Into and Out of the Dark

The previous owners of my house installed a single pot light in what became the layout room. I turn it on occasionally for a bit more illumination.

But the other day I turned it on when all the other lights were off and thought: That might make for a good photo or two.

The results are a bit O. Winston Link-ish, recalling (in a very limited way) that photographer's famous photos of steam locomotives illuminated by flashbulbs. 

Click here to learn more about Link and his unique night-time photography (from the New York Times).

Anyway, it was fun taking and cropping the photos--and now posting them. (Too bad I don't have Photoshop, so I could add headlights.)

"Launching" Into the New Year with the Russian Soyuz Rocket Train

So here's a way to "launch" into the New Year: Russia's Soyuz rocket train.

Called the Baikonur Railway, it is located at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Khazakstan (founded in 1955).

The train is used to transport the rocket--the only vehicle today capable of reaching the space station--from the assembly facility to the launch pad.

Click here to watch a video of the train in operation.

The Cosmodrome is the launch site for Soviet and Russian human spaceflight programs, geostationary satellites launches and scientific missions to the moon and planets.

It was the launch site for some of the world’s major space-related advances, such as Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit the Earth (1957) and the first human in space (Yuri Gagarin, 1961).

The railway also connects the Cosmodrome to the city of Baikonur. 

And on another space-related note, maybe what we need is a train that can boldly go where no train has ever gone before, as in the photo below. The maker of this unique creation is unknown (to me, at least).

Beam me up, Scotty!

Winnipeg's CN Downtown East Yard, Then and Now

I had an occasion to be on the 17th floor of Winnipeg's downtown Fairmont Hotel in fall. I was at a meeting, but I had a hard time paying attention, what with the view of the CN mainline and VIA station to the south.

When the meeting was over, I took a few photos of the scene below the hotel of the former CN East Yard--now known as The Forks.

The history of the East Yard dates back to 1888, when the Northern Pacific & Manitoba Railway was chartered.

The line, which ran south to the U.S. border (connecting with the Northern Pacific), terminated in downtown Winnipeg where the railway built a station, yard and engine facilities.

The East Yard in 1956.

The NP & M was purchased by the Canadian Northern in 1901; that railway became part of Canadian National in 1918. But the East Yard remained, as did the old NP & M engine house, nestled behind the Union Station (built in 1911).

CN built up and enlarged the former NP & M yard, adding freight sheds and team tracks.

After CN built its new SymingtonYard in 1962, the East Yard was relegated to mostly freight and passenger car storage.

A 1970s view.

In the late 1980s the site was converted to a public space, known locally at The Forks.

It is the site of the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights, along with the Forks Market, Children's Museum (located in the old NP & M engine facility), outdoor concert venue and a theatre for young people.

The station, now known as the VIA station, is home to the Winnipeg Railway Museum, which also hosts the Gateway Western, the layout of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club.

From the air in the 1960s.

1915.

A few years ago, when the Museum for Human
Rights was under construction.

Today.

Thoughts on Staging Yards

Upper staging yard on the M & M Sub.

The old adage holds that you can never have enough staging.

In the most recent issue of Great Model Railroads, Sam Powell disputes that. On his Penn Creek Valley layout he has four short staging tracks. He says it's enough for his layout.

The M & M Sub. has 12 staging tracks, each capable of holding a 20-car train. I'm about two tracks short of what I need.

(This is partly due to the removal of two passing tracks when I reduced the size of the layout. They functioned as open staging.)

Lower level staging yard.

One option would be to reduce the size of the fleet. I don't feel a deep need to do that; cars not on the layout are on shelves in the staging room.

At least I'm not adding rolling stock; I stopped most of my buying of model train items a few years ago.

My staging yards operate pretty simply: One train out, another in. The goal of an operating session (which can take days or weeks) is to move trains from the bottom staging yard to the top, and vice versa.

A simple dispatcher's panel that uses magnets to represent trains help me keep track of the traffic.

Best of all, the staging yards are out in the open, in a storage room beside the layout room. This room also contains the dispatcher's panels for all mainline movements.

Looking left, Thunder Bay/Duluth on bottom,
Winnipeg on top.

When mixed freights arrive in Fort Frances, they have cars taken off and added by the yard switcher. Unit trains (coal, intermodal, grain, forest products) just change crews.

Anyway, over the  Christmas break I've been running trains. I completed one session, or cycle, and then set the layout up for a new one. That meant putting locomotives at the heads of trains so they are ready for their next trips.

When that was done, I decided to take a few photos.

Now, if I could just figure out where to put two more staging tracks . . . .

Looking right. The "helix" that connects the
levels is between the two yards.

Click here to read more about staging yards on the M & M Sub.

Doug Tagsold's Terminal of Toledo: Gone!

It’s a Christmas tradition at my house—getting a copy of Great Model Railroads.

The issue is usually available earlier in December, but I avoid sneaking a peek. I don’t want to ruin my Christmas “surprise.”

So it wasn’t until a few days ago that I had a chance to read about Doug Tagsold’s HO scale Terminal of Toledo layout in the most recent GMR. (Featured earlier on this blog here and here.)

I sent Doug a congratulatory e-mail. When he replied, I was surprised to learn that the layout is no more.

That’s right: The Terminal of Toledo is gone. It is being replaced by a new 1/72 scale layout based on the narrow gauge Colorado & Southern.

Doug started the 39 by 39 foot layout in 2010, after moving into a new house. Even then, he says, he knew that the Terminal of Toledo was a “temporary layout to keep me occupied while I decided what Colorado themed layout to do next.”

He expected the Terminal of Toledo layout to last 10 years or so. But then he received an offer to buy it from the Toledo Zoo. 

At first, the Zoo wanted the whole layout, but ended up purchasing only a portion of it for a display. The remainder was sold off piece by piece, with parts of the layout now in places like New Jersey, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

Doug is now working on a layout based on the C&S line up Clear Creek from Denver to Idaho Springs, Georgetown (Georgetown Loop), Silver Plume, Black Hawk, and Central City. 

It will be a double deck layout with 600 ft of mainline, “and enough mountain scenery to work on to keep my busy for many years,” he says.  

The new layout will use HO standard gauge locos and rolling stock as narrow gauge equipment.  

“Some buildings will need to be scratchbuilt, but HO structures work fine in the background,” he says, adding that “1/72 scale is a popular military modelers scale, so vehicles and figures are not an issue.”

Operation on the layout will be by Timetable and Train Orders. 

“I'm sure many modellers think I am nuts, maybe they are right,” he says of the decision to dismantle the Terminal of Toledo. “ But all that matters is that I am enjoying myself, so I continue on.”

As it turns out, Doug and I have something in common—we both like building layouts. (Although Doug’s layouts are way better than my efforts.)

“The layout was basically ‘finished,’ which for me meant time to start planning the next layout,” he says. 

“I love operation, but I guess my first love is designing and building. In my mind I have a list of a dozen or so future model railroads to design and build.”

To build all the layouts in his mind, Doug says he would “need to live to be about 150 years old.” 

But he has come to realize that Colorado railroads “are my favorite, as much for the scenery as for the trains. The next C&S layout will have a tremendous amount of rock carving mountain scenery to keep me busy for many years.”