Death and the Model Railroader VIII: R.I.P. Ken Epp and the Cougar River Subdivision

Ken in the cab of a CPR unit at Portage la Prairie, Man.

Nothing lasts forever—not model railroads, or the people who built them.

In 2009, my brother-in-law, Ken Epp dismantled his HO scale Cougar River Subdivision, due to a planned move to a condo. On Oct. 14, Ken passed away, due to cancer.

The Cougar River Sub. was one of the largest layouts in Winnipeg—maybe the largest at that time. Ken hosted many open houses, and the layout was open for several conventions. It was also featured on local and national TV.

A scene from the Cougar River Sub.

Together, we also organized the annual Winnipeg Model Railroad Club's annual train show, starting in the early 1990s. Our first show was in our church's  basement; thereafter, it was held at a local high school. I worked with Ken on the show until about five years ago, and he let it go three years ago.

Before Ken died, I had a chance to talk with him about his interest in trains. I asked him where that interest came from.

One of Ken's favorite places wa the Skoonka tunnels in
B.C.'s Thompson River Canyon. He modelled it on the
Cougar River Sub.

“Maybe it started when I was a child," he said. "I remember standing up in my crib in Coldwater, Ont. when the 12:30 mail train came along. But how does it grow and take hold? I don’t know. My love for trains just grew somehow.”

Ken never intended to build a huge layout. “I just started and it grew.” Taking it down wasn’t easy. “I took it down slowly, in pieces. It took me three years to tear down the canyon scene.”

Taking down the layout was similar to how Ken approached the end of his life. “Nothing is permanent, including me,” he said. “That is reality of life.”

Ken and me in my layout room, two weeks
before he died.

Looking back, Ken fondly recalled his many train trips on VIA and Amtrak—over 180,000 miles by train in all. (Yes, he kept a record of each and every one.)

His many times taking the train made him a bit of an informal expert, and he frequently found himself telling other passengers about the terrain they were riding through or providing information about railroading in Canada.

His favorite place: In the dome car on
The Canadian.

Ken’s favorite place to ride a train was in the dome car of The Canadian.

“I have to say that sitting in the dome car at night as the train goes across the Canadian Shield, watching the signals get knocked down, seeing the northern lights and the snow on the trees—I don’t know if what heaven is like, but for me, that’s heaven,” he said.

As for me, I was lucky to have a model railroader for a brother-in-law. In fact, my wife joked that I only married her because her brother liked trains. It wasn't true; we only discovered our mutual interest after the wedding. But it was a most fortunate discovery, and we spent many happy hours trackside or working on each other's layouts.

Of his layout itself, it featured at 530-foot loop-to-loop three-level mainline that travelled through the rec room, spare bedroom, small office space, washroom and other basement areas.

Another view of the Skoonka tunnels.

 














Scenically, the layout featured mountain, prairie and Canadian shield scenes, including a concrete snow shed from the Thompson River Canyon.

In terms of era and railway, it featured both CN and CP Rail, with classic CPR maroon and grey running beside CN white, orange and black.

Train lengths were 25-30 cars, and four trains could be run at a time. It took about 25 minutes for a train to run between the lower and upper staging yards.

All train movements were controlled by a dispatcher, who was located in a small specially-built room that featured a seat from a real CN SD40-2; 40 operating signals and radios helped operators move their trains along the line.

In 2004 another friend, David R. Dyck, succumbed to cancer. Ken, Dave and I were church and model railroad friends, and took some railfan trips together. After Dave learned that his cancer was terminal, we took one last railfan trip; the photo below is from that trip. Now both Dave and Ken are gone.

To remember them, I have made special commemorative patched cars carrying their initials, age and date of death.

Rest in Peace, Ken. It's hard to believe you aren't with us any longer.

Find links to videos of the Cougar River Sub. here.

Thompson River Canyon N Scale Layout: Done!

And so it is done—the Thompson River canyon memorial layout is finished.

It took a year to finish both sides. I thought I would get it done quicker but, you know—life.

Actually, I’m sort of sorry it is finished now. Unfinished, it gave me comfort—it was always there, waiting for me to do some work on it.

