One Million Views

To mark 1 million views on this blog, I thought I’d reflect a bit on the layout that inspired it, and the blog itself.

The CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub. is my second layout. The first layout was the CP Rail Grimm Valley Sub., a freelance layout set in southeastern B.C.

That first layout lasted from 1988-94 in a former house. The 12 by 18 foot around-the-walls model railroad was a test-bed for the current layout.

First layout.

It’s where I made my first mistakes, and learned important things like making sure I had a long yard lead, no #4 turnouts on the mainline, no 18 inch radius curves and keeping grades to 1.5 percent.

Those things are obvious now, but they weren’t so clear to a newbie starting out in the hobby.

The current double-deck layout was started in 1994. It fills a 17 by 21 foot room, with tracks circling the room and on a centre peninsula. A helix in an adjoining storage room links the two levels.

Originally, the centre peninsula was home to three levels of the layout. A few years ago, when the layout was essentially finished, I dismantled the two of the levels in order to have something new to do. (I was bored!)

One thing that takes some people aback about the M & M Sub. is that it is still DC. (Or, as I call it, Dinosaur Control.) 

A total of four trains can be operated at one time, using rotary switches on the yardmaster and dispatcher panels to control the trains.

Four trains can be operated, but that rarely happens. I mostly operate the trains by myself, using a sequence schedule. It can take two days, two weeks or two months to run the schedule, depending on how often I run trains.

In terms of era, the layout is set in the early 1990s. This is a time when my favorite locomotive, the SD40-2, was the most common form of power. 

Setting the layout in that time period also allows me to run a variety of liveries: Multimark, no multimark, Twin Flags and various SOO Line schemes, along with various other kinds of unique paint jobs on CP Rail at that time.

(What’s startling to me, after all these years, is that when I started the layout I was modeling the current scene. Now I am modeling the past!)

Geographically, the layout is a cross between freelance and proto-lance: It is based on the real-life CN (ex-Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific) line from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay and Duluth through Fort Frances, Ontario.

Operationally, the layout is “dark”—no signals. In this, it follows the way prototype CP Rail Weyrburn Sub. in Saskatchewan (another favorite line).  

Scenically, my objective for the layout has never been realism; I’m not a good enough modeller for that! What I have sought to achieve is plausibility, using the C-P-R principle;  I’d like viewers to see the layout and think: That looks believable.

My scenery is almost exclusively made from Styrofoam, as is the upper deck itself. I find Styrofoam easy to work with, and easy to make believable landforms from.

Unlike many, I don’t use anything else for landscaping—no plaster or goop. I just paint it brown or grey and sprinkle on ground foam. It works for me!

One unique scenery technique that I haven’t seen on other layouts is using tree bark for rocks. This technique was featured in Model Railroader in 2014. 

Motive power is constantly being upgraded, but I still have a number of Athearn blue box units to go along with power from Kato, Atlas and Proto 2000. (And soon some SD40-2s from Bowser!)

Rolling stock is also all over the map, with cars from Athearn, Roundhouse/MDC, Accurail, Walthers, TLT—and Tyco, Lionel and other “toy” trains that I have upgraded and improved.

Trees are mostly made from natural weeds and plants like Sedum, Spirea and Yarrow. Ballast is a mix of grey, brown and cinders to match the type of ballast used by the prototype in this area.

The layout has been featured twice in Railroad Model Craftsman, once in Model Railroader, and in Canadian Railway Modeller.

In addition to this blog, I have a YouTube channel with layout and prototype videos. Videos on that channel have been viewed 353,189 times.

Over the past 21 years, the M & M Sub. has given me many hours of enjoyment—both in the layout room, and also through this blog.

In fact, the blog has turned out to be an extension of the hobby for me, giving me a fun and creative outlet.

Since I am by profession an editor and writer, I have also seen the blog more like a magazine than just a place for me to share my reflections and ruminations. 

And one of the more enjoyable aspects of that approach has been sharing the great modelling of others through my Great Canadian Layouts series, and also writing about the prototype.

Anyway, 1 million views is quite a milestone. I don’t know if the blog will be around for 2 million views, but so far it’s been a good experience. Thanks for visiting!

Death and the Model Railroader: R.I.P. Niagara Central Hobbies

When a hobby shop closes, it’s like losing a friend. Even if you haven’t seen that friend for a long time, you still feel the loss.

That’s the way I felt last August when I heard that Niagara Central Hobbies in St. Catharines, Ont. had gone out of business.

Founded in 1947 by the family of Ray Lounsbury and his wife, Marie, Niagara Central Hobbies—known locally simply as “the hobby shop”—was where I developed my interest in and love for model railroading.

Over its history, it had three locations. I started visiting at its second location, on St. Paul St., opened in 1954. That’s where I got my first train stuff as a kid, then later as a teenager: Tri-Ang, then HO, and finally N scale.   

I didn’t have much money as a child; our family was poor. Many times a visit to the hobby shop was just for looking and dreaming. And oh—how I dreamed!

One of my favorite things to do was to watch the trains go around on the little layout in the store. One day, I told myself, I’m going to have a layout like that.

Niagara Central moved to its final location in 1974, two years before I moved away from St. Catharines. I never lived there again. Later, when business or visits to family brought me back, I always made sure to stop at the hobby shop.

For decades, Niagara Central was one of the best train-focused hobby shops in Canada.

It was it well-stocked with locomotives and rolling stock from all scales (although the N scale section was small), and included a large brass collection. There was also a good selection of building kits and detail parts.

The trolley bar.

Best of all, a large area of the store was dedicated to used items; I purchased a lot of pre-owned rolling stock during my many visits over the years.

