Index and Welcome to the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision

The CP Rail Manitoba and Minnesota Subdivision an HO scale layout which represents CP Rail in the Canadian shield and prairies in the early 1990s.

The double-deck layout is located in a 17 by 21 foot basement room; a helix and staging yards are located in a 5 by 11 foot storage room. All track is code 100, and all switches are by Atlas.

The mainline is about 200 feet in length; it is operated using good ol' DC (Dinosaur Control). Up to four people can operate the layout at one time.

The CP Rail M & M Sub. has appeared in Canadian Railway Modeller, Railroad Model Craftsman (twice) and two Kalmbach books: Designing and Building Multi-Deck Layouts and Model Railroading From Prototype to Layout. Model Railroader has also purchased a short article about the layout; publication date is unknown.

Videos of the layout can be found on YouTube.

The layout was modified in 2010, when two out of three levels on the centre peninsula were taken down. You can find out more about that process here, here and here.

About me: I work in communications and marketing for an international relief and development organization. I am also the very part-time Associate Editor of Canadian Railway Modeller.

I am a member of the Winnipeg, Manitoba Model Railroad Club. In 2005 I helped organize Golden Rails, 2005 in Winnipeg, held in conjunction with the Canadian Association of Railway Modellers (CARM) and the CN and CP SIGs.

The CP Rail M & M Sub. is my second layout; the first, the CP Rail Grimm Valley Subdivision, occupied a 12 by 18 foot room, It was dismantled in 1994 prior to a move to my present house.

John Longhurst, Winnipeg

Index

The Layout

A Tour of the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision, Part 1
Tour Of The CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision, Part 2
CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision Track plan
Train Length on the M & M Sub.
New Power on the M & M Sub.
The World is Flats 
Around the Engine Yard
Rapido Trains CP Rail Angus Vans Arrive
Railfanning at Rushing River: Photos From A Favourite Railfan Spot
Kitbashing the Rico Station, or Cutting Up a Perfectly Good Structure
Modelling the Transition Era on the Manitoba & Minnesota Sub.
CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub. in Railroad Model Craftsman
Overview of the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision
Last Ballast Ceremony?
Choosing A Region, Railway and Era for the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub.
Reality Vs. Plausibility in Model Railroading
Unique Locomotives on the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision
Helper Action on the CP Rail M & M Sub
A Regular Layout By A Regular Modeller
Video: Switching the Yard at Fort Frances
Layout Height, or Remember When You Were a Kid?
Making Water on the M & M Sub.
Easy coal loads from mattress foam
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign—on the layout, that is
CP Rail M & M Sub. Photo Gallery On Flickr
Before And After Views of The Layout
Pull A Tony? (Koester, That Is)
What Are The Chances? (5447 & 5449, The Two Ugliest Units on the Roster at the Head of a Train)
Vestiges of the past on the M & M Sub.
YouTube Layout Photos Posted
Private Owners Train on the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub.
Three Trains at Once: Just Lucky, I Guess
Railfanning the CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub.
Misty Morning (A Lucky Photo)
Tour The Peace River Paper Mill
Tour the Fort Frances Yard
Laying Track
Going, Going, Gone . . . Changes to the CP Rail M & M Sub.
View Outside my Office "Window"
The Helix
Putting the M & M Sub. Back Together Again
A 2012 Video

Tips & Tricks

Unusual Items for your layout
Bridge to Nowhere (or how to make a view block)
The World Isn't Flat (and neither should be our layouts)
Dome Car Index
Facing Up to Fascia
A Working Retaining Wall
Simple Staging Yard Control
Patched
Spilled Grain on top of a Covered Hopper: Something You Don’t See Often
Easy To Make Dispatcher’s Panel
Who Needs A Roof?
Easy And Cheap Pulpwood Cars
Making Water on the M & M Sub.
Easy coal loads from mattress foam
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign—on the layout, that is
Kitbashing the Rico Station, or Cutting Up a Perfectly Good Structure
Making Water On The M & M Sub.
Extreme Weathering
Easy Numberboards For HO Scale Diesels
Simple Wire-Activated Switches
CP Rail # 5447: It Was So Ugly, I Had To Model It
Video Guidelines, Or How To Make a Model Railroad Video
Installing a FRED in a Well Car
Model An Industry that Isn’t There
To Oil, Or Not Oil The Tracks: That is the Question
New Use For Old Cabooses
Model Railroad Tip: Which Glue To Use?
The Land of Nod (Nod-Unders vs. Duckunders)
Styrofoam: Not Just For Making Sandwiches
Stick It To Them (Easy Crowd Control For Layout Tours)

Railfanning & The Prototype

Train Length: How Long Can They Go?
Beauty in Eye of the Beholder: Winnipeg's The Forks
Try Getting Around That Crossing!
Happy Birthday CN Wet Noodle!
Jackson St. Roundhouse (Minnesota)
Watch a Wooden Grain Elevator in Action
Video of CPR in the Rockies in the 1950s
Tracking Down the History of Old VIA Passenger Cars
New Book About Via Rail Published
A place with no Trains
French Fry Capital of the World (and a railway musuem)
Derailment Caught on Video
You Say Bathtub Gondola, I Say Teoli
Prairie Giants
Now That’s A Tight Radius!
Goshen College: Wouldn’t You Like to Study Here?
Dugald: A Fine Prairie Town
Glint Photos
Great Places to Drink Coffee, Eat and Watch Trains
Racing Trains: An Unusual Sight
Steam on The Prairies #1: The Prairie Dog Central
The Friendship Train & Mennonite Central Committee Boxcars
Planes On Trains: The Boeing Shuffle
Railfan Visit to Elkhart, Indiana
Railfanning CPR and CN in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba
Railfanning Norfolk Southern in Southwest Pennsylvania, Part 1
Railfanning CSX in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Part 2
Of Rail Yards & Tourism: A Visit To The Folkston Funnel
How the Railway Came to Winnipeg
Oops! (Photo of a Prototype Derailment)
How Would You Like To Live There? (House by the tracks)