But with it now done, and my HO layout long done (after tearing down a third of it and starting over), I don’t have any new model railroad projects. I feel undone, to be honest.

But it was a fun project while it lasted. And meaningful, as through the construction I recalled my brother-in-law Ken Epp, who died in 2014.

As I noted in earlier posts about this project, after building a great four-level HO scale layout (the Cougar River Sub.) Ken had downsized and moved to a condo. 

His next goal was to build an N scale version of his favourite railfanning area: The Thompson River canyon.

Unfortunately, cancer took him at age 59 before he could complete that dream. Instead, I received the N scale stuff he had accumulated from his family and built it for him, and in his memory.

It’s not big—just a 2 by 7 on a hollow core door. But I hope it catches the spirit of the canyon that he loved. (And where his ashes are scattered—by the railway tracks—at his request.)

One side of the small layout features the steep, rugged part of the canyon where snow and rock sheds are needed to protect the trains.

The steeper side.

The other side features the less steep and more arid part of the canyon.

The more arid side, with my HO scale
layout in the background.

As I noted in my earlier posts about the most recently-completed part of the layout, I mixed grey, various shades of brown, tan, black and white craft paints to achieve the colourations.

The trick to this kind of believable scenery (as on the other side), is to vary the colours, making sure to blend them together near the edges.

Everything on the layout is extruded Styrofoam or cardstock (for the tunnel portals and rock sheds). This includes the boulders, which are cut to shape.

What it looked like earlier.

To cover holes and cracks, I glued pieces of foliage between the boulders and places where it was too hard to paint near the backdrop (which is just a one-inch piece of Styrofoam spray painted blue). I was careful not to use too much, since this is a dry area.

The ballast is my own special blend of grey, cinders and buff. This prevents it from looking too uniform. I also painted the track brown.

The water is a mix of deep river green and black green—the lighter colour indicating where the river is shallower near the edge. I used matt medium to make it glossy.

And that’s it—a simple but, I hope, convincing representation of an area that was close to Ken’s heart. The completed layout will be formally unveiled at the Sept. 24-25 Manitoba Mega Train show.

For some, it may be too simple: Just a train going around in a loop. But I actually find it very relaxing, sort of like watching fish in an aquarium. 

And it was a lot of fun to build. R.I. P., Ken Epp.

Click here to see all the posts about building this layout, including two videos.

Tony Koester, Multi-Deck Layouts and Me

So I was re-reading a copy of Tony Koester's book Desiging and Building Multi-Deck Model Railraods, when I came across a couple of paragraphs about me.

Well, not about me exactly, but about the Manitoba & Minnesota Sub., and how it (and my late brother-in-law's layout) influenced Tony to build his own multi-deck layout.

Tony was a guest presenter at 2000 during the NMRA Thousand Lakes Region Millennium Express convention in Winnipeg.

During the convention, he visited local layouts—including mine and the Cougar River Subdivision, owned by my brother-in-law Ken Epp.

I don’t remember much of what Tony said during the visit, but I remember he paid me a compliment on my modeling. It meant a lot to me.

What I didn’t realize, until I re-read the book recently, was that his visit also caused him to take a dramatic turn in his own modelling.

In the introduction to the book, Tony wrote that for a long time, he couldn’t see himself “adopting the multi-deck approach to layout design any time soon.”

Then, in 2000, he came to Winnipeg, and got “quite a surprise.”

“During an extensive layout tour, I discovered that every new or newly revised model railroad on the tour had multiple decks! 

"One huge basement layout had at least three decks, in fact, with the upper one above eye level . . . something was clearly in the wind.”

Four levels on Ken Epp's Cougar River Sub.

“The story of what was in the wind is what this book is all about.”

“It’s as much a fascinating story of the recent history of progressive model railroad design as it is a how-to book.”

Three levels on the M & M Sub.

After reading those lines, I wrote Tony about his comments.

“That visit to Canada was indeed an eye-opener,” he replied, adding that Canadians seemed to be starting a trend.

Two levels on the M & M Sub.

As for the book itself, there’s a photo of the M & M Sub. in it. There is also a photo from the layout in another of Tony’s books, Model Railroading from the Prototype to Layout.

