metal weights came in handy here!  Note how I painted the grassy area a dark brown colour to delineate it from the paved area.  Typically I paint the grassy areas black as well...but I wanted to show where the division between natural and manmade would occur.  Note the glue holding the trackwork down.

The first coat of grass is down but not cleaned up.  The ballast is in as well.  The Boston & Maine used a light colour ballast from the local rockwork in New England.

My Pan Pastels of grey and a second application of black do a fine job on the roof shingles.

The scene is coming together.

A 3/4 angle shot.

Another aerial (the little mermaid) view!

My overhead lamp offers up a misty appearance.

A lower angle shot.

Same shot in different lighting.

End view.

Thanks for checking in on my latest creation!

Here I am with Lisa in the dining car aboard the westbound Canadian somewhere between Toronto and Vancouver from back in 2005!  What a great experience that was!

Here's something cool.  The brother of my teaching colleague, Beth (from New York) who worked with me for the eight years I taught up in a remote fishing village near the Labrador co-wrote Billy Joel's latest song - his first song release in decades.  

Billy Joel played the tune "Turn the Lights Back On" live at the Grammy's Sunday night.  Beth's brother, Arthur Bacon, collaborated with Bill Joel on the number.  

I have been privileged to play guitar with "Art"  a couple of times when he has travelled up to Ottawa to visit with Beth.  Art was in Rosie O'Donnell's "House Band" when she hosted her daytime talk show many years ago.  He also appeared in a Hugh Grant/Drew Barrymore movie entitled "Music & Lyrics" many years ago.

I hoped you enjoyed my recap of Session #4 from this past operating season.

I'll be sure to share more "unseen" images with you in future blog releases!

All the best, Mike & the entire OVGRS gang

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

 

Workday Wednesday - February 7th

Workday Wednesday - February 7th

Doug has sent me number of images and a detailed report on their recent WDWD session.

The lads gathered across the mighty Ottawa River at Bill's place where they worked in the comfort of his home workshop.

The following words come from Doug.

Another Wednesday found Fred and I in Bill Scobie's RGS shops continuing our work on the Glen Hammond station.  Bill had finished the painting - a picture of the painted walls and windows was previously posted. 

 

Bill kicked off the day's work by gluing 1" by 1" bracing to an end wall.

 Fred was the quality control supervisor.

 

The process was straightforward - glue the bracing to the inside of the two end walls and clamp them while the glue dried.

 

We used a hi tech device (an old mitre box) for cutting the bracing (outside to keep dust out of the shop).

 

Here are the two end walls of the station properly braced and clamped.

 

 The back wall of the station was positioned and after glue was applied to the corner brace on the end wall, it was clamped in place.

 

Here is another view.

 

The second side wall was added and clamped - there are never enough clamps!

 

Next step was to add the top and bottom braces to the back wall.

 

After a break to let glue dry, we began the process of adding the station front and squaring the assembly.  It was a bit tricky as the front is not a continuous wall.  It has an extension for the operator's bay.

 The station was assembled, turned over and in this view, the two main pieces of the front wall have been put in place.

 

At this point, Pat Brennan graced us with his presence.

 

The basic station was now completed sans operator's bay.  Glue was applied to outline the station on the plywood base and screws were put through the bottom bracing to firmly attach station and base.

 

To finish up, the operator's bay was tackled.  Unfortunately, one of the bay sidewalls was incorrectly laid out with the placement of the window opening reversed.  Problems are really opportunities so after a brief discussion on how to proceed, the sidewall was cut and reassembled in the correct orientation - kitbashing with plywood!.

 

Now we have the operator's bay walls glued in place. The front of the bay was added and the assembly clamped to let glue dry.

The day's work was complete.  The windows created by Chris were put back in and the "rafters" laid casually on top while the station posed for the camera. 

Next week...onward to sub-roofing and rafters before the station returns to the IPP&W shop for final roofing and finishing.

Thanks, Doug, for all the above images and captions!

