Great Canadian Model Railroad in England

 












There are a lot of great model railways in Great Britain, including some that feature Canadian railways—ones like Chris Round’s Stoney Hill Yard

Although Chris is British, and models British railways in N scale, he developed a fascination for Canadian railways after seeing North American HO scale models.

“It was an eye opener,” he says. “These locomotives were cheap and reliable and much better at slow speed control than almost all British OO gauge.”



Chris watching the action on the layout.

In 1994 he visited some friends in Toronto. Like any other model railroader, he spent time watching trains—at a CP Rail yard, in this case. He decided that was the railway he wanted to model. Says Chris: “I’ve been hooked ever since!”

Like most modelers in the UK, Chris doesn’t have space to build a home large layout. He decided to build a small layout that emphasized switching, with a small yard and industries that were large enough to justify a reasonable amount of traffic.

The result is Stoney Hill Yard, which started out small but has grown to an 8 x 29-foot layout set in southern Ontario in the 1990s.

The layout focuses on CP Rail but includes transfers from CN and NS. Chris operates it using a schedule with switch lists; sessions feature through trains run at regular intervals, with up to four trains stopping to serve local industries. The overall goal is to recreate something of the atmosphere local switching on a Canadian railroad.

Among the scenic features are the industrial buildings, such as Stoney Hill Manufacturing, Lakeside Maple Syrup (how Canadian is that?) and Lakeside Paper. He has also done a lot of detailing of locomotives and rolling stock.

Since there’s no room for Chris to set up the layout at his home, he only operates it 2-3 times a year at shows. The layout can also be exhibited using a smaller footprint; when Chris does that, it is called Stoney Hill West.

Chris isn’t the only modeler in the UK interested in Canadian railways. “It’s not a mainstream interest, but there is a sizeable body of North American-based models and, amongst those, Canadian Pacific is quite popular," he says.

To what does he attribute that interest? "A lot of British people have visited Canada and been on the transcontinental trains, so there is always some general public interest in Canadian models," he says.

Nothing says southern Ontario like GO Transit!

 

Of the layout, Chris says “I am pleased with Stoney Hill Yard. It has turned out to be a rather bigger proposition than originally intended, but I think it has captured some of the atmosphere of railroading in southern Ontario.”

Stoney Hill Yard was featured in Canadian Railway Modeller Train 12, Track 5. More information about it can be found on the Wye Forest Model Railroad Club website.

A video of the layout can be found by clicking here.

A New Video

It's been a while since I made a video of the layout. But last week I got the bug to make another one, this time of the recently-completed scene near Turney, Man. on the upper level.

Originally, the track here curved back into the room along the centre peninsula. When I took down the upper level of the peninsula, the tracks needed to curve out of the layout room into the upper staging yard in the adjacent storage room.

To make this work, I needed to hide the hole where the tracks left the layout--a process which was the subject of a series titled Hiding the Hole.

This video shows some action where the tracks leave the layout to enter the staging yard. It features several freight trains (from different angles), and VIA's The Canadian. (Or, at least, my Con-Cor version of it, which is not at all like the prototype.)

Click here to see the video.

Even More About Self Coupling Air Hoses: Credit Where Credit is Due

A model with working air hoses by David W. Davis from 2002.
Credit Gateway Division NMRA.

Thanks to CSX3305 for pointing out that Cameron Foodikoff of Fairway Park Models is not the inventor of HO scale self coupling air hoses, as I noted in an earlier post; credit for that goes to David W. Davis, who was writing about how he made them back in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

CSX3305 pointed out that that this was noted in an article about David's Davis Junction layout in Great Model Railroads 2001, of which I have a copy. On page 12, in a text box, it is noted that "Dave details his track and rolling stock to a level not often found on operating layouts."

Including in those details is mention of how he made his air hoses from transmission wire with Kadee angle cocks. "Tiny glad hands punched from kitchen magnets allow the hoses to be joined."

It is not indicated whether the hoses coupled automatically, as the ones from Fairway Park Models do, but it seems they were working all the same.

CSX3305 says that David also wrote about his technique in Railmodel Journal, but I don't know which issues it appeared in.

So, to David, my apologies. But it may be safe to say that Cameron is the "inventor" of the first commercial automatic HO scale air hoses; he certainly has taken it a step further, and popularized it in a way that wasn't evident before.

By-the-way, several people have wondered what happens if the cars are reversed: Do the magnets repel each other? The answer is no--something you can check for yourself by going to your fridge and grabbing a couple of magnetized cards, like the ones you get at trade shows.

More on Self Coupling HO Scale Air Hoses: Interview With Inventor Cameron Foodikoff

It's been a busy time for Cameron Foodikoff, owner of Fairway Park Models--and inventor of the awesome new HO scale self coupling air hoses.

"Sorry it took so long," he said about the time it took for him to reply to an e-mail I sent him.

Demand for the air hoses has been "totally overwhelming," he wrote, adding it's " hard to keep up with the demand."

Actually, it's more than hard--his website, which is now up and running, shows that the hoses are sold out. No fear, though--he says that more are on the way.

I asked Cameron how he came up with the idea for the air hoses. "Just thought of it," he said.

He confirmed that they work using magnets, and added that the cars can, indeed, be reversed and the hoses will still work.

What if someone uses a magnet in the tracks to aid with uncoupling? "When coupled together they are not affected, but when uncoupled they are attracted to them [the magnets]," he said.

It's "not a big deal," he added, noting that he tested them on the club layout he belongs to: The Dewdney-Alouette Railway Society in Maple Ridge B.C.

You can learn more about the self coupling air hoses on Cameron's website: www.fairwayparkmodels.com  or on my my previous post.

Hotel Room With a View--and a Model Railroad!

Wouldn't you like to stay here?

So you want to make a reservation at a hotel in Japan. You explore the amenities: Wifi? Check. Breakfast? Check. Pool? Check. Model railroad layout? Check!

Yes, indeed; there are hotels in Japan that offer you all the usual amenities—and a model railroad layout.

One of them is the Washington Hotel, located in Tokyo. It offers a room complete with a layout. You can bring you own trains or rent them from the front desk.

Bring a friend! There are two tracks, so two of you can run trains.

The room isn’t cheap: $265 a night. This isn’t a problem for many, apparently; according to one report, there is a month-long waiting list to rent the room.

Click here to watch a video of the layout in action. Click here to read an article about this hotel room with a layout.

Another hotel with a model railroad room is the Hotel Metropolitan in Nagano.

The hotel is owned by JR East, which operates train services in the eastern part of Japan. The idea to put a layout in a room is part of the chain’s efforts to promote tourism in Nagano.

In addition to operating model trains, guests can watch real trains arrive and depart the Nagano train station, which is right beside the hotel.

As at the Washington Hotel, the room is almost fully booked on weekends, and weekday bookings are also strong.

If you want to stay there, prepare to pay; one night costs $968. If that’s too rich for you, you can also rent it for an hour for $33.

Hotels in Japan aren't only places with train themes; you can find layouts in restaurants and bars, too. More on that in the future.