Great Canadian Layouts

Great Canadian Model Railroad in England (Chris Round)
Rich Loveland's CN & CPR in the Thompson River Canyon
Ron Loewen's Fall in Pennsylvania 
Model Railroad Club of Toronto
Dennis Rietze's Layout in a Crawl Space
A Lone Wolf Great Canadian Model Railroad
S Scale Workshop
Arnie Walker's Northland Route
More Northland Route
Rich Chrysler's CNR Hagersville Sub.
Dave Winter's Winter Valley RR
Aberfoyle Junction: A Last Look
Aberfoyle Junction: Video
Central Northern Sub.: End of the Line
Dave Chomyn's Quintette (Othello) Tunels Modules
Mark Dance's Columbia and Western 
Dan Crowley's Yellowhead Pass Division
Miller Creek Forestry Museum
Pierre Dion's CP Rail Quebec Subdivision
More Pierre Dion Quebec Sub. photos
Chris Lyon's Lyon Valley Northern
Bob Winterton's Superior Northern
Patrick Lawson's CP Rail Cascade Subdivision
The Ontario & Eastern
The Waterloo Region Model Railway Club
Helices on the Waterloo Model Railway Club
George Myer's Central Northern Subdivision
More photos from The Central Northern Sub.
London's Lake Erie & International
Roger Traviss' Great Eastern Railway
Tim Warris' Port Kelsey layout
York Railway Modellers
Canada Central
More Canada Central
Brian Elschlepp's B.C. Rail Dawson Creek Subdivision
B.C.'s Thompson River Canyon Down Under
Chaleur & Restigouche
Stafford Swain's CNR Whiteshell Subdivision
The Kicking Horse Pass Layout
The Cougar River Subdivision

Other Layouts & Things

B.C.'s Thompson River Canyon Down Under
Chaleur & Restigouche
CPR Central Northern Subdivision
Play Ball! (Baseball diamond on a layout)
Layout in a Truck Cab
The Waterloo Region Model Railroad Club: A Great Model Railroad
The Kicking Horse Pass Layout: A Great Model Railroad
Twin City Model Railroad Club
An Old Story Often Told: Club Layout Has To Move
Oldest home layouts in Winnipeg
Steam on The Prairies #1: The Prairie Dog Central
Steam on The Prairies #2: Layouts of Winnipeg
Steam on The Prairies #3: Assiniboine Valley Railway
The Cougar River Subdivision—A Great Layout That Is Gone, But Not Forgotten
Two Great N Scale Layouts in Winnipeg
A Visit To the Northern Lights Model Railroad Association in Grand Forks, ND
A Tribute To Stafford Swain
More Tributes to Stafford Swain

General Ruminations & Reflections

100,000 Views
Big Bang Theory, Model Railroading, Autism & Aspergers
The Ghent Altarpiece, Model Railroading and Seeing With the Brain
Death and the Model Railroader
Bowling (and Railroading)Model  Alone
Religion and Model Railroading
A Model Railroader Walks into a Bar . . .
We're No. 1! (Hobby, that is)
Tipping Points in Model Railroading
Death and the Model Railroader III
Gomez Addams: "Why Else Would a Grown Man Play With Trains?"
Top Events of 2000-2010
On Photography (Or, Why Photos Are Both Good and Bad for the Hobby)
The Ghent Altarpiece, Model Railroading and Seeing With the Brain
You Say Bathtub Gondola, I Say Teoli
I’ll Drink to That (Death and the Model Railroader IV)
Operations . . . or Not
Train Show Thoughts 2: How Sad is That?
Train Show Thoughts 1: Has This Ever Happened to You?
Photo: Goodbye Sunday Morning Calm
Tri-ang Trains
Allegheny Midland: Lessons Learned
Model Railroad Lessons Learned #1: Anyone Can Do It
Model Railroad Lessons Learned #2: It Still Takes Work
Model Railroad Lessons Learned #3: Good Enough
Model Railroad Lessons Learned #4: Importance of Locale, Era and Railway
Model Railroad Lessons Learned #5: Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow
Model Railroad Lessons Learned #6: Enjoy Each Stage of the Journey
The Model Railroader Curse?
Layout For Sale: Comes With House
Oldest Home Layouts
Saving Our More Recent Railway Past, and the LRC
NMRA Thousand Lakes Region Convention, May 28-30, Winnipeg, Manitoba
A Fine Train Poem
A New Canadian Railfan Magazine
Central of New Jersey Terminal in New York: One of the Thin Places
What Makes a Model Railroad Great?
100,000 Views Of The CP Rail M & M Sub. On YouTube
Autism and Trains: A Special Connection
Canadians Say "Railway," Americans Say "Railroad." Well, Not Always
Who Needs Model Railroad Magazines?
Remembering My Father On The CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Subdivision
The Recession and Model Railroading
Observations About Model Railroading After 20 Years in the Hobby
Of Tibetan Sand Mandalas And Model Railroading
An interview with Jason Shron of Rapido Trains
The More Things change . . .
Selling Brass, Or The Effect of Time Passing
Families and Model Railroading: A Compromise
Hobbies And Work (Or Why Not To Make Your hobby Your Work)
Steam on The Prairies #1: Prairie Dog Central
Steam on The Prairies #2: Layouts of Winnipeg
Steam on The Prairies #3: Assiniboine Valley Railway
They Saved The LRC

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