These next few images came from Pat's camera.

Father Fred looks on as Bill & Doug set the clamps in place.

Break time!  Pat wrote, "The guys were sniffing glue... ahem... waiting for the glue to dry."

"Ah-har Maties!" as Fred would be heard saying!

"Clamps, clamps...and more clamps!" as Pat says.

Indeed, clamps of all styles and sizes come in handy as seen in this end shot...

...and in this aerial view!

Pat then wrote,  "I was playing music with my band too, Mike.  And we met Bill Linley at Ottawa train station this afternoon,  after the railway history lunch. Lots of train stuff today and music. What a great day!"  

Fred and Pat are pictured side by side, third and fourth from the right.

Pat's outdoor shot taken at Ottawa's train station in the suburb of Alta Vista.  Thanks for the photos Pat!

These next four shots come from Bill.  Bill tells us,  "After the boys went out the door I am sitting here not wanting to get into some fine modeling so I started looking at the roof - and this is what happened!"

Wow, Bill!  You're making great headway on the "hat" of the station!

Well done laddy!

This will be a landmark structure on the railroad!

As for me, I have taken a short break from my O-scale modeling for Doug.  I brought this HO scale kit down off the shelf.  It is the "Backwoods Junction Station" from Laser-Art Structures by Branchline Trains.

Hey...the colours on the box top are similar to the ones the WDWD crew have used for their larger project!  Cool!

Being a small HO kit I made it my goal to begin the project and end the project on the same day.

All the painting and weathering of the parts took very little time.

I chose to change up the colour combination slightly to the more ubiquitous B&M standard station colours for the period I model - Depot Buff  walls with Maroon trim. 

Tab & slot design made sure the walls would match up.  I did add a bit of bracing on the inside corners.  As with all the craftsman structures I build - I paint both sides of the walls to help prevent warping as best as possible.  I also glued some black construction paper inside as I will not be making an interior for the structure.

The supports for the canopy have to be glued together.

Then it's simply a matter of "fitting the puzzle pieces together" to create the supporting infrastructure.

The roof is glued atop the supports.  I adhered the shingle strips while chatting with Father Fred on the phone which was cradled between my ear and my shoulder...but I managed to get the shingle lengths in place.  Some shingle areas will require a touch up of glue.

The decorative trim is now glued in place.

Job complete!  All in one single modelling day!  Typically when I create larger structures I paint them one day and let the paint dry for 24 hours.  I then brace all the walls and roof sections and allow another 24 hours for the glue to set.  Because this was a smaller project and it used the platform as a further bracing area it was easy to begin and end the project in a single day!

Because the station is a "backwoods junction stop" it is very typical of those smaller depots where farmers would bring their milk trackside rather than to a local creamery.  The train collecting the milk at each stop became known as "The Milk Run" because of its frequent stops.  Funnily enough...even though this train seemed slow to the passengers wanting to get where they were going, it provided an expedient way for farmers to get their milk to market!

Next step...to create a small diorama and use other small structures I have made in the past that rest on my shelves nearby my workbench including these two shacks from Full Steam Ahead.

I'll showcase the steps involved in the creation of this diorama at the end of an upcoming OVGRS blog entry.

Here is the finished diorama which began and ended the following day - yes, another 24 hour project!

The forest in behind is my "cheat" forest which I often place behind my smaller dioramas to provide some context for the scene.  Too much fun!

Pat has granted me permission to mention that he is now recovering from back surgery.  His convalescence period will be three months.  

Pat, that brings us to the middle of May...exactly the time we will be gathering in Fred's backyard to run trains!  We all wish you well with your recovery!  You'll be a new man!!!  😀😎😁

Thanks to Doug, Bill, Pat, Chris & Fred for their contributions to our large scale railroad.  It is a treat for all of us to see the magic they have on the go as they continue their project on the depot they are building for the railroad.

All the best, the WDWD lads of the OVGRS

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada