Modelling Maine Railroads

I promised in my last posting to post some pictures of the recent progress on my layout. At this point, I've given most of the layout a basic coat of scenery, with the exception of a few of the team tracks themselves. Also, I have yet to build the brick warehouse/office type building that will inhabit one end of the layout. At this point, though, it seems that it may be a while before any more progress occurs, due to circumstances beyond my control. Anyway, the scenery that I have completed was mostly finished this August, but I haven't got around to posting until now. I may end up redoing part of the scenery, as I've found vintage  aerial photographs  of the area from the period I'm modelling, which show the CP main much closer to the team tracks than I originally thought. These photos come from the excellent  City of Toronto Archives online collection  which I've recently become aware of - providing a fun way to spend a few evenings.  The whole layout...

Sorry that I haven't posted in a long time, so here's a video of some operations on my layout. There is no sound, and the video is short - but trains are moving and you can see some of the scenery that I've completed on the layout. This is posted on youtube - you can probably view the video in a larger format there. Also, if for some reason you can't see the video on the blog post, here is the link to watch it directly on youtube:  https://youtu.be/GYr-ned2Ez0 I'll try to post some photos of the progress on the layout over this weekend.

The left hand section of my new layout depicts the modelled industrial spur running parallel to the CP main, and on the plan I pencilled in a small railway-owned storage shed to add some visual interest to the scene. The shed wasn't based on any particular building, but instead was to be a sort of combination of various similar structures around Toronto.  As I don't have any foam core board yet to proceed with layout construction, I decided to scratchbuild one of the two buildings that should be necessary for this model railway. I hadn't scratchbuilt anything for a while, so I decided to build the storage shed first before tackling the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company building that is the focus of the right hand layout scene, as well as a rather large building. The shed was not built with any particularly interesting techniques - I used Mt. Albert scale lumber clapboard sheets for the walls and styrene sheet for the roof, which was then covered with masking tape to represent...

This does not, in any way, mean that I've abandoned the North Toronto Team Tracks layout. However, I've run into a bit of a problem as I can't move forward on construction for the layout until I can purchase more styrene strip in order to make curbs for the streets on the layout. Until then, though, I plan to work on a project that is feasible with materials I have on hand. Recently, I've been looking through the old posts of Chris Mears' excellent  Prince Street  blog. While looking through his blog, I came across his ideas for a model railway with tightly controlled viewpoints, showing only small scenes within a very large overall fascia. My explanation doesn't do the idea justice, but  here is the link to his original post on the concept.  At the time, I was quite intrigued by the idea, and as I had no layout at the time, I considered building a version of it. However, I was unable to come with a viable prototype for such a layout, and I eventually moved on...

A condition that has been all to rare recently on my model railway. Slightly over a month ago, I finally came to a workable layout plan and posted about it. After that, I made some small progress towards constructing benchwork for that layout, and then stopped working on almost anything model railway related. Now, though, with the start of summer break from school, I have a great deal more time to work on the layout, and should start getting things accomplished (or so I like to tell myself, though I'm not sure how true that is...). It turns out that the two main layout sections fit nicely in the center of the storage room between two closet doors. There is, in fact, a fair amount to show in terms of progress from the last week. I managed to finish benchwork for the two main sections of layout, as well as attaching foam board layout surface. Additionally, I assembled a kit for a Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo railway 40 foot hopper, which I plan to use for gravel service ...

After quite a while thinking over numerous aspects of the hobby, and spending a while on layout design, both in terms of type of layout and location to be modeled, I've finally arrived at a plan that I think will work and serve my purposes for a layout quite well. This location modeled, the North Toronto CP Rail team tracks, will allow me to have some limited operation and an interesting layout, while the layout design is practical to fit in what space I have, thanks to the  Model Railroad to Go  concept. Over the last week or so, I've drawn up plans of the prototype location in google maps, made a track plan on my online prototype map, and most recently, I've drafted a paper plan for the actual layout as I plan to construct it. Before I elaborate on the aforementioned layout plan, there have been some rather noticeable changes made to this blog. I had grown somewhat frustrated with the typical blogger layout that this blog has used for over a year now, which I've fou...

Perhaps. Recently, I have been trying to come up with a way to have a decent layout despite the fact that I have essentially no space for a permanent layout in a traditional sense. For reasons I've explained previously, I do not have the space for a traditional shelf layout or a module along Free-mo lines. At the same time, I've also had somewhat of a difficult time coming up with practical ideas for a location to model. Part of this problem is a result of my desire to model a specific prototype location - thus, I've closed off the easy way out of this problem by freelancing a small area to fit a small space. In the past few weeks, however, I think I may have come to some sort of solution and compromise that would allow me to build a layout that would fit my needs. First, I think I've found a good solution to my space problems, thanks to Rick De Candido and his  Fillmore Avenue Roundhouse  blog. A short time ago, he shared a layout idea called the  Model Rai...

It's the mid 1970's in a downtown industrial area in a big Canadian city (most likely Toronto, but perhaps Hamilton, Vancouver, or Montreal), and a run-down CP Rail S2 pulls a single 50 foot boxcar to the last industry on the industrial spur. The car sways wildly over rundown track as it trundles past empty industrial buildings and across, and sometimes down, streets. The train barely even gets to five miles per hour. It's very clear that this branch does not have much time left to live. This is the sort of feel that I want for my next layout. While I haven't decided on a particular location, I am sure that I want a general theme of a run down industrial spur for my next layout. Most likely, I'll end up modeling the CPR Toronto terminals, or rather, some small section thereof. The most appealing part of the Toronto terminals, in my opinion, is the waterfront wharf areas around Queen's Quay. There is a good article about the area  here  (scroll to the bo...

Research for my next layout based on Lac Frontiere, P.Q.has proceeded much more quickly than I expected. Quite a bit of time this weekend was spent on attempting to figure out the track arrangement in Lac Frontiere, and despite the fact that I'm not completely sure of the track arrangements, there seems to be enough information to start moving forward to layout design for this layout.  As far as I can tell, most of the operation and railway facilities in Lac Frontiere were concentrated in an area that was about three-tenths of a mile long and around 300 feet at its widest point. The railway facilities appear to be across the main road (named Rue Principale, according to Google Maps) form the center of town in Lac Frontiere, such as it is. This fairly small area should make designing a layout around Lac Frontiere less difficult, as less compression of the railway facilities will be necessary. Also, along Rue Principale near the station area there are an assortment of older houses...

I've finally come to a decision about what location to model. This doesn't necessarily mean that I have any concrete idea as to a layout plan - in fact, I have no particular ideas as regards layout design for this. Nonetheless, it's good to have finally concluded where to model: Lac Frontiere, P.Q. (I use P.Q. to abbreviate Quebec rather than QC). Lac Frontiere, for those who do no know, was the end of a Quebec central railway branch and is located right along the border with Maine, near the headwaters of the St. John River, and next to Lac Frontiere. You can (hopefully) see a map  here. Lac Frontiere was at the end of a branchline of the  Quebec Central Railway , which was later bought by  CP Rail  (Canadian Pacific at the time). By the mid 1970s, my era of interest for the layout, the QC was operated with CP Rail locomotives and rolling stock, which fits well with my interest in CP Rail. Lac Frontiere was never intended to be the terminus of the line - rather, th...

100 posts - that's quite a few posts. While about a fifth of these posts were wordless wednesdays, so they didn't require much in the way of effort or thought to write, I have put a good number of posts on this blog. While there isn't anything particularly significant about reaching this number of posts, there is a bit of a feeling of accomplishment about this blog. At the moment, the blog has around 6400 pageviews all time, and the most viewed post is the post for the trackplan I drew for Maine Central's Penobscot Street Spur (which perhaps says something about what I should be modeling, but I digress). Overall, I think that the blog has been quite successful, and O've gotten some very good ideas out of the comments that I would never have thought of otherwise. I took some time this evening to clean up the blog a bit, as the header was getting rather messy with mispellings, out of date information, and an old photo. I thought it was time to get the blog into...