Staff, being model railroaders themselves, were knowledgeable and friendly (although Ray could be intimidating at times).

At one time, Niagara Central also hosted a model railroad club in an unused apartment above the store.

Why did the store close? The same reason so many others have shut their doors: The Internet. Many (most?) model railroaders today buy online. Local hobby shops simply can’t compete. (Although some say the retirement of Ray contributed to its decline.)

In 2013, I lost my Winnipeg hobby shop when Elmwood Hobby Works closed. That is still terribly sad; whenever I pass by the old store front, I feel a pang of loss.

I feel the same way about the death of Niagara Central Hobbies, even though I don't live in Ontario any more. It contained more than just trains; it also contained so many of my early model railroading memories. 

Fortunately, some of the iconic items associated with the store have been saved by the Niagara Railroad Museum. This includes the ex-CNR baggage cart (that was used to display products), the store’s layout and the replica trolley coffee bar. The Museum hopes to have them ready for display this year.

Maybe the next time I am in St. Catharines I will go see them and re-live old times.

Read another reflection about the closing of Niagara Central by Trevor Marshall. 

Watch a video of the store here. 

Thanks to Ken Jones of the Niagara Railroad Museum for some of the photos.

Coming Up on 1 Million Views

It's in the home stretch now; earlier this week the blog passed 990,000 views. By early to mid-January, it should hit the 1 million mark.

One million! I never would have believed it when I started the blog back in 2009. I created it just for me, as an outlet for my interest in writing and a bit of photography. 

If nobody visited, no problem; I would still have fun.

I started by writing about my layout, but along the way I branched out into the prototype and various other train-related things.

One of the most satisfying has been the Great Canadian Layouts series. I've enjoyed highlighting some of the great modelling of Canadian railways being done by people across Canada and around the world.

The deaths of several modelling friends got me thinking about death and model railroading, leading to another interesting series of posts titled Death and the Model Railroader. I don't know of anyone else writing on that topic!

I also enjoyed writing about photography, and the philosophy behind it; about tips and tricks and, of course, about the Manitoba & Minnesota Sub. itself.

And it's been great to follow along with the start and success of Rapido Trains, and to see all the great new Canadian products come out from other manufacturers.

It was also a pleasure to be associated with Canadian Railway Modeller, and to witness its positive impact on the hobby in Canada.

How long will I keep up with the blog? Good question. The fact it has gone on this long is already unusual; the majority of blogs die after a few months when people tire of writing for them.

I'll keep doing it as long as it's still fun. The nice thing about the blog is that there are no deadlines, no expectations, no rules to keep. It's sort of like a layout, in that regard.

Anyway, I'll keep watching the counter until that magic number rolls around. Thanks to all who helped the blog reach it.

Photo above: VIA's The Canadian somewhere in northern Ontario in 1981. My wife and I rode this train home to Winnipeg from Toronto following our after-wedding in my home town of St. Catharines. 

Club Night at the WMRC

Morgan Turney demonstrates making trees.

How many model railroad clubs are still running today?

What with so many service clubs, churches and other groups seeing declining membership, plus the challenge of finding or keeping space for a layout, I wonder how model railroad clubs are doing.

The Winnipeg Model Railroad Club (WMRC) is soldiering on. Now in its 60th year, the Club continues to meet monthly.

Aaron Woloshyn shows how to make wood hydro poles.

Unlike many other clubs, the WMRC doesn't have a layout. Never has, in fact. (Which is why, some long-timers joke, the Club has managed to stay together for so long--fewer fights!)

Monthly meetings often feature a presentation or two about the prototype or some aspect of the hobby, plus a time for socializing over coffee and a 50-50 draw.

Like many other organizations, the WMRC has seen its membership decline. That's no knock on the leadership; it's just the way things are today. And with the Internet, there's no need to go to meetings regularly to get answers to pressing hobby-related questions.

Ian Plett shows how to install decoders.

Even the library, which once was one of the most important selling points for Club membership, isn't as compelling as it once was. If you want to know how to do DCC wiring or lay track, just Google it.

But there's still something about hanging out with real human beings and having a conversation. And that is what the WMRC continues to offer.

Ron Einarson shows how to
 model with wood.

I must confess that, after over 20 years of dedicated participation, my own attendance has slacked off of late. But I went to the most recent meeting and took these photos. It was the annual Klinic Karnival, where members demonstrate hobby techniques.

So here's to the the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club, and to all the other clubs that are still going. May you have many more years of meetings and success.

Frederik and Gerrit Braun, owners and creators of
Hamburg's Miniatur Wunderland, model WMRC 60th
anniversary T-shirts.

Update From Bowser about the SD40-2, Red Barn, M636 & RS-3

I got the following message from Lee English of Bowser today about the new SD40-2s (and other units).

"The SD40-2s have shipped to us. They should arrive in Montoursville about 1-15-2016."

"I do not have any other news on the SD40-2F yet. It is still in the works but going slowly."

"On the M636, we are running the plastic parts now. We have most done and with the body and deck to go. I just bought another Roboshot injection molding machine so I can keep up with production."

"The RS-3 is coming along slowly. I have the chassis, trucks and a couple of fuel tanks about 90% done. The PGE, CP chop nose and the phase 3 are well along on the body. 

"I have changed my mind and will make the tooling for the RS-3 here in PA.This allows the mold to use a lot of inserts instead of making new sides for every variation."

"I am looking at the SD30 eco too. I am looking for a real one to measure. I will also will need a lot of original photos."

"Non Canadian project: The Alco C415 is 95% designed. It will go to tooling soon."