Update: The View Outside My "Office" Window

View from my "office" window.

UPDATE: Since first publishing this in 2011, I have returned to working from home. So now I can be back in my office with the great view of passing trains.

I was visiting the office of a client last month near Toronto. Her office overlooked the CPR mainline. Got to admit—it was tough to keep my mind on our meeting every time I heard that familiar rumble of an approaching train.

It made me think: Wouldn’t it be great to have an office window like that?

In fact, I do have an office window that is like that—sort of. The decision to downsize my layout led to some losses, but also to some gains.

My office . . . .

One of the gains was room for my office in my train room. My desk now sits under part of the layout; as I work I can be pleasantly interrupted by passing trains every two minutes or so on the lower level. (The lower level of the layout is a loop.)

A video of what I see when I look outside my “office” window can be found on my YouTube channel by clicking here. Sit back and enjoy the view!

The Essex Terminal RR Visits the M & M Sub.

The Essex Terminal Railway (ETR) visited the M & M Sub. last month, in the form of ETR GP9 102.

The unit was built by owner Morgan Turney, who dropped by one evening with his grandson from Australia to run some trains.

But before getting to the unit itself, a bit about the ETR.

Incorporated in 1902, the ETR is an Ontario shortline that runs about 35 kilometers from the east side of Windsor to Amherstburg. It interchanges with CN, CP and CSX.

It provides rail services for about 15 customers engaged the lumber, steel, agricultural, scrap metal, alcohol, and liquid petroleum gas sectors, as well as serving a transload facility.

Not the 102, but sister 108.

Morgan became familiar with the ETR when he worked in the area in the mid-1980s. About that time the ETR was updating their locomotives, including the paint scheme.

“This included their new company logo that, for its time, looked very modern and 'sporty' with its 'chopped' nose - a somewhat recent modification for a GMD Geep,” Morgan says.

He took a special shine to ETR 102—it was the last GP9 built (for the ACR, as 172 in 1963) at GMDD's plant in London, Ontario, about 190 kilometers from Windsor.

As a result, Morgan decided to replicate the unique unit. He started with an undecorated Athearn GP9. After lowering the nose, he used an airbrush to prime and then paint the model using Floquil TTX yellow and black paint.

After applying the Highball decals and finishing it off with Dullcote, “I had myself a convincing model of ETR's 102,” he says.

As for the prototype ETR, the railway currently has four units on its roster, but the 102 isn’t among them. It was sold to the Ontario Southland in 2016.

But it lives on with Morgan, and for one night on the M & M Sub.

Great Canadian Model Railroad: Jim Ellis' Spring Creek Valley

I was sad to learn last week of the passing of Jim Ellis of Beamsville, Ont.

Jim, 79, was a well-known modeller in southern Ontario for his great Canadian model railroad, the Spring Creek Valley.

His reputation also carried across the country through his association with the Canadian Association of Railway Modellers (CARM).

The 12 by 35 foot layout, which featured CNR and CPR steam in the 1950s, was not set in any location, but captured the essence of the southern Ontario area.

Scenically, it was set generically in the Niagara escarpment. The trackplan was designed as a bridge route between Niagara Falls and Toronto, with a branch to Owen Sound.

Toronto had a big roundhouse, with 12 stalls, with the roundhouse tracks extending in a complete circle.

Also modelled in the Toronto area was a large yard, complete with a raised street scene at the back of the yards that captures the feeling of Front Street in that city.

The branch to Owen Sound ended in a model of a huge grain elevator and 1950s lake freighter.

A special feature of the layout was Jim's collection of brass CNR and CPR locomotives.

Many of them were modified to represent models that aren't available off the shelf.

In an article in the March-April issue of The Canadian, the newsletter of the Canadian Association of Railway Modellers, it was noted that Jim “has taken great pains not only to accurately detail his engines, but also to accurately detail them for the particular idiosyncrasies of one engine in the series.”

As well, many of Jim’s structures were scratchbuilt or kitbashed to represent actual structures that existed in the area.

This included the CNR Grimsby station (top photo) and Toronto’s Gooderham Worts Distillery.

I never had a chance to meet Jim, or see his layout. But I knew of him, and now I can honour him with this post.

Photos credit to the White River Division, 2016.

A Simple Scene

There was some great modelling at the recent Manitoba Mega Train show in Winnipeg. But of all the modules on the various layouts, this simple scene from the Echo Valley Railroad Guild of Regina jumped out at me.

Why? Because it is simple, uncluttered, unassuming—and unusual.

Why is it unusual? Because you don’t often see a simple scene like this on a modular layout. 

Instead, many of them are busy and cluttered. Many modules are filled with tracks, buildings, vehicles, people, and whatever.

I understand why that happens. When someone doesn’t have a layout, they can be tempted to use every square inch in an effort to maximize the opportunity and the real estate.

But Jeff Betcher, the maker of this scene, didn't do that. He showed a powerful sense of discipline to not fill the space.

In so doing, Jeff also captured the essence of much of the North American right of way.

The fact of the matter is that most of the landscape trains run through is not urban. It's rural.

For much of the way the trains pass, all that can be seen is trees, hills, fields, water. Repeat.

In agricultural areas, it is farms, with acres and acres of crops.

A believable scene like this is not easy to make. A busy urban scene is easier to pull off since the eye is easily distracted by a hundred different items. 

But having just a few things in the scene means everything needs to work much harder to be convincing.

In my opinion, Jeff accomplished that goal. Looking at it, I can imagine myself in rural Canada, waiting on a gravel road for a train to pass.

When it comes to modular layouts, or even our own home layouts, we can all be tempted to fill every inch. 

Not doing that can sometimes be the best way to create a great looking model railroad.