One of these days, I want to see Tony’s Third Subdivision of the Nickel Plate Road multi-deck layout, and see him once again in person.

Meantime, I can reflect on my tiny contribution to that great model railroad.

Tony's NPR layout.

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Introducing the N Scale Thompson River Canyon

Just about a year ago, my brother-in-law, Ken Epp, died of cancer. Ken was well known in Winnipeg for his fantastic HO scale Cougar River Sub., a four-level layout featuring scenes from across the prairies and B.C.

Several years ago, Ken dismantled the layout before moving to a condo. After the move, he started collecting N scale trains. His goal was to create a portable version of his favourite railfan location in Canada: The Thompson River Canyon.

Alas, it was not to be. He died last October.

But if Ken can’t build  that layout, I can—in a small way, and in his memory. And that is what I am doing.

My goal is to build a small display layout that features two scenes from the canyon.

One side, the side I am working on now, will feature the steep cliffs and concrete snowsheds that are a hallmark of one part of the canyon.

The other side will show the entrance to the canyon, where the sides aren’t as steep and the tracks are closer down near the river.

The real Thompson River Canyon, and the inspiration
for my simple display layout.

The layout will not try to represent a prototype scene. My goal is to give an impression of the canyon—it will be Thompson River Canyon-like, if you will, or inspired by the real canyon.

In got started in early August, buying a 2 x 7 hollow core door and some 1 inch Styrofoam. At this point, about a month later, the track is laid and the steeper side is mostly roughed in.

Over the next number of posts, I’ll show how I got to this point—and then beyond.

The goal is to have the layout at least half done and on display at the Sept. 26-27 Manitoba Mega Train Show here in Winnipeg.

Ken at the 2014 Mega Train show, a few weeks
before he died.

Why that date and place? That was the last time Ken was out in public before he died. He didn’t have much energy, but he went from table to table and layout to layout saying goodbye to friends.

Through my Thompson River Canyon layout, I can bring him back to the show—in spirit, and in memory.

I invite you to follow along!

Part 2: The Prototype

To view all the posts in this series, click on this Thompson River Canyon label/link. 

Great Canadian Layout: A Last Look at the Cougar River Subdivision

While writing about the Oct. 14 death of my brother-in-law, Ken Epp, and his layout--the cougar River Sub.--I realized that I hadn't ever actually created a post of photos about the layout. Until now, that is; enjoy a tour of the layout, which existed from the mid-1980s until 2009.

The Cougar River Sub. (named after Ken’s cat) was one of the largest layouts in Winnipeg. Started in the mid-1980s, it grew from a single level layout in the back part of Ken’s basement to become a four-level layout that encircled his entire basement.

Ken never intended to build a huge layout. “I just started and it grew,” he told me.

Scenically, the layout featured mountain, prairie and Canadian Shield scenes, including a concrete snow shed inspired by the Skoonka Tunnels in the Thompson River Canyon. It featured trains from both CN and CP Rail, with classic CPR maroon and grey running beside CN white, orange and black.

The mainline was over 500 feet long, and train lengths were 25-30 cars. Four trains could be run at a time on the DC-controlled layout; it took about 25 minutes for a train to run unimpeded between the lower and upper staging yards. 

The lower and upper staging yards and two middle
levels are visible in this scene.

And by upper level staging, I mean upper—the staging yard was suspended about a foot below the ceiling joists in the furnace and laundry room area.

All four levels are in view here, including the
upper level staging just below the ceiling.

All train movements were controlled by a dispatcher, who was located in a small specially-built room that featured a seat from a real CN SD40-2; 40 operating signals and radios helped operators move their trains along the line.

Ken was a musician, so naturally the
layout had to have a bandstand.

The Cougar River Sub. was a great canadian model railroad. It is is gone now, and so is its maker. But both can live on on this blog. And you can find links to videos of the Cougar River Sub. here.

The layout circled the rec. room on two levels.

Another view of the rec. room scenes.

It also went through his son's bedroom.

Ken loved the Thompson River Canyon, and
modelled the Skoonka Tunnels.

Not too many layouts feature a baseball diamond.