Monon #15012 is an Accurail kit for a fifty foot outside braced boxcar that I built on friday. I purcahsed the car at M. B. Klein, a train store located north of Baltimore, on Monday. The car was an easy build and I think the the car turned out quite well. In my opinion, this type of car really helps set my layout in the 1970s as it is clearly a modern (at least, modern relative to my usual modeled era of the 1950s) boxcar. Considering that my layout is set on a rural branchline in Northern Maine, it seems reasonable to wonder why I would have a Monon boxcar on my layout. Mostly, this boxcar just caught my eye when I was at the train store and as it fits my era, I bought it. It also seems that it would be fairly possible to see a Monon boxcar occasionally in Northern Maine, as I think that the Monon served a fair amount of industry in its territory. I dont know that for a fact of course, as I do not know very much about the Monon. I do know, however, that Maine Central and CP Rail ...

CP Rail alco S2 #7020 takes a local through northern Maine in the late 1970s. A late running local freight enters a small town in Northern Maine. The local passes the old, beaten up, station. I photographed all these scenes on my new layout that depicts CP Rail in northern Maine. I took the photos with the room lights turned off and the flash on my phone on. I rather like the effect, despite the plain pink foam board everywhere. I will post about my new layout very soon.

This afternoon, I assembled an accurail kit for a 40 foot steel boxcar that os decorated for Canadian Pacific. I assembled following the directions and did not make any modifications to it. It will look good on CP freights through Mattawamkeag and in interchange service. Candian Pacific #254306

Sunday evening, I said that I would post more details about the construction of the shed. I didn't get around to that yesterday, so here it is. The shed followed my usual construction methods, for the most part. I started constructing the shed by cutting out walls from Mt. Albert Scale Lumber scribed wood sheet. I used the .060 width between scribes for this project. Htis type of siding is a pretty close match to the prototupe shed, appearence wise. I then assembled the walls, using 6 by 6 inch scale lumber for trim. To construct the doors to the shed, I glued scale 1 by 8 lumber board by board to the shed wall. Since it is meant to represent two doors, I differentiated the doors by building one on a slight angle, as if it was falling of of its hinges. It turned out that one door had to be 5 boards wide and one door had to be 6 boards wide. This happened because I initially thought I had, and measured and planned for, 6 inch wide boards rather than 8 inch wide boards. I decided...

This weekend, I scratchbuilt a small shed following a prototype structure located by the tracks in Mattawamkeag. I found the shed on Google Streetview, and figured out the dimensions from aerial photos. The shed was scracthbuilt from scribed wood sheet. I do not know who owned the shed during the 1950s, but it was either the nearby lumber mill or the Canadian Pacific, as the structure is definitely not of Maine Central origin. I will post more about how I built this structure tomorrow, I think. Looking at the front of the shed. Looking at the rear of the shed.

This morning, I decided to improve an old Athearn boxcar that I had acquired a few years ago. The car was an old blue box kit, and had okay basic details. It was painted and lettered for Canadian Pacific, so I had extra incentive to improve it. Also helping the car's case was the fact that it had the right number for the series of CP boxcar that it most closely represented. As my next layout will depict the section of the  Canadian Pacific transcontinental mainline which ran on the joint track with the Maine Cantral for 56 miles between Mattawamkeag and Vanceboro, I need all the CP cars I can find. I decided that in the case of this car, which isn't badly detailed but is not as well detailed as my other cars, I could use the car on CP mainline through freights only, so ttje lack of some details wouldn't be a problem. The main problem with this car was the bad weathering job that I had done on it. This car was the first car I that I ever weathered, and it was very obviou...